PANGU'S SHADOW

Two teen girls accused of murdering their boss will be sent to their moon’s penal colony unless they can find the real killer.

Seventeen-year-old Aryl Fielding’s true passion is dance, but her coveted research apprenticeship at the Institute for Natural Exploration honors her parents’ sacrifices as immigrants from agricultural G-Moon Two to affluent G-Moon One. Sixteen-year-old black-haired and olive-skinned Ver Yun left her industrially ravaged home of G-Moon Three to apprentice at the lab so she could search for a cure for the degenerative disease that has left her disabled. Aryl, who has “bronze skin and mahogany ringlets,” sees Ver as an opportunistic know-it-all; Ver thinks Aryl is a slacker who skates by on her intimidating physical superiority. When Investigator Cal Eppi, the girls’ supervisor, is murdered, the police automatically charge them, the immigrant offworlders. With only days left until their trial, they move from mutual distrust to working together. As their rivalry turns to romance, they take on powerful people who are hiding big secrets. This dual-perspective tale maintains a vivid connection to each narrator’s voice while keeping up an exciting pace and unfurling a satisfying mystery. The portrayals of queer people, immigrant families, and those living with chronic pain and disability are well executed in this work, which is set in a world infused with Asian cultural elements.

Hard to put down: a strongly written work that pulls no punches while providing much-needed representation.