Every five years the futuristic enclosed city of Palmares Tres, in what was Brazil, elects a summer king. He is beautiful and beloved — and at the end of his year, he is sacrificed to choose a new Queen. Best friends June and Gil have never questioned this custom until … Continue reading
The pitch: A couple of years ago, biological warfare wiped out everyone between the ages of twenty and sixty. The vulnerable young and elderly were vaccinated, but they didn’t have enough for younger adults. Sixteen-year-old Callie and her little brother live like all Starters, kids without grandparents to claim them: squatting … Continue reading
The pitch: Eva has grown up in an underground shelter, with only a robot Muthr for a parent. She’s training for life in the outside world, but is never allowed to go there — until a mysterious attacker destroys her home and she must escape alone into the world above, … Continue reading
Martin Maple and his dad live alone on an island. Mr. Maple spends all his time building a mysterious machine that he says will bring hope. When the machine is almost done, he rows off to the mainland to bring back the final piece. He never returns, nor do the … Continue reading
Best friends Kayla and Mishalla are GENs, Genetically Engineered Non-humans. In other words, slaves. Built in tanks from human and animal DNA, designed with special “skets” (skill sets), they are at the bottom of the strictly hierarchical society humans have built on their colony planet Loka. They have no say … Continue reading
Rose’s parents, the heads of the most powerful corporation in the universe, have put her in stasis periodically her whole life. Usually just for a few months, but it adds up — her best friend Xavier, who was born when she was 7, eventually caught up in age and became … Continue reading
The sequel to Incarceron. No point in reading this review if you haven’t read the first book and are planning to, so SPOILERS AHEAD for both books! I wanted to love this. I really did. And there were many things I did love — it’s tense and thrilling in many … Continue reading
5 out of 5! Nailer is a ship breaker — he works for a salvage operation on a Gulf beach, taking apart rusty oil tankers from the Accelerated Age (ahem, that would be us). Nailer lives day to day, barely making quota and avoiding his dad’s drug-addled rages — until … Continue reading
When Lucinda was small, her parents died in a terrible accident on their way to a royal ball. Now she lives a Cinderella existence in her grasping, abusive Aunt’s jewelry shop — until an urchin thief named Peter and the mysterious Amaranth Witch change Lucinda’s life forever. The broad strokes … Continue reading
Incarceron is the ultimate prison: no way in, no way out. It was designed long ago to prove that even the dregs of humanity could create a paradise if properly managed, but the AI that manages the prison became sentient and turned it into a hell. Finn was born full-grown … Continue reading
