Monarch Rising

by Harper Glenn Narrated by Bahni Turpin, Pete Cross

Overview

In a chilling near-future New United States of America, Jo Monarch has grown up in the impoverished borderlands of New Georgia. She's given one chance to change her fate... if she can survive a boy trained to break hearts.

Today is the day Jo Monarch has been wishing on the moon about her entire life. It's the day of the Lineup, when she could be selected to leave her life in the Ashes behind. The day she could move across the mountains to a glittering, rich future.

Once Jo is plucked from the Lineup, the real test begins. She still needs to impress the New Georgia Reps at tonight's Gala, and her path forward leads straight to Cove Wells. The damaged stepson of one of the Reps, Cove has been groomed as an emotional weapon, taught that love is a tool -- and he's set on breaking Jo's heart next.

When a riot breaks out back in the Ashes the night of the Gala, Jo's dreams might all go up in smoke. Can she really have everything she's ever wished for... when it means leaving all her loved ones behind in the fire?

Harper Glenn's debut is as gripping as it is prescient, an unflinching meditation on whether love can save us from ourselves, and what it takes to be born anew.

Editorial Reviews

NOVEMBER 2022 - AudioFile

Narrator Bahni Turpin portrays Jo Monarch, who lives in a dystopian future in a dreary place called the Ashes. For years, she’s wanted to win the Lineup, a live game that chooses the brightest of its young female contestants to move to New Georgia. Pete Cross portrays Cove Wells, who already lives in New Georgia, where everything and everyone seems wonderful—but is not. Cove is beaten routinely by his stepmother, Eleanor, who insists he break the heart of every girl he dates. Jo falls for Cove, and, for the first time, he doesn’t want to play his stepmother’s sick game. The story is rich in details, the performances are captivating, and fans will want a sequel for the star-crossed lovers. E.E.S. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

Publishers Weekly

08/29/2022

In Glenn’s splashy near-future dystopian debut, Black 17-year-old Josephine Monarch, an artist whose parents died in a revolution, longs to leave the Ashes, a town personified by “waterless borderlands full of brown grass, Radius-ridden rats, disorderly cops, and poor people.” Jo’s only hope for a future free from squalor is to be selected from the Lineup, a process in which Ashes teenagers must pass an academic exam, dress their best, and line up for wealthy Reps from nearby New Georgia. The Reps then choose the most promising participants from the Lineup to attend an ornate Gala, wherein the teens have the opportunity to be integrated into New Georgian high society for a “lifetime of luxury and comfort.” Jo has spent years preparing for this moment; all that stands in her way is white 18-year-old heartbreaker Coventry “Cove” Wells and his determination to break her spirit. But even as she delves deeper into New Georgia’s opulence, she fears that a brewing revolution back home will jeopardize her future. Despite uneven pacing and underbaked themes regarding intracommunal oppression and examinations of privilege, Glenn’s impressive character-building presents a highly motivated, dynamically layered cast, driven by their respective trauma and desire for change. Ages 14–up. (Oct.)

From the Publisher

"This gripping novel deftly weaves together love in the time of civil unrest, forcing Jo and Cove to make hard choices and face situations where there is no right answer. A darker Hunger Games for today's teens who know that trauma cannot be erased with a kiss, and generations of abuse — both personal and cultural — cannot be fixed with scrappy resolve." — Beth Revis, New York Times bestselling author of Give the Dark My Love

"Harper Glenn tackles themes of class and poverty, policing and protest, with nuance and empathy. A chilling glimpse at our future, Monarch Rising asks what we owe to the places that raise us — and insists that the answer must always be based in hope." — Kass Morgan, New York Times bestselling author of The 100

"Monarch Rising is both a heartbreaking reminder of our past and a chest-thumping rallying cry for the future, set in an impeccably built world populated by characters you'll ache for and root for and never want to let go. Harper Glenn has created something special with their debut. A story that demands to be read, a story that demands we not look away, a story that is engrossing, intriguing, and utterly irrepressible." — Shaun David Hutchinson, critically acclaimed author of We Are the Ants and Howl

"Haunting and evocative, Monarch Rising is a gripping new vision of the future and a heart-racing, at times heartbreaking, story of the complicated choices we make for who or what we love." — Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka, authors of What's Not To Love

"Gritty and poetic, this nod to Great Expectations is a powerful reminder of the razor-sharp line between hero and villain and our capacity for both." — Kelly Coon, author of the Gravemaidens duology

"Monarch Rising creates a world that destabilizes the reader with glimpses of the familiar amidst utterly unique characters and settings. This story defied my predictions and surprised me with twists and turns up to the very last page." — Kim Van Alkemade, New York Times bestselling author of Orphan #8

“Glenn’s impressive character-building presents a highly motivated, dynamically layered cast, driven by their respective trauma and desire for change.” —Publishers Weekly

NOVEMBER 2022 - AudioFile

Narrator Bahni Turpin portrays Jo Monarch, who lives in a dystopian future in a dreary place called the Ashes. For years, she’s wanted to win the Lineup, a live game that chooses the brightest of its young female contestants to move to New Georgia. Pete Cross portrays Cove Wells, who already lives in New Georgia, where everything and everyone seems wonderful—but is not. Cove is beaten routinely by his stepmother, Eleanor, who insists he break the heart of every girl he dates. Jo falls for Cove, and, for the first time, he doesn’t want to play his stepmother’s sick game. The story is rich in details, the performances are captivating, and fans will want a sequel for the star-crossed lovers. E.E.S. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews

2022-08-17
Young adults in the New United States deal with the aftermath of a life-changing revolt.

During Revolt 2030, the oppressed actually succeeded in overthrowing the rich and powerful. The victors then accumulated all the wealth and left the rich losers of the conflict to fend for themselves in slums like Ashes, where protagonist Josephine Monarch, a 17-year-old Black girl, lives. It’s 2070, and her neighborhood borders New Georgia—a place of prosperity and plenty—but as an act of revenge, she and other descendants of those once in power mostly aren’t allowed access to its abundance. Some, however, are allowed to leave if they are picked by a New Georgia Rep in the Lineup. Cove is the privileged White stepson of the current Lineup Rep who is in a sexual relationship with his stepsister. After capturing his eye, Jo is swept into a world of secrets, betrayal, and revolution. The ambitious conceit of this novel does not follow through to the execution due to confusing character motivations and questions around the worldbuilding. Some readers may enjoy the plot’s quick pace and dark nature, but others may find that Cove’s sexual opportunism and racial fetishization of Jo would benefit from more unpacking.

An uneven execution of a solid concept. (author’s note) (Dystopian. 16-adult)

Product Details

BN ID:	2940174863347
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	10/04/2022
Edition description:	Unabridged

Read an Excerpt

I close my eyes tight. Tighter. Wishing I was anywhere but here.

Sweat beads cover my forehead, trickle into wild brows and long black lashes. Despite the nightmare, the familiar cockroach, the odor, I remind myself: Today's a good day. The day, the day of the Line Up. The day I could be picked to leave all this behind, for good. Lingering unease from the nightmare transforms into anxiety about today. I twirl my triangular white Line-Up card between index and thumb, rub raised red letters on the card that read: LINE UP ALLOWED. Everyone who passes exams gets one. I exhale deep, trying to breathe out the panic about Lining Up with other kids, hoping New Georgia Reps pick us to leave the Ashes, to trade this place for a life of luxury across the mountain.

The cockroach climbs out of Neal's shoe. I gotta catch it. If I don't, tonight it'll be under Vye's sheets waiting for legs to creep up. It crawls over Vye's frayed black dress and disappears. I freeze. Don't move. It's there. In my hair. It crawls between my roots, skitters across my forehead. I grab it — feel it jitter in my palm like a moth in a mason jar. I stick my arm out the window beside my bed — release it, watch it coast into opaque sewer-fog.

With my head sticking out the open window, I watch Ashfolk prepare kin for Line Up. Parents outside tattered shacks comb naps out of kids' heads, fathers sit behind offspring on stools brushing kids' hair. Grandparents lick the tips of their thumbs to clean dirty spots on grandkids' faces. My cheeks sit high, smiling, but inside, my heart gulps for air as if thrown into a bottomless ocean. Oceans, fresh air. If I make it past the Line Up and move to New Georgia, I'll never look outside this cut-out window again. No more catching flying roaches. In New Georgia, colorful butterflies'll dance on the tips of my fingers.

I release a heavy sigh. Butterfly dances come at a cost. I'll never look out this window, see these people, my people, again.

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