Standard-issue corporate dystopia gives way to more compelling xenomorphic action and horror.
A loyal corporate citizen teams up with the prisoners she guards at a space station jail for superpowered criminal teens.
Corporate citizenship carries greater entitlements and privilege than government citizenship, and the top corporation is Omnistellar Concepts. Raised by her intensely loyal Omnistellar family, teen junior guard Kenzie is eager to earn her own future in the company. She works with her parents on Sanctuary, a space station prison for juvenile anomalies—superpowered people who started appearing after mysterious alien probes arrived on Earth. When the skeleton crew is further reduced, Kenzie is taken hostage in a prison break attempt. The leader of her captors is an incredibly attractive, charismatic, and good-hearted Chinese teen nicknamed “Cage.” Through talking with him—and while grappling with whether or not her mother will follow protocol and sacrifice her own daughter—Kenzie comes to question everything about the system she’s been benefitting from. Luckily, that somewhat overplayed storyline is freshened with the arrival of a monstrous alien threat, which motivates Kenzie to work with the prisoners in order to survive a cat-and-mouse sequence of action and escapes. The high body count includes some unexpected fatalities, and the ending points to a sequel. Main characters are white, and aside from Cage and his sister, other people of color are represented among secondary characters.
Standard-issue corporate dystopia gives way to more compelling xenomorphic action and horror. (Science fiction. 12-adult)Pub Date: July 24, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5344-0533-2
Page Count: 480
Publisher: Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: April 29, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head.
The finely drawn characters capture readers’ attention in this debut.
Autumn and Phineas, nicknamed Finny, were born a week apart; their mothers are still best friends. Growing up, Autumn and Finny were like peas in a pod despite their differences: Autumn is “quirky and odd,” while Finny is “sweet and shy and everyone like[s] him.” But in eighth grade, Autumn and Finny stop being friends due to an unexpected kiss. They drift apart and find new friends, but their friendship keeps asserting itself at parties, shared holiday gatherings and random encounters. In the summer after graduation, Autumn and Finny reconnect and are finally ready to be more than friends. But on August 8, everything changes, and Autumn has to rely on all her strength to move on. Autumn’s coming-of-age is sensitively chronicled, with a wide range of experiences and events shaping her character. Even secondary characters are well-rounded, with their own histories and motivations.
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head. (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: April 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4022-7782-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
A lackluster and sometimes disturbing mishmash of overused tropes.
The Plague has left a population divided between Elites and Ordinaries—those who have powers and those who don’t; now, an Ordinary teen fights for her life.
Paedyn Gray witnessed the king kill her father five years ago, and she’s been thieving and sleeping rough ever since, all while faking Psychic abilities. When she inadvertently saves the life of Prince Kai, she becomes embroiled in the Purging Trials, a competition to commemorate the sickness that killed most of the kingdom’s Ordinaries. Kai’s duties as the future Enforcer include eradicating any remaining Ordinaries, and these Trials are his chance to prove that he’s internalized his brutal training. But Kai can’t help but find Pae’s blue eyes, silver hair, and unabashed attitude enchanting. She likewise struggles to resist his stormy gray eyes, dark hair, and rakish behavior, even as they’re pitted against each other in the Trials and by the king himself. Scenes and concepts that are strongly reminiscent of the Hunger Games fall flat: They aren’t bolstered by the original’s heart or worldbuilding logic that would have justified a few extreme story elements. Illogical leaps and inconsistent characterizations abound, with lighthearted romantic interludes juxtaposed against genocide, child abuse, and sadism. These elements, which are not sufficiently addressed, combined with the use of ableist language, cannot be erased by any amount of romantic banter. Main characters are cued white; the supporting cast has some brown-skinned characters.
A lackluster and sometimes disturbing mishmash of overused tropes. (map) (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9798987380406
Page Count: 538
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2023
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