Heroics, bravery, and action don’t compensate for serious implausibility issues.
The escaped Less Thans and Sisters from The Prey (2015) return to rescue those left behind.
Book’s leading the band of kids to the government rather than away, and their odds are pretty bad—they barely made it out in the first book, and the Brown Shirt soldiers are less likely to underestimate them again. After some unlucky breaks and losses, a bully takes over the small band and decides to abort the rescue mission, leading to one of the book’s most ridiculous scenes—out of 12 kids, four place six on trial and outvote the remaining two; somehow readers are expected to believe that the majority’s just that docile or otherwise unable to resist the four. Unfortunately, plots hinging on weak character motivations continue as a pattern, especially where betrayals are concerned. After escaping from the bully, the heroes have numerous other close calls with enemies while learning more about the upcoming Final Solution—yes, that final solution. The book makes the most progress when the kids encounter a society of dissidents trying to preserve the civilization that existed before the Republic of True America and its psychotic, beauty-queen chancellor. The tantalizing glimpses of the greater world don’t satisfy but—especially combined with the explosive final showdown—might encourage readers to stay for another installment.
Heroics, bravery, and action don’t compensate for serious implausibility issues. (Post-apocalyptic adventure. 13-17)Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-221605-2
Page Count: 448
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: Oct. 5, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An overall entertaining read.
In this sequel to The Similars (2018), tensions rise as the villains reveal a ploy to exact revenge on the Ten and their families and ultimately take over the world.
When Emma Chance returns to her elite boarding school, Darkwood Academy, for her senior year, things are different: Her best friend, Ollie Ward, is back while Levi Gravelle, Ollie’s clone and Emma’s love interest, has been imprisoned on Castor Island. More importantly, Emma is coming to terms with the contents of a letter from Gravelle which states that she is Eden, a Similar created to replace the original Emma, who died as a child. To complicate matters further, other clones—who are not Similars—infiltrate Darkwood, and Emma and her friends uncover a plot that threatens not only the lives of everyone they care about, but also the world as they know it. Hanover wastes no time delving right into the action; readers unfamiliar with the first book may get lost. This duology closer is largely predictable and often filled with loopholes, but the fast-paced narrative and one unexpected plot twist make for an engaging ride. As before, most of the primary characters read as white, and supporting characters remain underdeveloped. Despite its flaws and often implausible turns of events, the novel calls attention to larger questions of identity, selfhood, and what it means to be human.
An overall entertaining read. (Dystopia. 13-16)Pub Date: Dec. 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4926-6513-7
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Sept. 28, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The shelves are already crowded with teens-training-for-space stories; there’s no need to make room for this one.
Teens become astronauts in record time for an inaugural space mission.
After losing his family to “the greatest flood Rome has ever known,” skilled white Italian swimmer Leo Danieli would never have expected that in his darkest moment he would be drafted by the European Space Agency to attend the International Space Training Camp, where teens will train to terraform and colonize Jupiter’s moon Europa for human settlement. California native Naomi Ardalan, a second-generation Iranian-American, has also been chosen for her expertise in science and technology. During a period of violent climate change worldwide, Earth’s governments are desperate to draft teens for a space mission for which they have only a few weeks in which to prepare. Twenty-four teen finalists, many orphaned by cataclysmic natural disasters, have been chosen from all over the world to compete for this space colonization mission. Warnings come to Leo and Naomi that there is a more sinister aspect to this mission, especially after things go tragically awry with other candidates during the training. The relationship that develops between Naomi and Leo feels forced, as if their meeting necessitates speedy deployment of a romantic cliché. The use of predictable plot devices, along with the fundamentally ludicrous premise, undermines any believability that would make a reader invest in such an elaborate space journey.
The shelves are already crowded with teens-training-for-space stories; there’s no need to make room for this one. (Science fiction. 14-17)Pub Date: March 6, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-265894-4
Page Count: 352
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: Nov. 21, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2017
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