FRAGILE REMEDY

A genetically engineered boy struggles to survive a dystopia and win over the boy he adores.

Nate was manufactured to be a commodity. When lung-rot threatened the upper echelon of Gathos City, GEMs (Genetically Engineered Medi-tissue) like Nate were bioengineered for their restorative blood. Nate’s parents refused to let the privileged class vampirically use him, and they smuggled him out of Gathos—dying in the process. Liberated but orphaned, Nate faces other threats: GEMs die without a special remedy, and a street gang hunts GEMs to harvest them. So Nate conceals his genetics for self-preservation and to prevent the merry band of misfits he lives with from being accused of unwittingly harboring him. Plus, the head of those misfits, Reed, is the most beautiful boy Nate has ever wanted to kiss. Grit, grime, and steampunk tinkering define a landscape that could easily serve Oliver Twist or Blade Runner. Acts of terrorism, conflicting castes, and meals of rotted fruit underscore the struggle. But there’s beauty in the connectivity Nate’s band of friends find in surviving together. This is a dystopian labyrinth leading to love, with minotaurs in the form of murder, drug fiends, and the raw need to survive. Nate has golden-brown skin, love interest Reed has dark-brown skin, and their friend Sparks is cued as trans.

A boy-loves-boy dystopian fantasy for anyone needing a heartbreaking thrill.