A vivid dystopian tale with a truly apocalyptic twist.
In this YA sci-fi debut, a teen searches for his place in a world ravaged by war and run by otherworldly beings.
By the year 2040, nuclear war had nearly obliterated the Earth. Then the technologically advanced Ancient Ones arrived from a parallel dimension, offering to guide and heal humanity. But 100 years later, things haven’t quite worked out that way. The environment remains despoiled, and the scouts (artificial humanoids) patrol society like benevolent jailers. Fourteen-year-old Hanu has lived at the American Continental Mental Hospital—nicknamed the Flush—for seven years. Here, drugs wash away the patients’ emotions, dreams, and any resistance to a strictly regimented schedule. But Hanu decides not to take his meds. He dreams about strange, robed creatures who tell him, “You’ve allowed fear to cloud your judgment. You will find your strength again.” But when the doctors learn that Hanu isn’t drugged, they send him to the District of Operations in Capital City. There, people suffer a nightmarish override procedure. He and other problematic teens are escorted to the District in a Convoy. Yet, what are their chances of arriving safely when the violent Dissenters—who burn crops, commit murder, and believe the Ancient Ones must be overthrown—have been wreaking havoc everywhere? Fans of dystopian YA novels will find much to love in DeVore’s series opener. The word “district” alone musters dour imagery from the landmark Hunger Games trilogy, though this world is ruined in its own beautiful ways (“They passed by a warped, green, glasslike epicenter where a bomb exploded. Orange scars spiraled outward from it like a giant whirlpool sculpted into the ground”). The origin of the Ancient Ones is a nuanced cautionary tale for generations now inhabiting a planet that grows hotter each year. At her most humanistic, DeVore asserts that “the natural progression of intelligent life...is to grow mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually—all in balance.” There are satisfactory amounts of action, subterfuge, and sacrifice, though the Ancient Ones (among other strange races) feel underused in this first volume. By the end, a revitalized hero promises an amped-up sequel.
A vivid dystopian tale with a truly apocalyptic twist.Pub Date: Nov. 6, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-692-79377-0
Page Count: 250
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: April 20, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
APPRECIATIONS
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf
