Tankborn (Tankborn Series #1)

by Karen Sandler

Overview

Kayla and Mishalla, two genetically engineered enslaved non-human (GENs), fall in love with higher-status boys, discover deep secrets about the creation of GENs, and in the process find out what it means to be human.

Enslaved by their genetics.

Oppressed by their creators.

Fighting for their humanity.

On rugged planet Loka, life for best friends Kayla and Mishalla is arduous at best. They are GENs, Genetically Engineered Non-humans, and in their strict caste system, GENs are at the bottom rung of society. GENs are gestated in a tank and sent to work as slaves as soon as they reach age fifteen.

When Kayla is Assigned to care for Zul Manel, the patriarch of a trueborn family, she finds secrets and surprises--not least of which is her budding friendship with Zul's handsome great-grandson. Meanwhile, the children that Mishalla is Assigned to care for are being stolen in the middle of the night, and a strange lowborn boy is hanging around nearby.

After weeks of toiling in their Assignments, mystifying circumstances enable Kayla and Mishalla to reunite. Together with the boys, they hatch a plan to save the disappearing children. Yet can GENs really trust humans? Both girls must put their lives and hearts at risk to crack open a sinister conspiracy, revealing secrets no one is ready to face.

The first in a trilogy, Tankborn is a page-turning sci-fi thriller that will leave readers scrambling for the sequel!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781600608766
Publisher:	Lee & Low Books
Publication date:	09/15/2011
Series:	Tankborn Series , #1
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	384
File size:	3 MB
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

Karen Sandler is the author of the Tankborn trilogy as well as seventeen novels for adults and several short stories and screenplays. Before becoming a full-time writer, she worked as a software engineer, including work on the Space Shuttle program and communications satellites. She lives in northern California with her husband, Gary, and their three cats, and can often be found riding her Andalusian/Morgan mare, Belle. Find out more at karensandler.net.

Editorial Reviews

Karen Sandler's Tankborn is a thought-provoking YA science fiction that's very fast-paced and brilliantly executed. You're thrown into the world, having to figure out terminology via its usage rather than through information dumps. And while the plot isn't hard to follow, there's a lot of underlying themes that lend themselves to discussion (with regards to using religion to control people, the morality of creating a race of genetically engineered slaves, etc.). . . . Tankborn is a highly recommended, thought-provoking YA novel from a new imprint dedicated to diversity.

SF Signal

Reaching beyond an exciting dystopian plot, Karen Sandler tells the alarming story of a society that has come to devalue humans, turning many of them into commodities, and the courage it takes to face the truth needed to fight oppression. . . . Such thought-provoking themes and the high level of character development, as well as an engaging plot, make the book ideal for a wide audience, although it's tailored to science-fiction buffs.

ForeWord Reviews

Gr 8 Up—Mishalla and Kayla have been best friends for as long as they can remember, but as they near their 15th birthdays, they know they may never see each other again. In their world, GEN's (short for Genetically Engineered Non-Humans) are given their work assignments at that age and are not allowed any contact with former friends or nurture parents. What the girls do not realize is just how dangerous their assignments are about to become as both of them get embroiled in a plot to uncover decades-old information regarding genetic manipulation, scientific scandal, and corruption at the highest levels of government. In her first novel for teens, Sandler has created a fascinating dystopian world in which a caste system, supported by manipulated historical records and a religion based solely on insuring the obedience of the GENs, was manufactured by their ancestors who escaped a dying Earth two centuries earlier. The author's speculative vision of the darker side of future possibilities in genetic engineering and mind control is both chilling and thought-provoking. This is a dark novel that will appeal to those who enjoyed M.T. Anderson's Feed (Candlewick, 2002), and it would make a good stepping-stone to Anthony Burgess's classic, A Clockwork Orange (W.W. Norton, 1963).—Jane Henriksen Baird, Anchorage Public Library, AK

School Library Journal

Advanced genetic engineering and upsettingly plausible caste oppression keep pages turning in this futuristic science fiction tale.

The planet Loka was originally settled by humans fleeing Earth, but now part of the population is made up of Genetically Engineered Non-humans. GENs rank lowest socially, destined by the Infinite to serve trueborns. They're vulnerable at any moment to painful uploads (via facial tech-tattoo) into their brain and nerves or, worse, resetting—erasure of their consciousness so their body can be recycled. Teenage Kayla awaits her service Assignment with trepidation; she could be sent across the continent and never see her nurture-family again. Surprisingly Assigned to care for an elderly high-status trueborn (aren't Kayla's genetically enhanced super-strong arms geared for heavy lifting?), Kayla stumbles into forbidden friendship and baffling information that threatens her basic beliefs. Sandler tinkers with race issues, making high-status trueborns "the perfect color, a rich medium brown," with lower-status humans and GENs either paler or darker. None of the three third-person-limited narrators have particularly distinct voices, but that's OK: The prose is clear, though sometimes unpolished, and two underground movements—one evil, one righteous—provide plenty of charge, as does the exposure of Loka's corrupt back story. A late revelation somewhat undermines the everyone's human message, more through textual clumsiness than intention.

A good option for science-fiction fans interested in genetic engineering, rebellion and class issues. (Science fiction. 13 & up)

Kirkus Reviews