Despite the subtitle, as much Faust as Frankenstein; for teens looking for social commentary in their fiction.
A philosophical fable, fourth in the series but able to stand alone, pits an ambitious scientist against his own unnatural creation.
Aspern Grayling was born in bucolic, pacifist Arcadia, but after over 100 years, all his loyalties lie with the technocratic militaristic empire of Megalopolis. This report, ostensibly a plan of conquest, metamorphoses from a dry encyclopedic assessment to a more personal memoir (or, perhaps, confession) following his triumph: the genetically-engineered Nietzschean übermensch Pavo Vale. Incorporating allusions to the contemporary political climate, the story delivers a polemic framed in binaries: technology/nature, individualism/communalism, rational/spiritual, toxic masculinity/eternal feminine, etc. The former are personified in the monstrous Pavo, who would be cartoonishly villainous if it weren’t for his graphically brutal rapes, murders, incestuous obsession, and wanton destruction; the latter, in the immensely (and interchangeably) beautiful, wise, compassionate, multiethnic heroines of Arcadia. Only Aspern bridges the divide: He is arrogant, condescending, viciously misogynistic, transparently (and unconvincingly) justifying of Pavo’s appalling crimes, yet sympathetic in his honest admiration of any intellectual achievement, his craving for respect and admiration, and his deep, unwilling love for the Arcadian professor Devindra Vale. Black-and-white illustrations of tarotlike cards in a pre-Raphaelite style hint that the apparent triumph of Megalopolis and its values may be only temporary.
Despite the subtitle, as much Faust as Frankenstein; for teens looking for social commentary in their fiction. (dramatis personae, family tree, table of transformations, appendices) (Fantasy. 15-adult)Pub Date: Aug. 25, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-935259-31-2
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Exterminating Angel
Review Posted Online: July 16, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
An exciting read from start to finish.
The year is 2123; it has been 6 months since Noam helped overthrow the despotic government of Carolinia.
Lehrer is chancellor. Atlantian refugees are pouring into Carolinia. Noam is on a mission in the quarantined zone. Everything is far from OK. What Lehrer doesn’t know is that Noam remembers that Lehrer is the one responsible for everything: Lehrer, who is his teacher, mentor, and, now, lover. And then Dara—who should be dead, whom he sent off into the quarantined zone—walks right back into Noam’s life. Having taken the vaccine to save his life, Dara now finds himself without his powers and with a clear thirst for revenge. Fortunately, Noam wants to use his role as Lehrer’s protégé to help the resistance, but Dara and Noam have very different ideas of what that looks like. In a narrative that shifts between Noam’s and Dara’s perspectives, this book deals with complex issues including grooming, attempted rape, sex and sexuality, alcohol abuse, political ethics, and biological warfare. At times it feels as if the author is attempting commentary on too many things and the story might have had a stronger effect if it were more focused; however, it will leave fans of the first book satisfied. As before, there is diversity in ethnicity and sexual orientation in the cast.
An exciting read from start to finish. (maps, content notes, resources) (Dystopian science fiction. 15-18)Pub Date: March 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5420-0508-1
Page Count: 480
Publisher: Skyscape
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2020
Perhaps the television incarnation will have some life.
One hundred teen convicts may be the only hope of the human race.
Three hundred years after the Cataclysm made Earth uninhabitable, the remnant of humanity lives in an aging space station. Strict population-control laws help conserve the dwindling resources, and adults convicted of crimes are summarily executed. Criminal teens held in Confinement are given a retrial at 18, and some go free. Fearing the colony has few years left, the Chancellor decides to send 100 of these teens to Earth with monitoring bracelets to see if the planet’s surface is survivable. The story concentrates on four of them. Wells commits a crime in order to accompany his girlfriend; Bellamy breaks into the dropship to go with his sister; in hopes of reuniting with her boyfriend, Glass escapes the dropship to return to her privileged mother. And Clarke, the object of Wells’ affection, struggles with demons and hormones. Will they survive? Morgan’s debut, which has already been optioned for a CW series, has a promising premise as long as readers don’t apply too many brain cells. (Why convicts? Why not give them communication devices? Isn’t there birth control in the future?) However, it slowly devolves into a thrill-free teen romance. Lengthy flashbacks flatten the action in nearly every chapter. The characters do little to distinguish themselves from their run-of-the-mill dystopian brethren. Steer teens in search of science fiction to Beth Revis, Robison Wells and Veronica Roth.
Perhaps the television incarnation will have some life. (Dystopian adventure. 15 & up)Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-316-23447-4
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: July 16, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2013
BOOK TO SCREEN
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