An instant New York Times Bestseller
An Indie Bestseller
2022 YALSA Top Ten Best Fiction for Young Adults
2022 Excellence in Children’s and Young Adult Science Fiction - Hal Clement Notable Young Adult Books List
"This book doesn't hold your hand. It shoves you into the abyss, and trusts that you will find your way back, and every step is worth it. Joan He is charting an ambitious new course in fiction, and I will follow her anywhere she goes." - V. E. Schwab, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Gallant and The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
"I fell in love... Joan He's words will stay with you long after the final page." - Marie Lu, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Skyhunter
"A strange, clever, and startlingly original world." Emily Suvada, author of This Mortal Coil
"This is sci-fi at its best: floating cities, kindness and desert islands!" Lauren James, author of The Reckless Afterlife of Harriet Stoker
"An intricate, well-paced rumination on human nature, choice, and consequence." - Publishers Weekly, starred review
"Exhilarating and heartbreaking... This fast-paced sf tale is sure to linger." - Booklist
"A stunning and compelling novel full of twists and an emotional pull that will make readers want to finish it in one go." - BuzzFeed
"An intriguing foray into a devastating future—and yet one where hope abides." - Kirkus
"Mind-bending." -Common Sense Media
"An instant bestseller, and with its twisty sci-fi plot ... it's not hard to see why." - Country Living, AAPI Month Recs
"One of the most twisty and engaging page-turner YAs you'll read this year." -Culturess
"A gorgeous cover heralds this story of sisterly love and environmental disaster." -Den of Geek, May Roundup
"A twisty young adult novel in the vein of E. Lockhart's critically acclaimed We Were Liars." -GMA.com, AAPI Month Recs
"Tender, heart-wrenching and frightening, this one will stay with you." -Ms. Magazine, May Roundup
"Stunning." -Nerdist
"Explores the pressing question of who deserves to survive in a world we are destroying." -NPR Books
"Breathtaking." -PopSugar, Best YA Books of May
"Sharp, devastating, and brimming with invigorating questions." -TOR.com, Review
"At turns whimsical and gut-wrenching... He grafts deep moral and ethical questions to a page-turning premise, making this sci-fi standalone an excellent book club selection." - School Library Journal
"A melancholy, heartbreaking story. . . Beautifully written." - The Bulletin for the Center of Children's Books (BCCB), recommended
05/01/2021
Gr 9 Up—If you tossed Lost, Black Mirror, and The 100 in a blender, you'd pour out something similar to He's sophomore novel. This science-fiction thriller pits the deep love of a sibling bond against the high stakes of Earth's impending climate disaster. Stranded on an ominously abandoned island for three years with a strange case of amnesia, Cee sleepwalks every other night closer and closer to the sea—and her sister. She knows Kay is on the other side of the ocean, if only she can find a way to cross it. Kasey lives in an eco-city, one of eight clean energy bastions against the environmental disasters that plague the landlocked territories, leaving her stasis pod only when necessary and living primarily through the virtual reality of her Intraface. While Cee fights for a way free of the island, Kasey grapples with the politics of the sky-built eco-cities and the ranking system that brings refugees in from the toxic land below. At turns whimsical and gut-wrenching, He's writing drives home the high stakes and unreliability of our narrators, setting the stage for a tense and twisting plot. Her characters are crafted with distinct voices and arcs, and must confront the best and worst of the human condition. Kasey and Cee are Asian, with more diversity included in supporting characters. VERDICT A first purchase for library collections. He grafts deep moral and ethical questions to a page-turning premise, making this sci-fi standalone an excellent book club selection.—Emmy Neal, Lake Forest Lib., IL
2021-03-03
An apocalyptic future tests the bonds of love between sisters.
In this future world, climate change and other disasters have brought people together from different countries into eco-cities that levitate above their regions. Sixteen-year-old Kasey Mizuhara disassociates herself from people, moving through the world like an alien or ghost, observing her human companions. She prefers the cool comfort of logic, and the only one she loves and looks to for direction is Celia, her older sister. Cee, on the other hand, loves too much, continually pushing boundaries and breaking rules. Yet the sisters admire each other for their complementary strengths. As the world crumbles around them due to human-made disasters, Kasey strives to uncover the mystery surrounding Cee’s disappearance while Cee survives, marooned on an island and driven to search for Kasey through her wavering memories. While the science-fiction setting often does not feel fully realized enough to anchor readers in this world where the residents of the floating eco-cities carry out most of their nonessential activities in holographic mode, the story is a compelling exploration of humanity and its tendency toward selfishness and self-destruction. The pacing is maddeningly slow at first, but midway through, the action accelerates, racing to a breathless end. Readers who puzzle through this world will find a curious struggle that may answer the question of whether humanity is worth saving.
An intriguing foray into a devastating future—and yet one where hope abides. (Science fiction. 14-18)