This is the reality that Cassie faces in The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey. An ominous spaceship descends and drops an electromagnetic bomb which knocks out the power, then a deadly virus claims the majority of the world population. Things just continue to get worse, because those are only the first few waves. After her brother is taken away on a bus full of other children to a military base and the rest of the adults, including her father, are murdered, Cassie escapes to survive on her own in the woods and is left wondering if she is the last person on Earth, though her goal is to find her younger brother, if she can avoid being killed by a Silencer.

Though this story is action-packed, it’s also character-driven. Though there is plenty of death and gore, what differentiates The 5th Wave from other similar titles is it’s philosophical nature. What does it mean to be human? How do you trust someone? How do you go on if you are the last person on Earth? Readers are invited to contemplate these questions, though the book doesn’t offer easy answers.

Though there is violence, the fear is more psychological. Why it’s scary to have someone put a gun in your face, it’s even more frightening to have the enemy map your mind and discover more about you than you know about yourself. Monsters are scary, but they are even scarier when they look just like you, when there is no way to tell if the person in front of you is like you, or one of them.

The 5th Wave is bound to appeal to a variety of different types of readers. Even those who don’t usually go for sci-fi thrillers or people who think they are done with post-apocalyptic novels will likely enjoy this complex story that is more about humanity being tested by an alien invasion. This will appeal to fans of The Hunger Games; in fact, I’d say it’s likely to be the next YA series to be a hit sensation!

– Molly, YA

Beta is set on the otherworldly island of Demesne, where the air is so full of oxygen, the environment so lush, it seems like paradise. The island is staffed by clones made from the bodies of those who have died, and these clones serve the elite humans who make Demesne their home. Elysia is one of the first teen clones, making her a Beta. Despite the risk, she is purchased by the wife of the governor of the island as a sort of replacement for her daughter who has gone to study on the mainland. Elysia wants nothing more to please her new owners so she can keep her coveted role as one of the family and avoid the manual labor and servitude that is the lot of others of her kind. But Elysia slowly realizes that Demesne is not a paradise for everyone on the island. She experiences emotions and sensations that clones are not supposed to feel, not to mention strange flashbacks of a beautiful boy that can only be memories of her First.

The narration is believable and immediate. I was completely swept away in Elysia’s point-of-view. Her reaction to this world seems fitting of someone who has only just recently become a part of it. The world-building is subtle yet complete. It seems very believable that this technology could be developed in the future, and that the rich and famous would use their power to construct an ideal offshore community after the mainland has been ravaged by war and natural disasters. I felt that from the very beginning, Cohn was planting the seeds of rebellion. The plot twists at the end hit you in quick succession—Bam! Bam! Bam! and left me dying for the sequel. Ultimately, the character of Elysia and her strong voice are what will bring me back for the rest of the trilogy.

This book is definitely mature YA. While some books I’ve reviewed recently, like Tiger Lily and The Shadow Society, I feel are appropriate for those as young as 12, Beta is not one of those books. While not gratuitous or inappropriate, this is a novel best suited to more mature teen readers.

If you enjoy Beta, you might also like What’s Left of Me by Kat Zhang, Glitch by Heather Anastusiu, and Origin by Jessica Khoury.

– Molly, YA 

But what is steampunk?

In its purest form, steampunk is fiction set in the late Victorian era (late 1800s through World War I) and usually in Great Britain, though it can be set in other locales (think the American Wild West). But instead of straight historical fiction, these stories are imbued with fantastical re-imaginings of steam era technologies. Think retro-futuristic weapons, transportation, and fashion. Though often set in the past, these stories offer alternative histories: a “what might have been” look at the future from the perspective of Victorians.

These novels all contain some aspect of steampunk. Whether you’re interested in science fiction, romance, fantasy, or historical fiction, steampunk has something to offer you.

Airborn by Kenneth Oppel

Matt, a young cabin boy aboard an airship, and Kate, a wealthy young girl traveling with her chaperone, team up to search for the existence of mysterious winged creatures reportedly living hundreds of feet above the Earth’s surface.

The Girl in the Steel Corset by Kady Cross

In 1897 England, 16-year-old Finley Jayne is convinced she’s a freak. No normal Victorian girl has a darker side that makes her capable of knocking out a full-grown man with one punch. Only Griffin King sees the magical darkness inside her that says she’s special . . . that she’s one of “them.”

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

When sixteen-year-old orphan Tessa Fell’s older brother suddenly vanishes, her search for him leads her into Victorian-era London’s dangerous supernatural underworld, and when she discovers that she herself is a Downworlder, she must learn to trust the demon-killing Shadowhunters if she ever wants to learn to control her powers and find her brother.

Mortal Engines by Phillip Reeve

In the distant future, when cities move about and consume smaller towns, a fifteen-year-old apprentice is pushed out of London by the man he most admires and must seek answers in the perilous Out-Country, aided by one girl and the memory of another.

Worldshaker by Richard Harland

Sixteen-year-old Col Porpentine is being groomed as the next Commander of Worldshaker, a juggernaut where elite families live on the upper decks while the Filthies toil below, but when he meets Riff, a Filthy girl on the run, he discovers how ignorant he is of his home and its residents.

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

In an alternate 1914 Europe, fifteen-year-old Austrian Prince Alek, on the run from the Clanker Powers who are attempting to take over the globe using mechanical machinery, forms an uneasy alliance with Deryn who, disguised as a boy to join the British Air Service, is learning to fly genetically-engineered beasts.

Airman by Eoin Colfer

In the late nineteenth century, when Conor Broekhart discovers a conspiracy to overthrow the king, he is branded a traitor, imprisoned, and forced to mine for diamonds under brutal conditions while he plans a daring escape from Little Saltee prison by way of a flying machine that he must design, build, and, hardest of all, trust to carry him to safety.

Innocent Darkness by Suzanne Lazear

In 1901, on an alternate Earth, sixteen-year-old Noli rejoices when a mysterious man transports her from reform school to the Realm of Faerie, until Noli learns his sinister reason.

Steampunk!: An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories edited by Kelly Link and Gavin J. Grant

If you’re not sure if steampunk is for you, check out this sampling of short stories from the genre.

The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor

When she is cast out of Wonderland by her evil Aunt Redd, young Alyss Heart finds herself living in Victorian Oxford as Alice Liddell and struggles to keep memories of her kingdom intact until she can return and claim her rightful throne.

Masque of the Red Death by Bethany Griffin

In this twist on Edgar Allen Poe’s gothic short story, a wealthy teenaged girl who can afford a special mask to protect her from the plague that decimated humanity in the mid-1800s, falls in love, becomes caught up in a conspiracy to overthrow an oppressive government, and faces the threat of a new plague.

Peculiars by Maureen McQuerry

Eighteen-year-old Lena Mattacascar sets out for Scree, a weird place inhabited by Peculiars, seeking the father who left when she was young, but on the way she meets young librarian Jimson Quiggley and handsome marshal Thomas Saltre, who complicate her plans.

The Iron Thorn by Caitlin Kittredge

In an alternate 1950s, mechanically gifted fifteen-year-old Aoife Grayson, whose family has a history of going mad at sixteen, must leave the totalitarian city of Lovecraft and venture into the world of magic to solve the mystery of her brother’s disappearance and the mysteries surrounding her father and the Land of Thorn.

The Dark Unwinding by Sharon Cameron

In 1852, when seventeen-year-old Katharine is sent to her family’s estate to prove that her uncle is insane, she finds he is an inventor whose work creating ingenious clockwork figures supports hundreds of families, but strange occurrences soon have her doubting her own sanity.

Something Strange and Deadly by Susan Dennard

In an alternate nineteenth-century Philadelphia, Eleanor Fitt sets out to rescue her brother, who seems to have been captured by an evil necromancer in control of an army of Undead.

The Hunchback Assignments by Arthur G. Slade

In Victorian London, fourteen-year-old Modo, a shape-changing hunchback, becomes a secret agent for the Permanent Association, which strives to protect the world from the evil machinations of the Clockwork Guild.

Once you make it through this list, don’t fret…steampunk is a genre that is steadily growing and sure to produce fantastical re-imaginings of a future that never was!

Despite the seemingly endless supply of novels about a teen challenging the authority of their seemingly perfect yet obviously malicious society, none are quite like Crewel by Gennifer Albin.

The world of Crewel, Arras, is your basic dystopian on the surface; personal decisions we take for granted, like what job we’ll have, who we’ll marry, and how many children we’ll have, are all dictated by the state. Of course, they provide for your most basic needs, so there’s not much cause for complaint.

Arras is ruled by the Guild, who control the Spinsters, or those with the special ability to weave time and matter. The concept behind Crewel is fascinating. I loved the passages where Adelice is weaving time and learning about how Spinsters create and control life in Arras. It’s kind of like the mythology of the Fates crossed with the mythology of The Matrix. Though I personally wish there would have been more of a sci-fi component, it worked as the basis for this fantasy world.

Spinsters are revered by society. They get to wear fancy dresses and attend exclusive parties. They have power others do not. They are special. Who wouldn’t want to be a Spinster? Well, Adelice doesn’t want to be one. When she showed an aptitude for weaving as a child, her parents began secretly training her to disguise her talent so she could deliberately fail the tests administered to teens and stay near her family.

But during testing, she slips, and for a second, demonstrates her uncanny ability: she can weave without a loom. Just as she suspects, the authorities come for her at night. And thus beings Adelice’s journey.

Adelice is a likable character. She’s snarky, and her sarcastic dialogue was delightful. I like a heroine with sass, and Adelice certainly delivered. Her ability to see the strands of time and matter, to pull them apart and stitch them back together, could have made her haughty or self-important, but she remains down-to-earth and loyal to those she cares about even when she’s being tempted with an extravagant life that most girls in Arras dream of having one day.

Like so many YA novels, this one features a love triangle — Erik, the charming blond, and Jost, the quiet, dark-haired boy. Yet they both have those piercing blue eyes…

While it was awfully convenient that these two young men happen to be available to help Adelice once she’s been taken by the Guild, and doubly convenient that they both have feelings for her (though she only seems to have romantic feelings for one…) this “love triangle” didn’t immediately turn me off the way some do. The twist at the end (I’m trying not to spoil) made me want to find more about their pasts, which I already found compelling.

I love a good villain, and this was where Crewel did leave me a bit disappointed. Ambassador Cormac Patton, while lecherous and repugnant, didn’t seem to have much depth or motivation. The ambitious, jealous, Spinster who is responsible for Adelice’s training but mostly just torments and humiliates her, is very one-dimensional. As I’m fond of imagining stories from other character’s points of view, I found myself wondering what made her tick, what her story was, but sadly, it was never revealed. The Guild is the true antagonist, as they are the ones who control the Spinsters and dictate the pattern of the weave that is the world of Arras, but we learn so very little about them. I guess that’s what sequels are for…

In the tradition of The Handmaid’s Tale My Margaret Atwood, Crewel had the potential to be read as a feminist text. While Spinsters, and particularly the Creweler, who is the only one who can gather the raw materials that Spinsters weave to make the world of Arras, are the ones with the power, they are controlled by the men of the Guild. Even women who don’t have the talent for weaving and live “normal” lives are only permitted to work in subservient service positions. Spinsters and regular citizens alike are objectified and forced to conform to a very sexualized vision of femininity. Throw in some illicit lesbian relationships, and you’ve got the perfect set up for a critique of patriarchy…but Crewel just didn’t pack enough of a punch to meet my feminist expectations. Of course, there are always those sequels.

Despite being less than perfect, Crewel is a stand-out addition to the young adult dystopian romances that are still all the rage. It’s a highly readable, inventive, and well-written novel that I anticipate will be a hit, especially with fans of Delirium by Lauren Oliver and The Selection by Kiera Cass. It’s certainly the most creative and unique dystopian world I’ve come across this year.

– Molly, YA 

But at the end of the day, what really draws me into a book is the love story, so I was interested to read Time Between Us by Tamara Ireland Stone. As long as readers have no expectation of receiving any kind of explanation of how or why Bennett can time travel, they’ll likely find this an enjoyable romance. Anna is a likable character. She’s sweet, but not too sweet. Bennett is cute and fun and a bit mysterious, even though he’s not some super-hunky guy. Both characters seem realistic, and attracted to each other in a believable way that your average teen can relate to. Parents are so often absent in YA fiction, I loved seeing Anna’s parents portrayed as normal people. Anna has an average family and an average life, until the very un-average Bennett makes his appearance.

Filled with sufficient angst, the romance is really the heart of this story. As readers slowly come to understand why Bennett has tried to keep Anna at arm’s length, and why she is so drawn to him, it’s hard not to fall in love right along with them. Though Anna accepts his ability, she doesn’t accept him using it to change her life without her knowledge, though she does insist he use it to prevent her friends’ car accident, and ultimately change the course of their relationship.

Explanation of how the whole time travel business works is slim. The rules are very simple, and don’t seem sufficient to keep the world from imploding. All Bennett knows is that he shouldn’t go back in time to before he was born, and he shouldn’t ever show up in the same place he was in the past. There’s no discussion of creating alternate time lines or really many consequences to their little and big “do-overs.” What there is a lot of is indulgent, fun trips to exotic locales. This book doesn’t prompt much thinking, but it does manage to make the reader feel. Stone’s prose is light and engrossing and fun to read.

I wouldn’t recommend this to those who favor hard science fiction, but for those looking for a unique young adult romance that’s heavy on the sweetness, this is a perfect fit.

– Molly, YA

But I decided to take a chance on The Immortal Rules, and I’m glad I did. Julie Kawaga has made a unique and gripping contribution to young adult vampire fiction.

Allison Sekemoto lives on the Fringe, outside the walls of the vampire city. As an unregistered, she doesn’t have to regularly donate blood, but she doesn’t get any rations, either. She and her band of friends survive by scavenging, but just barely get by. Not only are they vulnerable to attacks from vampires who aren’t content to feed on donated blood, they are also constantly defending their territory from other gangs of unregistereds fighting for scarce resources. And if they leave the walls that protect city, they face the worst enemy of all: the Rabids. These zombie-like creatures have contracted a virus that leaves them emaciated and hungry for flesh. Even vampires steer clear of Rabids.

Allison braves the ruins past the walls of the city on a scavenging trip, and discovers an entire basement full of food that will allow her and her friends to survive through the winter. However, when she returns with her crew to haul back the canned goods, they are caught by Rabids. Her friends die, and as Allison lies dangerously close to death herself, she is given a choice by a vampire: die for good, or be turned into what she hates more than anything.

Allison’s drive to survive is strong enough that she accepts, and endures training with her sire, who exists outside of the walls of the city and is obsessed with strange research in an old hospital. When Allison and her mentor are discovered by the vampires that rule the city, they must flee. Allison escapes the city, but just barely, and finds herself alone in the wilderness full of Rabids. She sets out in search of another city, hoping there is life out there. If she doesn’t come across a human to feed on soon, she’ll go crazy and die.

Allison stumbles across a band of travelers searching for a city called Eden, perhaps the last place on Earth not ruled by vampires. They travel at night because they lost many of their camp when Rabids emerged from their daytime slumber in the ground beneath them, so Allison is able to conceal her identity as a vampire. She develops a close relationship with one of the boys in the group, and uncovers some of their leader’s secrets. Is there a cure to the disease that has decimated so much of the world’s population? Is Eden a real place or just a myth? Can a vampire love a human? None of these questions have easy answers.

This novel blends the best of post-apocalyptic and dystopian genres with horror and paranormal elements. It’s gritty, bleak, and chocked full of action. The world-building is astounding, even if the backstory is awkwardly inserted during dialogue. The plot is fast-paced and complicated, with plenty of twists and turns. I loved that romance took a back seat to the basic struggle to survive. Allison is a compelling character, and while far from perfect, she’s someone I wanted to cheer on. She’s smart and driven and struggles with her new identity.

I’d recommend this book to those who are skeptical of vampire stories, anyone who likes a strong female protagonist, and readers looking for a paranormal twist on a post-apocalyptic story. If you loved this novel, check out Scott Westerfeld’s Peeps and Carrie Ryan’s The Forest of Hands and Teeth.

- Molly, YA Staff

Vector by John Jackson Miller

A terrible vision reaching far into the future alerts the secret Jedi Covenant to the importance of Taris, and they activate operative Celeste Morne. She encounters a monstrous threat, an ancient Sith artifact, an army of Mandalorians, and Zayne Carrick, the Padawan accused of killing his fellow students!

Star Wars X-Wing: The Bacta War by Michael Stackpoole

Tyrant Ysanne Isard has seized control of Thyferra, intending to use its supply of medicinal bacta for a decidedly unhealthy purpose–to destabilize and annihilate the New Republic. Undermanned and without Alliance support, Rogue Squadron faces an overwhelmingly superior force–and nearly impossible task: to oppose Isard’s plans, defeat her Star Destroyer fleet, and free Thyferra from the grip of a madman in a winner-take-all battle.

 Inside the Word of the Star Wars Trilogy by James Luceno

Inside the Worlds of Star Wars is the complete guide to the locations from the Star Wars Classic Trilogy. The book is illustrated with 20 full-color, fantastically intricate cross-sections, and features an array of spot artworks, 3-D plans, more than 60 crystal-clear photographs, and detailed orthographic keys to create an extraordinary visual experience.

Sacrifice by Karen Traviss

Civil war rages as the Galactic Alliance-led by Cal Omas and the Jedi forces of Luke Skywalker-battles a confederation of breakaway planets that rally to the side of rebellious Corellia. Suspected of involvement in an assassination plot against Queen Mother Tenel Ka of the Hapes Consortium, Han and Leia Solo are on the run, hunted by none other than their own son, Jacen, whose increasingly authoritarian tactics as head of GA security have led Luke and Mara Skywalker to fear that their nephew may be treading perilously close to the dark side.

Vision of the Future by Timothy Zahn

The Empire’s master plan is under way. The New Republic is on the verge of civil war and the rumor that the legendary Admiral Thrawn has returned from the dead is rallying the Imperial forces. Now Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia, and their allies face the challenge of their lives. They must infiltrate a hidden fortress filled with Imperial fanatics, rendezvous with a double-dealing Imperial commander, and journey into enemy territory to learn the identity of those responsible for an act of unthinkable genocide. But most important of all is the truth about Thrawn. In his hands–alive or dead–rests the fate of the New Republic.

 Day by Day Armageddon by J. L. Bourne

An ongoing journal depicting one man’s personal struggle for survival, dealing with the trials of an undead world unfolding around him. An unknown plague sweeps the planet. The dead rise to claim the Earth as the new dominant species. Trapped in the midst of a global tragedy, he must make decisions … choices that ultimately mean life, or the eternal curse to walk as one of them.

  Ashes by Ilsa Bick

Alex (a resourceful seventeen-year-old running from her incurable brain tumor), Tom (who has left the war in Afghanistan), and Ellie (an angry eight-year-old) join forces after an electromagnetic pulse sweeps through the sky and kills most of the world’s population, turning some of those who remain into zombies and giving the others superhuman senses.

 Rot and Ruin by Jonathan Maberry

In a post-apocalyptic world where fences and border patrols guard the few people left from the zombies that have overtaken civilization, fifteen-year-old Benny Imura is finally convinced that he must follow in his older brother’s footsteps and become a bounty hunter.

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

Through twists and turns of fate, orphaned Mary seeks knowledge of life, love, and especially what lies beyond her walled village and the surrounding forest, where dwell the unconsecrated, aggressive flesh-eating people who were once dead.

Generation Dead by Daniel Waters

When dead teenagers who have come back to life start showing up at her high school, Phoebe, a goth girl, becomes interested in the phenomenon, and when she starts dating a “living impaired” boy, they encounter prejudice, fear, and hatred.

I Kissed a Zombie and I Liked It by Adam Selzer

Living in the post-human era when the undead are part of everyday life, high schooler Alley breaks her no-dating rule when Doug catches her eye, but classmate Will demands to turn her into a vampire and her zombie boyfriend may be unable to stop him.

The Immortal Rules by Julie Kawaga

Allison Sekemoto survives in the Fringe, the outermost circle of a vampire city, until she too becomes an immortal vampire. Forced to flee into the unknown, outside her city walls, she joins a ragged band of humans who are seeking a legend — a possible cure to the disease that killed off most of humankind and created the rabids, the mindless creatures who threaten humans and vampires alike.

This is Not a Test by Courtney Summers

Barricaded in Cortege High with five other teens while zombies try to get in, Sloane Price observes her fellow captives become more unpredictable and violent as time passes although they each have much more reason to live than she has.

Something Strange and Deadly by Susan Dennard

In an alternate nineteenth-century Philadelphia, Eleanor Fitt sets out to rescue her brother, who seems to have been captured by an evil necromancer in control of an army of Undead.

But nothing is cooler than Cinderella as a cyborg. In Cinder, the first in the Lunar Chronicles, Marissa Meyer has gone beyond a simple retelling and created a fantastical new universe by transporting the classic Cinderella story to New Beijing, a futuristic world where former Earth residents have colonized the moon.Living on Lunar has caused these citizens to develop special powers that allow them to manipulate the thoughts and minds of others—but wait, I’m getting ahead of myself…

Cinder has no memory of her life before being adopted. Whatever happened to her as a young child, she knows it was bad, because in order to survive, she had a computer operating system hard-wired into her body, and one foot and hand are now metal. When her adopted father suddenly dies of the plague that is slowly sweeping the world, she is left with her stepmother and stepsister, who are not especially nice and even blame her for his death. Luckily, she has is close to one of her stepsisters and also has a droid as a friend.

Cinder works as a mechanic to support her family. Her cyborg status makes her a second-class citizen. The story opens with Prince Kai (in disguise, of course) stopping by her booth to see if she can fix his droid. Before she gets a chance to repair it, a sudden outbreak of the plague infects her sister and puts Cinder in a dangerous position. Her stepmother blames her for her sister catching the disease, and thus volunteers her for the dangerous vaccine experiments conducted by the palace research teams. She may be the only one in the world to be able to stop the plague and in the process, discovers secrets about her past.

Before a cure is developed, Prince Kai’s father, the king, dies from the plague, prompting the Lunar Queen Levana visits Earth. She intends to capitalize on the tragedy by forcing Kai to marry her to form an alliance, the first step in her plan to conquer Earth. Will Kai be able to maintain peace with the Lunar colony and resist Queen Levana’s influence? Will Cinder be able to fix his android? Will a cure be found for the deadly plague? And most importantly, will Cinder agree to go to the ball with Kai?!

The plot is familiar, but the sci-fi setting more than make up for the predictable “twists.” Cinder was a character you wanted to cheer on, whether she was rushing to try and save her sister or risking her own safety for the Commonwealth. She’s strong, self-sacrificing, and smart.

This novel is a great exploration of the nature of prejudice; both Lunars and cyborgs are feared and despised. Still, the story moves beyond this to the basic question of the essence of humanity. Do a few artifical parts or an evolved consciousness change what it means to be human? These themes made Cinder as thought-provoking as it was entertaining.

The romance was subtle. Cinder’s shame over her cyborg parts forces her to keep Kai at a distance. Kai is persistent but not overbearing in his pursuit of Cinder. He’s a down-to-Earth guy who takes his royal responsibilities seriously. Rather than pushing into melodrama, the conflict was based on real hardships, rather than artificial angst.

My only complaint was the cliff-hanger ending! I can’t wait to read more from Marissa Meyer. This was one of the most hyped debuts of 2012, and for me, it lived up to it.

You can read a short story and prequel, “Glitches,” online here, and the second installment in the Lunar Chronicles, Scarlet, will be out next February! I recommend this to anyone who likes reimagined fairy tales or a blend of sci-fi and fantasy in their young adult fiction.

– Molly, YA

Though the cover might lead you to believe the story takes place in space, it’s set in a future here on Earth years after genetic manipulation nearly wiped out humanity. Only the Luddites, who escaped to live in caves for generations, have survived unscathed. The rest of the people are called the Reduced, with limited intellectual capabilities that have left them mute and unable to care for themselves. When it is finally safe to come to the surface, The Luddites set out to restore humanity. They believe it is their duty to God to care for the Reduced, but the way they do this is by enslaving them and outlawing all forms of technology in order to prevent the same kind catastrophe that nearly killed off their ancestors. The Reduced work the farms of the Luddites, and after a few generations, begin to have children called Posts because they are not afflicted with the genetic problems of their parents and can lead normal, productive lives, yet they are still bound to their Luddite masters.

Elliot is a Luddite who runs her father’s estate because he is frivolous and lazy. Years ago, she had the opportunity to run away with her friend Kai, a Post who was a talented mechanical apprentice who dreamed of a life where the rigid social structure didn’t interfere with their friendship. Elliot, knowing the estate would fail if she left, stayed behind and her responsibility was to the people she whose care was entrusted to her family. Now, years later, Kai has returned, but as a wealthy, accomplished Post who is renting out her family’s shipyard to build a fleet to explore beyond the island. And so the awkward tension begins…will Elliot and Kai get back together?

The story follows the plot of Jane Austen’s Persuasion rather closely, so even though I knew the basic outline of what would happen, I still felt compelled to keep reading and ended up finishing the book in one day. The characters drew me in, not the plot. Elliot is everything Ann is in Persuasion: endearing, dedicated, true. She doesn’t deny her emotions, she just realizes there is more to the world than her own feelings. As the main character, she was certainly the most developed, and I genuinely liked her. Kai was brooding and taciturn in the tradition of Austen’s leading men. Though the supporting cast felt underdeveloped, they served their purpose of furthering the story.

As far as science fiction goes, this is definitely what I’d call “sci-fi lite”. There’s not a lot of development of the “how” of the world—it’s clear that genetic manipulation is what contributed to the demise of a good portion of the population, but there’s no hard science. It’s not the details that the story relies on, however; the idea suffices. The slow way the past is revealed allowed it to serve as a background to the romance.

And the romance is what you read it for. Though the story is set in the future, the old-fashioned ideas of class and courtship play out in an excruciatingly delightful way.

In young adult literature, the romance is often a tale of boy meets girl. There is instant attraction, then they battle their family/evil overlords/zombies/etc. It was refreshing to read a story that starts years after the protagonists initially fell in love. Rather than sacrificing the tension, this configuration magnified it exponentially. Though we don’t get so much as an on-page kiss between Malakai and Elliot, the tension and angst surely don’t suffer.

I recommend this book for those who like their YA romance with a side of dystopia and a sprinkling of sci-fi.

- Molly, YA Staff