The crystalline realization of this wildly dystopic future carries in it obvious and enormous implications for today’s...
“I don’t know when they first had feeds. Like maybe, fifty or a hundred years ago. Before than, they had to use their hands and their eyes. Computers were all outside the body. They carried them around outside of them, in their hands, like if you carried your lungs in a briefcase and opened it to breathe.”
Titus and his friends have grown up on the feed—connected on a 24-hour basis through brain implants to a vast computer network, they have become their medium. “The braggest thing about the feed . . . is that it knows everything you want and hope for, sometimes before you even know what those things are.” Titus is a master at navigating this world where to consume is to live, but when he meets Violet, a distinctly unusual girl whose philology-professor father has chosen to homeschool her instead of sending her to School™, he begins, very tentatively and imperfectly, to question this equation. Thrown together when their feeds are hacked at a party and they are temporarily disconnected, their very hesitant romance is played out against the backdrop of an utterly hedonistic world of trend and acquisition, a world only momentarily disturbed by the news reports of environmental waste and a global alliance of have-not nations against the obliviously consuming US. Anderson (Handel, Who Knew What He Liked, 2001, etc.) has crafted a wickedly clever narrative in which Titus’s voice takes on perfectly the speech patterns of today’s more vapid teens (“ ‘Oh, unit,’ I was like, ‘is this malfunction?’ ”). When Violet’s feed begins to fail, and with it all her life functions, she decides to rebel against all that the feed stands for—the degradation of language, the self-absorption, the leaching of all culture and independent thought from the world—and Titus must make his choice.
The crystalline realization of this wildly dystopic future carries in it obvious and enormous implications for today’s readers—satire at its finest. (Fiction. YA)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-7636-1726-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2002
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
Come for the forbidden romance and interpersonal machinations rather than the titular Games.
Bly’s world is filled with vampires, witches, and humans like herself.
Vampires and witches live under an uneasy peace, but for two weeks each year, they play the Revenant Games. During this time, humans can choose a side, try to capture a member of the opposing faction, and claim a reward: The witches will raise someone from the dead, while the vampires will grant you immortality. Bly enters in hopes of winning her sister Elise’s resurrection. During preparations for the Games, however, Emerson, her best friend and crush, receives a death curse from a witch that can only be cured if he attains immortality. The two team up, playing for both sides in an attempt to save both Emerson and Elise. But when they capture a vampire called Kerrigan, and Bly’s feelings for him get complicated, she faces difficult decisions. This book’s real draw is the abundant drama between the players. The Games themselves mostly feel like walks through the woods punctuated by occasional battles, and the explanation for the witches’ and vampires’ incentives to risk their lives is unconvincing, making the overall setup feel contrived. Fans of traditional vampires will enjoy the book’s portrayal of these velvet-wearing creatures, however. The abrupt ending sets things up to be continued in a possible sequel. Bly is cued white; Emerson has dark brown skin, and supporting characters bring diversity in skin color and sexual orientation.
Come for the forbidden romance and interpersonal machinations rather than the titular Games. (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: March 19, 2024
ISBN: 9781665934411
Page Count: 416
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2024
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