A gripping blend of dystopian SF and YA drama.
In a seemingly perfect future, a brilliant teen leads a rebellion to escape a planned mass extinction.
Set in the year 3025, Bailey’s YA SF novel centers around 16-year-old Dolthea Madras Thorpe, a teen with superhuman intelligence. She lives in the Potomac Dome, one of thousands of such domes spread across the continents that house the last of humanity in a luxurious style befitting a tropical resort. In this seemingly perfect world, every need is effortlessly met—but for Dolthea, the perfection is stifling. Life is too predictable, too controlled, planned out to the second by the omnipresent Agricultural-Geopolitical Artificial Intelligence Matrix known as AG. Her dissatisfaction only deepens when she encounters a couple in a library who have started to question whether everything is as perfect as it seems (“That’s the official line, and we don’t believe a word of it”). Soon enough, her fears are confirmed when AG announces that the overall population has become too large to sustain, so 300 domes—including the Potomac—will be shut down to cull their numbers. Refusing to accept this, Dolthea bands together with a group of friends to fight against AG’s decision—and for the freedom to decide their own fates. The futuristic SF setting is detailed without bogging the reader down in technicalities; it’s the relationships and personal growth of the characters that are at the heart of this novel. Dolthea’s transformation from a discontented teen into a powerful leader is well developed. Despite the tense stakes, there’s a healthy dose of humor (mostly present within the dialogue). The emotional beats also hit hard, maintaining a delicate balance of adolescent growing pains and the reality of running a resistance movement. The broader mechanics of AG and its motivations are less satisfyingly fleshed out, but the attention to character development and pacing distracts from this gap. Ultimately, this is not just a dystopian adventure yarn—it’s a powerful coming-of-age story. While readers may be drawn in by the SF and suspense, they’ll stay for the courage, compassion, and clarity that emerge from the characters’ emotional journeys.
A gripping blend of dystopian SF and YA drama.Pub Date: June 24, 2025
ISBN: 9798891326774
Page Count: 362
Publisher: Atmosphere Press
Review Posted Online: June 30, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A lackluster and sometimes disturbing mishmash of overused tropes.
The Plague has left a population divided between Elites and Ordinaries—those who have powers and those who don’t; now, an Ordinary teen fights for her life.
Paedyn Gray witnessed the king kill her father five years ago, and she’s been thieving and sleeping rough ever since, all while faking Psychic abilities. When she inadvertently saves the life of Prince Kai, she becomes embroiled in the Purging Trials, a competition to commemorate the sickness that killed most of the kingdom’s Ordinaries. Kai’s duties as the future Enforcer include eradicating any remaining Ordinaries, and these Trials are his chance to prove that he’s internalized his brutal training. But Kai can’t help but find Pae’s blue eyes, silver hair, and unabashed attitude enchanting. She likewise struggles to resist his stormy gray eyes, dark hair, and rakish behavior, even as they’re pitted against each other in the Trials and by the king himself. Scenes and concepts that are strongly reminiscent of the Hunger Games fall flat: They aren’t bolstered by the original’s heart or worldbuilding logic that would have justified a few extreme story elements. Illogical leaps and inconsistent characterizations abound, with lighthearted romantic interludes juxtaposed against genocide, child abuse, and sadism. These elements, which are not sufficiently addressed, combined with the use of ableist language, cannot be erased by any amount of romantic banter. Main characters are cued white; the supporting cast has some brown-skinned characters.
A lackluster and sometimes disturbing mishmash of overused tropes. (map) (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9798987380406
Page Count: 538
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2023
A charming cozy fantasy about defying expectations and finding love.
The lives of two Los Angeles girls inhabiting different universes intersect, proving that love knows no bounds.
Brenda Nguyen has a 19-step plan to save the world. Kat Woo is haunted by her legacy as the chosen one, a role she has no interest in. Brenda, working on an environmental science college scholarship application, stumbles into Sammy’s Coffee and Pick-Me-Ups, which Kat’s family owns. As the girls get to know each other, Brenda at last finds someone who’ll listen to her detailed plans, while Kat discovers she has something to look forward to. The girls, who alternate narrating the story, must defy the odds as their worlds begin to collide. As well as being a love story, this is an exploration of familial expectations: Kat is trying to outrun them, while Brenda is driven to fulfill hers. The girls, who are of Chinese and Vietnamese descent, respectively, complement each other: Brenda learns to live in the present, and Kat begins to look to the future. While there are pixie swarms and mana surges, the action takes a back seat to characterization. Lee’s fully developed parallel worlds are alike in many ways, although in Kat’s, you can buy teleportation spells at Target. The cast is rounded out by solid portrayals of the girls’ friends and family, who are important to the plot.
A charming cozy fantasy about defying expectations and finding love. (author’s note, recommended reading) (Fantasy romance. 14-18)Pub Date: June 10, 2025
ISBN: 9781250778024
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: March 8, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2025
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