DECEMBER 2019 - AudioFile
Rosie Jones’s upbeat and rousing narration is a delightful addition to this thrilling futuristic story of three unlikely teens who join forces. Together, they overthrow the tyrannical Commissioner and the Queen of Earth Adjacent—humanity's anti-technology planetary settlement. Jones’s voice is confident and bruising as Anna, an outlaw and tech smuggler who lives in a secret village where everyone depends on illegal clockwork hearts to survive. She finds herself unwittingly arrested by the Commissioner's son, whose apprehensive and soft-spoken nature is perfectly explored on audio. They are joined by Eliza, the Queen's fierce undercover spy, who catches Anna's attention. In addition to giving voice to Eliza and Anna’s instant chemistry, Jones easily picks up on the sparks of humor that make this adventure a fun, immersive listen. J.E.C. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
08/05/2019
In this intriguing science fantasy debut, the population is divided between preindustrial settlers who live on Earth Adjacent and the aristocratic people of the Tower, a space station ruled by the enigmatic Queen Elizabeth. Successfully terraforming Earth Adjacent hinges on the society curing a congenital heart defect that some element of the planet’s environment causes in everyone born there. Although the authoritarian Commissioner has found a way to protect his Settlement, those whose lives have been saved by illegal clockwork tech have formed an outlaw village. When Nathaniel, the Commissioner’s son and heir apparent, goes on the hunt to arrest Anna, a mechanic who services illegal medical tech, his belief that technology is inherently dangerous undergoes a seismic shift, and is further rocked by his first meeting with his Tower fiancée, Eliza, who reveals that she’s been sent by the Queen herself to overthrow the Commissioner. As Eliza and Anna decide what their budding mutual attraction means, and Nathaniel struggles to choose a life not defined by his father’s expectations, they also make daring plans that will decide the future of a whole world. This is a fun and unusual blending of space-age tech and steampunk-style clockwork that readers with a love of adventure will enjoy. Ages 14–up. Agent: Saba Sulaiman, Talcott Notch Literary. (Oct.)
DECEMBER 2019 - AudioFile
Rosie Jones’s upbeat and rousing narration is a delightful addition to this thrilling futuristic story of three unlikely teens who join forces. Together, they overthrow the tyrannical Commissioner and the Queen of Earth Adjacent—humanity's anti-technology planetary settlement. Jones’s voice is confident and bruising as Anna, an outlaw and tech smuggler who lives in a secret village where everyone depends on illegal clockwork hearts to survive. She finds herself unwittingly arrested by the Commissioner's son, whose apprehensive and soft-spoken nature is perfectly explored on audio. They are joined by Eliza, the Queen's fierce undercover spy, who catches Anna's attention. In addition to giving voice to Eliza and Anna’s instant chemistry, Jones easily picks up on the sparks of humor that make this adventure a fun, immersive listen. J.E.C. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2019-07-14
Three young people in a post-Earth world work together to uncover a mystery.
Anna is a gifted mechanic bucking the laws against technology. Nathaniel, son of the abusive and powerful Commissioner, just wants to make his father happy. And Eliza, who has dedicated her life to serving as the Queen's spy, is loyally preparing for a strategic marriage. Set in a distant future where humans have fled to space and are searching for a safe terrestrial home after destroying Earth, these three have to navigate their differing agendas, burgeoning identities, and a strange illness that attacks the hearts of anyone born on Earth Adjacent. The easily followed plot twists and turns between them, and debut author Thor departs from clichés in the genre in interesting and modern ways; Nathaniel explores an asexual and aromantic orientation while Eliza and Anna develop a steamy connection. The main characters are cued as white, but racial identity categories don't seem to have survived the apocalypse, nor did anything resembling a community for LGBTQ people. The prose becomes a bit labored and graceless at times, with an occasionally dragging plot, but the worldbuilding and sympathetic characters will keep readers invested in this strange but plausible future.
A blend of space opera, queer romance, and high-stakes dystopia, this story will appeal to a broad audience. (Science fiction. 14-18)
