A visceral exploration of the eternal and misguided search for pain-free happiness in an almost-now Brave New World.
Quinlan has an uncanny ability to become someone else, especially if that person is dead.
Working for an elite government program, Quinlan is a “closer.” She enters the lives of the bereaved and temporarily plays the role of the deceased in order to bring closure to the grief-stricken. Having had this job since she was a child, 17-year-old Quinlan is starting to feel hairline fissures in her psyche, finding it increasingly difficult to recall her own personality. Quinlan is driven both by compassion to help the despairing and pressure from her father, who is the head of the grief department. Her latest assignment requires deeper immersion than ever before, and her father is secretive about the details. She becomes Catalina, a beloved daughter who died of mysterious causes. Catalina’s boyfriend, Isaac, is included in the assignment, and Quinlan, her own loneliness heightened by his need, finds herself drawn to Isaac’s desperation and passion. As the melancholy and eerie story unfolds, Quinlan realizes that no one is telling her the truth, and her life has never been her own. Exploring the topic of memory manipulation as a cure for distress, this stand-alone prequel offers shadowy references to Young’s previous novels, The Program (2013) and The Treatment (2014).
A visceral exploration of the eternal and misguided search for pain-free happiness in an almost-now Brave New World. (Dystopian romance. 14-18)Pub Date: April 21, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4814-3765-3
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2015
A powerful commentary on colonization and the right to rebel.
A 15-year-old conscripted into an army of child soldiers investigates her mother’s disappearance.
Being born a Scion, or human who inherits the powers of Yoruba deities, is a crime in Nagea. Sloane, the powerful descendant of Shango, the god of heat and fire, has àse: blood magic that ripples under her dark skin. Not yet controlled, it makes her a literal walking inferno when she is distressed. Drafted into the army ruled by the 13 Luci bloodlines who conquered and colonized Nagea under one rotating monarchy over three centuries ago, Sloane chooses not to run away even though her Baba warns her about the risks of going to the Lucis’ island stronghold: “A Scion in Avalon is a sheep in a lion’s den.” Determined to find out what happened to her mother, Sloane will do whatever it takes, removing any obstacle—human or otherwise—in search of the answers she needs. Sloane’s internal conflicts over her necessarily kill-or-be-killed attitude once on the base are grounded and relatable even as she endures immense physical and emotional violence. The well-paced closing action of the book is tidy, providing satisfactory resolutions for enough of the main mysteries while still leaving readers wanting more. With so much conflict to engage with, however, it’s difficult to get a full sense of the worldbuilding in this intriguing duology opener set in a Nigerian mythology–inspired setting.
A powerful commentary on colonization and the right to rebel. (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: March 8, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-06-295404-6
Page Count: 432
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2022
A story of coming out and coming-of-age in a post–9/11 world.
As an Iranian American Muslim teen, Amir Azadi has long pondered what it would be like to come out to his parents.
In fact, he keeps a mental tally of all the positive and negative comments his parents make about gay people. But everything comes crashing down when school bullies photograph Amir kissing Jackson, the football player he’s been secretly dating. They give Amir an ultimatum: $1,000 in hush money or they will show his parents the photo. On the brink of emotional collapse, Amir runs away, landing in Rome, where he meets Jahan, a proudly gay Iranian/Dominican man, and his eclectic friends. Amir embraces the newfound freedom to be himself and experience the joys of gay culture and community. But as his family desperately searches for him and relationships with his new friends become complicated, he finds himself missing home and feels the fear of being out ebb away. The story moves back and forth in time between these events and the airport interrogation room where, following a family altercation on the plane home, Amir tells his coming-out story to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer. The narrative structure will keep readers riveted as they try to piece together events. Ahmadi’s writing is gripping, taking readers through the myriad emotions a gay Muslim teen experiences growing up in a country whose government is looking for an excuse to demonize Muslims.
A story of coming out and coming-of-age in a post–9/11 world. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 22, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-20287-6
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: July 7, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2020
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