A YA adventure with ethereal prose and appealing characters.
In Dunn’s YA sci-fi debut, set in a world where people can see glimpses of future events, one teenager sees a vision of herself killing her little sister.
As the story opens, Callie is a day shy of 17, the age when everyone in the nation of North Amerie receives a memory from their future selves. Most expect to see what career path they’ve taken, but Callie witnesses something disturbing: she walks into what appears to be a hospital room and stabs her 6-year-old sis Jessa in the heart with a syringe. Predicted crimes like these usually lead to arrest, but a sympathetic guard at the Future Memory Agency lets Callie escape. Callie thinks that Jessa’s psychic ability is the reason that she’s eventually headed for a hospital, so she struggles to keep her future memory a secret from both FuMA and the psychic-hunting Technology Research Agency. However, Callie hopes that she can somehow alter her future. There’s a whirlwind of plot in this novel: an imprisoned Callie later tries to stop FuMA from forcibly retrieving her future memory, and she eventually teams with the Underground, a group of people with psychic abilities who are hiding from TechRA. There’s also an abundance of mystery: Jessa is a precognitive but may also be capable of much more, and a seedy FuMA doctor, Bellows, claims to have known Callie’s father, who left her when she was young. Romance comes in the form of Callie’s enigmatic schoolmate Logan, who inexplicably ended his friendship with her five years ago. Their love, however, may be doomed from the start, as Logan is the Underground’s contact in Eden City, which Callie is avoiding in order to steer clear of Jessa. However, that doesn’t impede many moments of the couple kissing or swoon-worthy lines such as, “I don’t think I’ll ever be any good at leaving Logan.” Hints of FuMA’s ultimate goal amp up the story’s tension considerably, as the obviously deceitful agency may be working toward a significantly grimmer future. Dunn leaves numerous questions unanswered, particularly the origins of future memory, which could potentially be explored in future books.
A YA adventure with ethereal prose and appealing characters.Pub Date: Nov. 3, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-63375-238-2
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Review Posted Online: Nov. 11, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head.
The finely drawn characters capture readers’ attention in this debut.
Autumn and Phineas, nicknamed Finny, were born a week apart; their mothers are still best friends. Growing up, Autumn and Finny were like peas in a pod despite their differences: Autumn is “quirky and odd,” while Finny is “sweet and shy and everyone like[s] him.” But in eighth grade, Autumn and Finny stop being friends due to an unexpected kiss. They drift apart and find new friends, but their friendship keeps asserting itself at parties, shared holiday gatherings and random encounters. In the summer after graduation, Autumn and Finny reconnect and are finally ready to be more than friends. But on August 8, everything changes, and Autumn has to rely on all her strength to move on. Autumn’s coming-of-age is sensitively chronicled, with a wide range of experiences and events shaping her character. Even secondary characters are well-rounded, with their own histories and motivations.
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head. (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: April 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4022-7782-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
In addition to the supernatural elements, Brosgol interweaves some savvy insights about the illusion of perfection and...
A deliciously creepy page-turning gem from first-time writer and illustrator Brosgol finds brooding teenager Anya trying to escape the past—both her own and the ghost haunting her.
Anya feels out of place at her preppy private school; embarrassed by her Russian heritage, she has worked hard to lose her accent and to look more like everyone else. After a particularly frustrating morning at the bus stop, Anya storms off, only to accidentally fall down a well. Down in the dark hole, she meets Emily, a ghost who claims to be a murder victim trapped down in the dank abyss for 90 years. With Emily’s help, Anya manages to escape, though once free, she learns that Emily has traveled out with her. At first, Emily seems like the perfect friend; however, once her motives become clear, Anya learns that “perfect” may only be an illusion. A moodily atmospheric spectrum of grays washes over the clean, tidy panels, setting a distinct stage before the first words appear. Brosgol’s tight storytelling invokes the chilling feeling of Neil Gaiman’s Coraline (2002), though for a decidedly older set.
In addition to the supernatural elements, Brosgol interweaves some savvy insights about the illusion of perfection and outward appearance. (Graphic supernatural fiction. 12 & up)Pub Date: June 7, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-59643-552-0
Page Count: 224
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: April 18, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2011
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