August 1, 2012
In a near-future dystopia, a rich boy and a wrong-side-of-the-tracks girl find love while fighting the corrupt system. Hunter is bored with luxury. He's not just a Citizen (a coveted status in an energy-strapped London where most either scrabble for coveted permanent IDs or rebel as illegal Outsiders), he's also one of the wealthy 2 percent. While his friends entertain themselves in virtual-reality boxing matches, Hunter braves roof jumping in the favelas, the city's multiethnic slums. He has no desire to risk his life of privilege, but he crosses paths with the Kossaks, the brutal police force, as they casually murder a fleeing Outsider. Now Hunter's running with Uma, the Outsider girl who's hiding the linchpin of the whole rebellion. Hunter and Uma are defending the key to the Dreamline, the semi-magical underground Internet. The Dreamline is used globally by those illegally rebuilding Outside society into a model of green energy, peace and love, and the Kossaks want it gone. As the pair flee through the multilingual alleys, rebels educate Hunter with unsubtle polemic about "ordinary people...united under a common cause": anarchy, togetherness and energy independence. Political choices--and all choices in this world are political--spring more from mythic overtones or contemporary-world parallels than from consistent worldbuilding. Fun, roof-jumping adventure that could benefit from subtler Occupy ideology. (Science fiction. 13-16)
COPYRIGHT(2012) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
January 1, 2013
Gr 7-10-Even though Hunter is a rich, privileged Citizen, he sometimes goes to the edge of the slums, where the Outsiders live, and practices jumping between buildings and moving acrobatically. It's a great distraction from reality, such as the power outages that happen frequently in this future, energy-diminished London. For Outsider Uma, jumping isn't practice, but a tool for a quick getaway. Outsiders make do with what they've got for food, energy, and anything else they need, but they're treated like criminals by Citizens and soldiers alike. Hunter and Uma cross paths while witnessing the murder of an Outsider boy, and again when Hunter watches as Uma, her cousin, and her aunt are taken into custody, falsely accused of orchestrating a plot to destroy the nuclear power plant that has taken years to build. After she escapes, Uma and Hunter work together to figure out how to protect the valuable piece of Outsider technology that she has been guarding, and how to find its rightful owner, the Keeper. This fast-paced novel reads like a movie script. Unfortunately, the same reluctant readers who would love the action will be turned off by the first few confusing chapters, and more advanced readers might be frustrated by the lack of depth. Also, while Hunter and Uma are interesting characters, there is little to make them sympathetic. Hunter's flashbacks to his past feel insincere, and Uma seems disconnected from hers. The action is great, but the story lacks the background it needs to pack its punch.-Kelly Jo Lasher, Middle Township High School, Cape May Court House, NJ
Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
September 15, 2012
Grades 9-12 Lloyd turned a near-future scenario, in which dwindling oil supplies bring London to its knees, into a family drama in The Carbon Diaries: 2015 (2009). Here she is working with a similar scenario but in an action novel through and through. In the wake of oil shortages and global energy conflicts, London society has become sharply divided between the pampered Citizens and a shadowy organization of Outsiders. Citizens live plugged into a massive network via an eyepiece, while Outsiders are known for their acrobatic free-running skills that carry them up walls, across rooftops, and away from the brutal crackdowns of the Kossack police force. (If you're thinking of The Matrix, you're not far off.) Hunter, a teen Citizen, and Uma, daughter of an Outsider leader, join up to protect vital Outsider information. Lloyd's heady action sequences are so descriptive that they slow down the flow at times, but the rebellious spirit of its stick-it-to-the-man heart beats proudly on the sleeve of this propulsive novel that, as to be expected, looks to be a first volume.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)
January 1, 2013
London, in the not-so-distant future, is home for both Hunter, a Citizen, and Uma, an Outsider; these star-crossed protagonists meet during a military crackdown on the Outsiders. Lloyd's latest eco-thriller features a taut plot, a rapid-fire tour of London and its bridges and rivers, and well-developed secondary characters. What's really riveting is Lloyd's writing, which buzzes with a tense, organic energy.
(Copyright 2013 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)
November 1, 2012
London, in the not-so-distant future, is home sweet home for both Hunter, a Citizen, and Uma, an Outsider. Citizens, in this former First World city, are the haves: ID-card-holders amped up on virtual reality and plugged in to a massive social network. The slum-dwelling, free-running Outsiders are the have-nots: eco-terrorist rebels -- in the government's eyes, at least -- with their own energy and communication systems. Lloyd's star-crossed protagonists meet during a military crackdown on the Outsiders for allegedly sabotaging the city's energy-crisis savior: a new nuclear reactor. Romantic sparks fly as the two teenagers work together to safeguard the Encryption Codes for the Outsiders' global communication network. There's much to love about Lloyd's latest eco-thriller: a taut plot, a rapid-fire tour of London and its bridges and rivers, and secondary characters who are more than mere stick figures. But what's really riveting is Lloyd's writing. It buzzes with a tense, organic energy: Hunter stretches, feels himself as he really is; a delicate shell of blood and bone strapped aboard a stone ball as it rotates on its axis at twenty-three and a half degrees, spinning around an exploding helium bomb. With an ending that hints at a sequel, there's a good chance -- fingers crossed -- that Hunter and Uma will make another appearance. tanya d. auger
(Copyright 2012 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)