THE BOY WHO LEARNED TO LIVE

In Moore’s YA novel, a late 21st-century teen raised in a cloistered, tech-laden city suddenly finds himself in the outside world.

Oliver McNeil can’t remember how he wound up far outside the 5th City. The 17-year-old does nearly everything in virtual simulations at home, but now, entangled in actual barbed wire, his situation is terrifyingly real. Luckily, a girl named Autumn Montgomery rescues Oliver and leads him to her family, which is part of a community living within a system of caves. These outsiders need none of the technology that Oliver is accustomed to, as they farm their own food and even print a local newspaper on an old-school press. The Montgomerys teach Oliver about all of these new/old ways of doing things, and he quickly warms to them. The trouble is, he can’t trust himself—Oliver is going through withdrawal from meds for an apparent mental condition, making him unpredictable and, Oliver believes, dangerous (“These people had no idea the level of evil that lived within me”). When some community sentries are found murdered, he realizes that his new friends are facing a genuine menace. Moore delivers enthralling set pieces, from Oliver’s initial disorientation to his first encounter with a real-life snowfall. The entire cast is outstanding, including the smart, capable, and protective Autumn, her unfailingly sympathetic dad, and her playful little brother, who calls Oliver “City Man.” While Oliver has some trouble adjusting to a foreign environment, he proves to be a natural at certain things; he has a way with animals, an unexpected and winning character trait. The blossoming romance between Autumn and Oliver is apparent early on, but that’s just one of several engaging subplots (in other threads, another new arrival joins the community, and there’s someone who looks inexplicably familiar to Oliver). The illuminating final act feels a bit rushed, but it does culminate in a truly gratifying denouement.

A wholly absorbing, character-driven dystopian tale.