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How much can our genetics determine who we are? Does the color of our skin or our physical stature change the way people act around us? Do our genes hold the key to preventing violent people from committing crimes? In Sophie Jordan's Uninvited, we have to ask ourselves how far we are willing to go to protect ourselves.
Davy is your typical upper class private school girl with all the opportunities in the world. As a musical prodigy, she aspires to go to Julliard after graduation. When her high school screens for the "killer gene" or HTS (Homicidal Tendency Syndrome), the last person you would think to carry the dangerous genetic code would be Davy, but HTS doesn't follow patterns or expectations. The minute Davy's test results are communicated to the school, she is "uninvited" or basically expelled. The local private school has a program for carriers like Davy, but it means they must show up and leave int he middle of standard class times to avoid interacting with "normal" kids. When she arrives for her first day, she is led to her classroom, The Cage.
While the separation of the people with HTS is meant to protect the general public, it quickly becomes a means for the "normal" population to attack and corral the HTS population. Davy experiences this at the hands of her own boyfriend and friends. Once they find out her status, she is an untouchable. Even her own parents are scared and ashamed of her. She can't believe how the other kids in the Cage survive being treated like this, but the truth is, most of them were untouchable before a test confirmed they carried the Killer Gene. When HTS terrorists commit an unspeakable act, there is nothing left to do but take the segregation a step further. What happens when you put a bunch of people together who already have a genetic predisposition to kill? You can only imagine...
This is a fast-paced, incredible thriller that connects deeply to current situations in a broad, science fiction realm. As I was reading about the prejudice against the HTS kids, I could not help but think about current racial and sexual orientation issues that plague our nation. We currently have legislation that is openly prejudiced against our LGBTQ population that eerily relates to the kind of governmental prejudice in this book. This part of the population had done nothing wrong, but the mere possibility they might was enough to strip them of their rights to freedom. Sound familiar? I loved the carefully shrouded implications Jordan makes about society and how we treat anyone we see as "other". As a teacher of dyslexic students, I see first-hand how a label can change everything. Our students want to be "normal" and what they don't realize (and society perpetuates) is the idea that the way they learn makes them abnormal, different, or defective. It is heartbreaking to watch, and Jordan does a phenomenal job of exploring those feelings of isolation and prejudice with Uninvited.
The characters in this story, whether you love or hate them, are also amazing representatives of the different approaches people will have to this type of situation. The government gets pressured into questionable legislation based on the acts of a few terrorists who do not represent the general population. Davy's mother is ashamed and overwhelmed while her father disappears completely and wishes he could sweep it all under the carpet. Davy's boyfriend and friends turn on her in an incredible, despicable, and realistic manner. But the characters aren't all vile. Davy's brother in unwavering in his love and support of her. He is willing to do anything to keep her safe. Sean, a fellow carrier who doesn't stick his neck out for anyone, can't stand by and let Davy be eaten alive by those around her. Most of all, this book symbolizes that those we think are predisposed to the most evil, often are not the most evil in reality, or even evil at all. This is important to remember, and I love how Jordan makes us question how we define ourselves compared to how society defines us. This was a great story for a variety of readers. I guarantee any reader will draw parallels to the world we live in today, but they might not like where they fall in that mirror image!
In a world where we are already terrorized by swine flu and avian flu, the idea of those viruses infecting people with the animal genetics they carry is the next step we hope could never happen. In Kat Fall's Inhuman brings that terrorizing thought to life as the humans hide behind the walls and the animals roam around the outside.
Everything from the east of the Mississippi river is abandoned as the Feral Zone. When a biological disaster allowed animal DNA to mutate a human through a bite or contact with blood, the rest of the country realized quickly they had to abandon the East Coast in order to preserve what was left of the humans on the other side. Meanwhile, scientists worked on a cure, but the sheer amount of animal DNA in the human population makes a cure or even a treatment impossible without samples from every mutation. When a human is bitten by an infected human, the first stage of the Farae virus is a high fever that hits them immediately. Then, they begin stage two: mutation. The second stage can last for years, if someone is lucky. As they physically transform into the animal, they still retain human conscience and reasoning. These manimals are still feared by the untouched population, but on the other side of the wall, the lines aren't so black and white. When an infected person finally enters the third stage of the virus, they turn into a Feral. The final change can be so abrupt, they can turn on their loved ones, which is why people are so skeptical of the manimals. But when it is your mother, father, brother, child, or spouse, kicking them out when they get bitten isn't so easy. Now thousands of ferals roam the East and even more people are infected by the virus. Meanwhile their families teeter on the balance of love and self-preservation in small civilizations that scrape by a living.
On the other side of the wall, life is different. It isn't necessarily easy, but it also isn't survival driven like life in the east. Lane is fascinated by the Feral Zone, but terrified by it at the same time. When her father, who usually travels for work and leaves her to fend for herself, is revealed by the government to be a "fetch", she can't believe her ears. Fetches go into the Feral Zone to bring back items for people on the other side of the wall, but their very existence is highly illegal and can result in their execution. Lane always knew her father was an art dealer, but she had no idea he spent his life getting on the other side of the wall to collect abandoned art. Now Director Spurling needs her father to fetch something personal. She is offering full immunity for Lane's father, but first Lane has to find him and get him to do the fetch. But finding someone on the Feral side of the wall isn't easy. In fact, it is the most dangerous thing Lane has ever tried to do... until she realizes she has to do the fetch for her father.
Wow! This was such a fast, fun science fiction novel, I couldn't get enough of it! The story behind the virus was as fascinating as the story of what happens to the people it infects. I loved the contrast between the safe zone behind the wall, the intact humans in the Feral Zone, and the manimals. It really demonstrated a class hierarchy that could rival communities existing today. And the descriptions of the manimals and the ferals is so terrifying and creepy, you can just visuals these animal/humans perfectly! It made the story so graphic and vivid, I couldn't get enough of it!
When Lane started off on her journey accompanied by a green line guard named Everson and a scampish guy named Rafe who makes his living stealing from the guards to deliver to the towns in the zone, I was a little disappointed to see yet another love triangle when I really wanted the action of the story to be the focus. But it actually turned out to be the least offensive and least annoying love triangle I have every encountered! In fact, there was even a point when Rafe outright said, "Ok, I am taking myself out of this silly love triangle!" It was like breaking down the fourth wall for television- if the characters acknowledge the silliness, it makes it not-so-silly! Meanwhile, Everson's "by the book" attitude contrasted with Rafe's "anything goes" attitude perfectly. I loved how they came together to help Lane, protected her, but still did so in wildly different ways. I loved both these boys for very different reasons, and I can't wait to get more of them in the second book. But beware- this ends in a serious cliffhanger, so if you can't wait for the rest of the story, you should hold off until the next book comes out to read this one! This is a good series for strong middle readers through young adult readers. The violence in the Feral Zone is expected, and some of the creature mutations are downright terrifying (I am now having nightmares about weevlings and chimpacabras, Ms. Falls. Thanks for that!), but it is so fast-paced and exciting, it will hold anyone's attention!
When a devastating consequence of trying to cure diseases leaves all new generations with an early expiration date (20 yrs for women and 25 for men), the generations left will try anything to find a cure. There are no boundaries to how far they will go, including unthinkable experiments. In the conclusion to Lauren DeStefano's Sever, we see the true devastation of the virus and the unflappable hope of a few that might just turn the tide against complete destruction.
Rhine has survived her murderous father-in-law before, but she never thought she would find herself back in his grasp so soon. Vaughn will go to great lengths to conduct his experiments, but his daughter-in-law's unusual eyes are the source of his intrigue. This time, however, Rhine's husband Linden is actually listening to Rhine's concerns. He agrees to take Rhine and his son and other wife, Cecily, to his reclusive uncle's house instead of keeping them under Vaughn's watchful eye. But Vaughn isn't so easily deterred.
He quickly finds them and through blackmail and threats, he convinces Linden and Cecily to return home. Meanwhile, Rhine's only concern is finding her brother. Rowan has become the leader of the resistance, blown up laboratories trying to develop a cure, and is the source of a great deal of terror in the world, all because he believes the hunt for the cure is what killed his sister. After Cecily loses her baby and realizes Vaughn's connection to her pregnancy so soon after the difficult birth of her first son, she convinces Linden to go with Rhine in her search. They may soon find Rowan, but the answers they find along the way in their search may not be the answers they were expecting to find.
Hmmmm. Well, I am not sure where to begin with this book, this series. I loved Wither, but Sever not only suffered from the sophomore slump, it made me wonder if it was even written by the same woman. Where was the magic? Where was the beautiful, haunting intrigue the first book was so full of? SO I really wanted this final book to pick up that beauty and recover from the confusion of the second book. Sadly, it failed on that front for me. There wasn't anything of importance for the vast majority of the book, and then the bitter end was solid, albeit rushed.
*Spoiler Alert* The entire plot of the story consisted of run away from Vaughn, Vaughn finds them. Run away again, Vaughn finds them again. Run away again, agree to return with Vaughn. Find out Vaughn is hiding and experimenting on your one true love, leave him there while you dither and fritter your time away so sad that he is in the basement in an induced coma. bad vaughn. We hate Vaughn. Grrrr. And that was about it. I did indeed like the way the story ended, but our journey to get to those last 20 pages was a bit ridiculous. No, actually, it was more than that. It was really ridiculous. If an evil, mad scientist had your love in the basement withering away and doped up, wouldn't you find a way to break him free and escape? Yeah, me too. Not Rhine! She goes to tea. And argues with Vaughn. And does as she is told. Ugh. As if our young adults need anything more to pull them into the dark side of passivity. *End Spoiler*
So I have to say this series started out fabulously and ended with my complete confusion for the way the author took the story. it felt as though she had a good book idea that a publisher convinced her to make into a trilogy, because that is what sells these days, and so she stretched everything and added some whining and pining, and POOF you have yourself a trilogy. And thanks to Wither, we know DeStefano can WRITE! So what happened here? I am not sure, but it makes me sad to think this happened to a really promising author who had a lot to offer. I am not sure I would recommend this series to someone, because it just did not do anything for me by the end. The conclusion is good, but that doesn't make up for the crap that came before it. I hope DeStefano manages to come back from this series and get back to the beautiful, haunting writing she showed us in Wither. Those are books I would definitely buy.
Our world is all about tinkering with Mother Nature. From our homes, to our energy use, to our crops, to the heart of what makes us human, we tinker in the name of science. But what will be the consequence of all that tinkering with DNA and the very code that makes us human? In Diana Peterfreund's For Darkness Shows the Stars, the world has been changed irrevocably in the name of science.
When we began changing the genetic structure of our food, we didn't expect it would also change us. But genetic experiments on food created the Reduced: simple people who need to be taken care of in order for them to survive. This role was taken by the Luddites, a group of people who denounced all technology in favor of lives in agriculture on farms that gave the Reduced a purpose- to work the farms. Elliot North is the daughter of a Luddite and takes her role as caregiver to the Reduced very seriously... certainly more seriously than her greedy father and sister. The Reduced are content enough to do as they are told, but the Posts (Post-Reductionists or CORS, Children of the Reduced) are not. As time passes, the Reduced begin to have children who are no longer affected by the genetic changes. Posts are fully functional, and with that comes a resentment for being treated like slaves. Even though it is forbidden, many Posts begin to leave their estates. And without the Luddites' fear of technology, they also have the advantage of finding better, faster, more efficient ways to do things. And that is what has given them the edge against the Luddites, who can barely hang on to their livelihoods and their lifestyles.
Elliot knows the rules. She should have grafted new wheat that would produce more and faster, but she is the only one trying to keep the Posts and the Reduced fed. She doesn't live an easy life, but there is only one thing she yearns for. Kai. The Post boy she grew to know against all the rules of the classes. But he ran away to start a new life far away from the Luddite slavery. When Elliot desperately rents her grandfather's estate to a group of Post shipbuilders, the last person she expected to see was Kai, now known as Captain Malakai Wentworth. With the roles reversed and Elliot struggling to keep the estate alive and her charges fed, Kai's feelings of betrayal are barely hidden. But there is more to the story of these Posts with their fancy clothes and their new technology. And the answer might lie in something so unforgivable, so against the laws of nature, that Elliot could never look at Kai the same way again.
This was a really interesting dystopia. The horrors of the world were mostly generations in the past, so it was a surprisingly peaceful dystopia, despite the Luddite slavery of the Posts (the Reduced needed to be taken care of, and even if the Luddites took advantage of that, the Reduced could never have survived without them). But the class distinctions were so severe and rigid that the Luddites couldn't imagine considering a Post romantically even though they will take their money, wear their clothes, and secretly delight in their advanced technology. The story really got to the heart of laws and rules that are passed down for generations to a point where they are irrelevant but everyone follows them because "that is how it has always been". I am always trying to get my students to just care about something, and to fight for what they believe, but sometimes the path of least resistance is just easier. I loved that this story encouraged questioning things that are no longer relevant even if that means questioning the entire basis of society.
There was even more intrigue connected to our technology and how society had to completely reject it in order to survive. Especially the idea of genetically modifying our food. If I was reading this story with my students, I would do some real research into GMO food and encourage them to think about that information critically while we read the story. Elliot North was a young woman to be admired. She truly cared about her people, and when Kai questioned her responsibility to them, it was amazing to see the Posts from her own estate defend her vehemently. She is a character you can really get behind, and that made this book really special. The book wasn't slow, but it wasn't action packed either, so I would save it for an older, stronger reader. There is something beautiful about how this dystopia was written, which sounds like a contradiction of terms, but it really was. I am very excited to see where the story ends up, because I just can't get enough of Kai and Elliot!
When your options are dying in a spaceship that is slowly shutting down or descending to an unknown planet possibly full of monsters, you realize your choice will be life or death either way. Amy and Elder chose the latter, and the new planet might be scary, but in Beth Revis's Shades of Earth, the real fear comes from the things you know rather than the ones you don't know.
The landing is far from smooth, but Amy knows landing means she can finally unfreeze her parents and the rest of the Earthborns. The problem is the shipborns- they don't trust the Earthborns. When they finally unfreeze the group that was meant to make the transition to the new planet safer and more efficient, Elder realizes Orion's prediction may have been correct: the Earthborns were either going to make them slaves or soldiers. But the Earthborns know how to use their weapons, and with crazy pterodactyl-like creatures trying to eat them, guns can come in handy.
But the creatures on the planet aren't the only thing to worry about. When people start going missing, and Phydus (the ship's crowd control drug) is found in the systems of the dead and the creatures, the group begins to realize something fishy is happening on the planet. They find ruins that were clearly made for humans, and Sol-Earth still hasn't contacted them. They fear that the extra 200 years they were trapped in the ship may have made them a lost cause and they are now left to survive on their own. But people keep disappearing and an explosion on the shuttle destroys all their food and weapon reserves. So whether or not Earth can hear them becomes the least of their problems. Instead, the Earthborns and the Shipborns have to come together for one purpose: survival.
This series was one of those runaway successes that just got better and better with each book. The story was interesting on a claustrophobic ship, so with a new planet to explore, it was even better! My one criticism was that I wanted more of the new planet. I wanted more and more creatures! But I suppose I have to be satisfied with what I got, which was still pretty great! The added conflict between the Earthborns and Shipborns just made the story that much more interesting. After all, the idea of who has the upper hand in such a situation is so subjective, you will find yourself rooting for someone different with each turn of a page!
This is a fabulous story for either a science fiction fan or someone who prefers modern novels. The series is gripping enough to hold anyone's interest over the three books. In fact, while the ending was solid, I still wish the story would continue on the new planet. There are some interesting discussions to be had regarding the technology in the book as well. For instance, how fast does technology out-lap itself? Become obsolete? While we don't have 500 years to run an experiment, I am sure showing our students a cell phone from 10 years ago, or better yet, one of those car phones in a bag, will certainly drive the point home! This series is a beautiful expression of technology, human emotion, and basic human instinct all wrapped into one!
How far will the world go to save humanity? Will the financial crisis make us go where we have never gone before? Beth Revis's Across the Universe explores just how far our world, in all its messes and disasters, is willing to go to ensure humanity has a second chance at life.
Godspeed is the ship designed to take humanity to the outer reaches of the universe. It will take 300 years for the ship to reach its destination- the new Earth. In order to ensure people with special abilities make it to the new planet, they are frozen cryogenically and another crew of people lives and survives on the ship. It is big enough to be like a speeding city in the sky, but over the course of centuries, a lot can go wrong. When Amy is woken up on the ship before she is supposed to be, her awakening becomes the catalyst that exposes everything wrong with life on the Godspeed.
Amy was awakened accidentally, or so Eldest and Elder and Doc thought. Eldest is the leader of the ship and Elder, 17 years old, is his replacement. Elder learns everything Eldest teaches him, but he knows there are things the old man is keeping from him. As Amy, a girl who remembers her time on Earth so many centuries ago, starts to question the strange, zombie like people that live on the ship. As she becomes the insight of discord, she finds herself on the wrong side of Eldest. But her questioning leads Elder to find out just what it is Eldest has kept from him. As more bodies are thawed from the cryogenic freeze, and a few are murdered, they all suspect Eldest. However, the problems with the ship and the people living on it go deeper than any of them could have imagined.
I know this book has been out for a while, but I just never picked it up until now, despite the recommendation from multiple trustworthy sources. There it sat on my "to be read" shelf, staring at me for months. I wanted to read it at a time when I could sit down and really plow through the story in one fell swoop. What I didn't expect was a gripping story I would finish in essentially one sitting! It was SO exciting and interesting. I could NOT put it down! The idea of being frozen for over 300 years and waking up to a whole new social dynamic is both terrifying and exciting! And the way Eldest and the Eldests that came before him twisted Earth's history to appease the masses and control them was masterful. They actually twisted Lincoln and the Gettysburg Address to illustrate Lincoln's support of separating the races to eliminate the races (difference was the first cause of discord) and send anyone of African heritage back to the African Continent. Amy was the catalyst that blew the top off all their lies and deceit, and boy did it get ugly!
This is a great Science Fiction/Dystopia cross-over that gave the space junkies enough to sink their spaceship teeth into but still enough corruption to make the dystopia addicts happy. It was a great balance of the two and could interest any type of student. The language is fairly simple, and most of the scenes are scary, but pretty mild. There is one near rape scene that was scary, but not particularly graphic. I would suggest this series for a wide range of students, and the great news? The sequel is out in a couple of weeks! Yeah!
