Publishers Weekly
11/28/2022
Structuring their unevenly told high-concept thriller around a playlist, Lapuente, a debut author, and Shusterman (Roxy) take on social media usage and Big Tech. To get revenge on blond, popular friend Samantha for shoplifting and scapegoating her, 17-year-old Luna María Valero Iglesias, who’s Spanish and Mexican, anonymously posts a video of Samantha drunkenly trashing classmates at their small-town Northern California school. Regret sets in, but not before the video goes viral on high-profile social media site Limbo, after which Samantha attempts suicide. Limbo, facing bad press for the algorithm that promoted the post, holds a contest at the youths’ high school: the teen who goes without any technology made after 2000 for an entire school year wins a full-ride scholarship to the college of their choice. The contest, which makes Luna’s life feel like something out of one of the glamorous retro movies playing at her mother’s indie theater, brings Luna new friends and internet fame. But as contestants begin to vanish, Luna realizes that Limbo’s plan may involve more menacing motives. Indistinct dialogue across the quirky cast undercuts thoughtful meditations on capitalism and technology, making for a thinly fleshed out novel with a charmingly vintage vibe. Ages 14–up. Agent: (for Lapuente and Shusterman) Andrea Brown, Andrea Brown Literary. (Jan.)
Susan Lee
"What. A. Ride. Loved it!"
Kathleen Glasgow
"A fast-paced and engaging thriller that isn't afraid to confront the dark truths about social media and technology. Luna's quest is engaging, twisty, and hits all the right marks for readers looking for stories with twists and turns."
David Yoon
"A supersonic thrill ride fueled by every guilty pleasure imaginable. Pure fun!"
School Library Journal
10/06/2023
Gr 8 Up—Luna Iglesias is a spunky teen who finds herself in a social media scandal on the super popular Limbo app. To fix things, she reaches out to Limbo, and the company opens a competition at Luna's high school to "go retro." All the competitors have to do is live one year without modern technology and they could win a scholarship to any college of their choice. Soon, contestants start to go missing and Luna and her friends need to work quickly before they disappear, too. This book is a fast-paced mystery thriller that will keep readers turning pages at a rapid pace from the very beginning. Lapuente and Shusterman do a great job with including a wide range of diverse characters and social commentary on social media and its effects on both the user and viewers. There are references to suicide, intimate relationships, bullying, drinking and drug use, and other themes that can be prevalent in modern teens' lives. An added bonus is that each chapter is named after a song which compiles into a very fun and nostalgic playlist. Luna is Spanish, the daughter of an immigrant from Spain. VERDICT Recommended for collections serving older middle school and high school students.—Maeve Dodds
Kirkus Reviews
2022-10-26
A no-technology challenge in a small Northern California town turns sinister.
After Samantha shoplifts but lets her friend Luna take the fall for her crime, Luna is rightfully enraged—and not least because her mother, a Spanish immigrant, is at risk of losing her visa to remain in the U.S., making any sort of criminal activity especially harmful. Luna uploads a video of a drunk Samantha bad-mouthing her friends and other classmates to Limbo, the social media app everyone’s obsessed with. Even though she has regrets and deletes it shortly after, she isn’t fast enough, and the video goes viral. The harsh response results in Samantha’s attempting to take her own life. The fact that she survives alleviates some of Luna’s guilt, but she still sends a private message to the app developers, explaining her role in what happened and asking for their help as she seeks accountability. Much to everyone’s surprise, the Limbo CEO comes to their school and proposes a challenge: Any student who manages to go the entire school year without using technology, including their phones, will receive a full-ride scholarship to college. As the year progresses, however, some of Luna’s friends disappear and the real nature of #RetroChallenge becomes clear. Though the fast pace will appeal to reluctant readers, it comes at the expense of character development and relationship-building, making it hard to feel attached to any of them. The stilted dialogue poses another obstacle.
A disappointing, unfulfilling journey with forgettable characters. (Thriller. 13-17)
