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
Black is building a complex mythology; now is a great time to tune in.
Black is back with another dark tale of Faerie, this one set in Faerie and launching a new trilogy.
Jude—broken, rebuilt, fueled by anger and a sense of powerlessness—has never recovered from watching her adoptive Faerie father murder her parents. Human Jude (whose brown hair curls and whose skin color is never described) both hates and loves Madoc, whose murderous nature is true to his Faerie self and who in his way loves her. Brought up among the Gentry, Jude has never felt at ease, but after a decade, Faerie has become her home despite the constant peril. Black’s latest looks at nature and nurture and spins a tale of court intrigue, bloodshed, and a truly messed-up relationship that might be the saving of Jude and the titular prince, who, like Jude, has been shaped by the cruelties of others. Fierce and observant Jude is utterly unaware of the currents that swirl around her. She fights, plots, even murders enemies, but she must also navigate her relationship with her complex family (human, Faerie, and mixed). This is a heady blend of Faerie lore, high fantasy, and high school drama, dripping with description that brings the dangerous but tempting world of Faerie to life.
Black is building a complex mythology; now is a great time to tune in. (Fantasy. 14-adult)Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-316-31027-7
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Sept. 25, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2017
A thoughtful and thrilling story of life, death, and meaning.
Two teens train to be society-sanctioned killers in an otherwise immortal world.
On post-mortal Earth, humans live long (if not particularly passionate) lives without fear of disease, aging, or accidents. Operating independently of the governing AI (called the Thunderhead since it evolved from the cloud), scythes rely on 10 commandments, quotas, and their own moral codes to glean the population. After challenging Hon. Scythe Faraday, 16-year-olds Rowan Damisch and Citra Terranova reluctantly become his apprentices. Subjected to killcraft training, exposed to numerous executions, and discouraged from becoming allies or lovers, the two find themselves engaged in a fatal competition but equally determined to fight corruption and cruelty. The vivid and often violent action unfolds slowly, anchored in complex worldbuilding and propelled by political machinations and existential musings. Scythes’ journal entries accompany Rowan’s and Citra’s dual and dueling narratives, revealing both personal struggles and societal problems. The futuristic post–2042 MidMerican world is both dystopia and utopia, free of fear, unexpected death, and blatant racism—multiracial main characters discuss their diverse ethnic percentages rather than purity—but also lacking creativity, emotion, and purpose. Elegant and elegiac, brooding but imbued with gallows humor, Shusterman’s dark tale thrusts realistic, likable teens into a surreal situation and raises deep philosophic questions.
A thoughtful and thrilling story of life, death, and meaning. (Science fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: Nov. 29, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4424-7242-6
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 25, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2016
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