A little violent, a little supernatural, a little mysterious, a lot sentimental; fans of the trilogy won't be disappointed...
A trilogy that began in the recognizable present concludes in a post-apocalyptic dystopic England, 17 years from now.
Adam—the child conceived in tragedy in Numbers (2010)—is a father now himself, caretaker to his girlfriend Sarah's daughter Mia. Like so many other former Londoners, this young family lives in the woods, surviving by hunting after the devastating earthquake that destroyed their society. But Adam is different from everyone else in this ravaged England, because he's the wild-eyed prophet who predicted the Chaos. Adam sees the potential death date of everyone he looks at, a curse that makes him valuable to dangerous people. When a paramilitary group kidnaps Mia, Adam has no choice but to put himself in their hands. In alternating chapters, Sarah and Adam describe their experiences, first in the woods and then with their tormentors. Whom can they trust? What is the extent of Adam's power—and perhaps of Mia's? The post-apocalyptic setting has limited realism (with England's woods thick enough to support many surviving Londoners on a diet of venison), and Mia's little-girl babble tends toward the twee.
A little violent, a little supernatural, a little mysterious, a lot sentimental; fans of the trilogy won't be disappointed as this story edges toward magical thriller . (Science fiction. 13-16)Pub Date: May 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-545-35092-1
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Chicken House/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: March 27, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2012
Surprisingly heartfelt. (Fiction. 14-16)
In his final year of high school, Leon must choose between maintaining his comfortable existence or blowing it all up to chase something greater.
Leon is on track to do nothing extraordinary with his life. He works at the local ice cream shop alongside his best friend, Stan, and hangs out with the screwballs and weirdos that come in. The gang shuns such bourgeois drudgery as the SATs and college applications in favor of typical teenage tomfoolery, but there’s a fine line between a smart, bored kid and a burnout. Leon is the former. When a few moments of chance bring him and popular girl Paige together, Leon begins to shake out of his slacker stupor. This is a particularly smart and sweet teenage love story, refusing to rely on burning passion or overwrought sentiment. There’s an emotional maturity in the way Selzer draws Leon and Paige’s courtship. It is by far the best part of the book. Less engaging are the peripheral characters, particularly Stan, a kid who believes that he’s the devil himself. The character and his influence on the story just don’t work, and time spent with him feels wasted when it could be spent elsewhere. Leon’s journey to personal responsibility is another topic well-tackled, making this an engaging, character-driven piece with several pros that mightily outweigh the cons.
Surprisingly heartfelt. (Fiction. 14-16)Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4814-0104-3
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: April 29, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2014
This thoughtful, considered action-adventure will have readers pondering even after they’ve closed the book
Picking up where Blackout (2013) left off, Wells continues to look at the impact of terrorism and the morality of war.
The United States is under attack, with Russia landing troops in the Pacific Northwest and saboteurs striking without warning. Aubrey and Jack have been recruited into the military, and after just a few weeks of basic training, they are forced into the field on their first mission. With Aubrey’s ability to become invisible and Jack’s to read minds, they hope they can find the secret weapon deployed against them: an electromagnetic-pulse device that knocks out all electrical functions with no warning, wreaking havoc. Little do they know the secret weapon is just like them—a pair of teens infected with an enhancement virus as youngsters. Zasha and Fyodor have trained their whole lives for this, and Zasha in particular isn’t about to let anything—or anyone—get in their way. Amid the action, Wells raises deep questions. As Aubrey struggles to understand why killing enemy soldiers isn’t murder, Jack and their platoon mates (other “lambdas” like themselves) struggle to understand why the burden of warfare is being thrust on their young shoulders. Jack and Aubrey wrestle with these issues and more as the story races to a satisfying conclusion.
This thoughtful, considered action-adventure will have readers pondering even after they’ve closed the book . (Science fiction. 13-16)Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-06-227502-8
Page Count: 384
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2014
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