A starkly focused yet overlong tale of a clash between moderation versus despotism during an emergency.
After an earthquake destroys a major city, a group of schoolchildren make their way through the desolate rubble trying to survive in Taylor-Garcia’s speculative YA novel.
In a large, unnamed urban area, a group of high-school students embark on an unspecified field-trip “project” in which popular student Mayaseems to have a leadership role. Sudden, panicked flights of pigeons and eerie noises prefigure a massive earthquake, which effectively level the city. As aftershocks rumble throughout the area, the young people are alive but shaken, but there are no adults around to help them. Indeed, with few exceptions, no other city residents seem to be in view in a smoky landscape of tottering ruins and distant fires. Maya rallies the students and attempts to protect them in a plan to seek shelter, stay in one place, and await rescue. However, almost immediately, Jace, her charismatic classmate, starts questioning her decisions. He seems to be a natural-born rebel and troublemaker, and soon he has the kids listening to his exhortations that they start procuring food and weapons by any means they can, including theft, and to prepare to fight even their peers, if necessary. He even implies that the group should leave the weak and unproductive behind. An inevitable schism develops among the students, whom Maya tries to hold together with appeals to their better natures. Restless Jace, however, favors brash action over prudence and cooperation; he and his breakaway faction ultimately make a warehouse their home base, while Maya and her supporters face mounting hunger and desperation.
Readers may find echoes of Willam Golding’s Lord of the Flies (1954) or William Butler’s The Butterfly Revolution (1961) in this narrative, which begins as a disaster drama but very quickly transforms into lengthy and often repetitious arguments between clashing moral philosophies about what to do and why. The phrase “weight of leadership” recurs, refrainlike, as Maya and, far less often, Jace agonize about their choices: “In the end, that was what leadership was all about. Not just making the decisions, but living with the consequences.” As students tag Maya’s coolheaded entreaties and cautions as weakness and the crisis inevitably escalates towards violence, readers never learn important information, including the identity of the region or the size of the bands of kids who cluster around Maya and Jace as their rivalry grows—it could be in the dozens, or it could be in the hundreds. The scale of the catastrophe may have destroyed just one city, or a state, or perhaps the known world, as far as the reader knows. Also, anything that could throw the focus off the core conflict is ignored, and the result feels somewhat like a Hermann Hesse-like novel of ideas. At more than 400 pages in length, it is a hefty journey through allegory. That said, the prose will be accessible to a YA readership and the story proceeds swiftly enough, for all its minimal complications. To its credit, the material does not transform into post-apocalyptic “prepper” fiction, which is a distinct plus.
A starkly focused yet overlong tale of a clash between moderation versus despotism during an emergency.Pub Date: Oct. 12, 2024
ISBN: 9798892950138
Page Count: 428
Publisher: Bamboo Village Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 29, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
