A brisk and engaging tale of discovery and escape.
In Smith’s YA SF novel set in an unnamed, struggling city, a young orphan makes a terrifying discovery about the school in which she resides.
Mona, a student in the third pod for 10- and 11-year-olds at an unnamed residential school in the postwar era, believes she’s lucky to be there instead of in an overrun orphanage. Mona and her friend Owen, a natural storyteller, are gifted with excellent memories, which make them prime subjects for individualized memory training. Their education is also steeped in government indoctrination in a society in which elections aren’t democratic, the Chancellor is selected by a senate, and many live in poverty. Questioning the validity of this system is forbidden. Students are trained in advanced memory techniques, but the school isn’t a school at all but a corporation called the Company that specializes in “Selective Memory Extraction and Implantation.” After Mona realizes exactly what’s going on there, she uses her unique talents and the assistance of a sympathetic lab technician to plot her escape. Smith’s two primary characters are lively and vivid but have appealingly distinct personalities, and the worldbuilding is superb without taking over the story. The author wisely balances material regarding the Company with stories of the kids who reside there. Although it has a postapocalyptic setting, it doesn’t ever feel clichéd; readers see just enough of the world through the kids’ eyes to understand what’s happening, but it’s never heavy-handed or saddled with lengthy backstory. The science at the heart of the story is creative, and the story’s pacing is swift and exciting, particularly in the second half.
A brisk and engaging tale of discovery and escape.Pub Date: March 1, 2023
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 273
Publisher: Smelbiney Publishing
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind.
In this companion novel to 2013’s If He Had Been With Me, three characters tell their sides of the story.
Finn’s narrative starts three days before his death. He explores the progress of his unrequited love for best friend Autumn up until the day he finally expresses his feelings. Finn’s story ends with his tragic death, which leaves his close friends devastated, unmoored, and uncertain how to go on. Jack’s section follows, offering a heartbreaking look at what it’s like to live with grief. Jack works to overcome the anger he feels toward Sylvie, the girlfriend Finn was breaking up with when he died, and Autumn, the girl he was preparing to build his life around (but whom Jack believed wasn’t good enough for Finn). But when Jack sees how Autumn’s grief matches his own, it changes their understanding of one another. Autumn’s chapters trace her life without Finn as readers follow her struggles with mental health and balancing love and loss. Those who have read the earlier book will better connect with and feel for these characters, particularly since they’ll have a more well-rounded impression of Finn. The pain and anger is well written, and the novel highlights the most troublesome aspects of young adulthood: overconfidence sprinkled with heavy insecurities, fear-fueled decisions, bad communication, and brash judgments. Characters are cued white.
A heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind. (author’s note, content warning) (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781728276229
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away.
A Mexican American boy takes on heavy responsibilities when his family is torn apart.
Mateo’s life is turned upside down the day U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents show up unsuccessfully seeking his Pa at his New York City bodega. The Garcias live in fear until the day both parents are picked up; his Pa is taken to jail and his Ma to a detention center. The adults around Mateo offer support to him and his 7-year-old sister, Sophie, however, he knows he is now responsible for caring for her and the bodega as well as trying to survive junior year—that is, if he wants to fulfill his dream to enter the drama program at the Tisch School of the Arts and become an actor. Mateo’s relationships with his friends Kimmie and Adam (a potential love interest) also suffer repercussions as he keeps his situation a secret. Kimmie is half Korean (her other half is unspecified) and Adam is Italian American; Mateo feels disconnected from them, less American, and with worries they can’t understand. He talks himself out of choosing a safer course of action, a decision that deepens the story. Mateo’s self-awareness and inner monologue at times make him seem older than 16, and, with significant turmoil in the main plot, some side elements feel underdeveloped. Aleman’s narrative joins the ranks of heart-wrenching stories of migrant families who have been separated.
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7595-5605-8
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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