Publishers Weekly
In this gritty, post-apocalyptic debut novel, 16-year-old Ren—a tough orphan surviving in a Manhattan transformed virtually beyond recognition by global warming, floodwaters, and the Blight (a deadly illness)—will do almost anything to support herself and her dying friend, Aven. To the bitter frustration of Ren's male rivals, she's made herself into the best and most daring "mobile" racer in the city while simultaneously working undercover for the hated Governor Voss and his vicious police force, spearheading their desperate search for fresh water. As the Blight worsens, affecting even the better parts of the city, Ren discovers that Voss is not simply looking for clean water. Somewhere beneath the flooded city lurks a miraculous cure for the Blight, "magic in a bottle... or the devil in a bottle," and the governor apparently wants it all for himself. Ren is volatile, embittered, and dedicated to the adrenaline surge of racing, but she's also gutsy, loyal, and at times surprisingly vulnerable. Frankel's unforgiving, drowned New York serves as a formidable background for her survival story, the first in a planned series. Ages 13–up. Agent: Ginger Clark, Curtis Brown. (Apr.)
From the Publisher
A highly imaginative, pulse-racing page-turner.” — Michael Grant, New York Times bestselling author of the Gone series
“Ren is volatile, embittered, and dedicated to the adrenaline surge of racing, but she’s also gutsy, loyal, and at times surprisingly vulnerable. Frankel’s unforgiving, drowned New York serves as a formidable background for her survival story.” — Publishers Weekly
Michael Grant
A highly imaginative, pulse-racing page-turner.
Kirkus Reviews
A society built atop a catastrophe-stricken United States of America, a feisty heroine torn between guys, an evil government--stop us if you've read this already. Frankel's debut posits a scientifically implausible future in which the Wash Out has transformed New York City and New Jersey into the United Metro Islets. Manhattan is several stories underwater--boardwalks, suspension bridges and amphibious vehicles stand in lieu of streets--and under quarantine due to the Blight, a contagious, cancerlike and always fatal disease. Orphaned drag racer Ren is 5 feet of sexy trouble: Under duress, she works for the police state searching for "fresh" (water) and spends her earnings on her Blight-stricken "sister" Aven, whom she met in an orphanage (a relationship much described but never brought to life). When she finds fresh with amazing healing powers, she lands in the middle of a centuries-old battle over Minetta Brook, currently playing out between the governor and ancient Lenape guardians. Ren must fight both sides if she wants to save herself, Aven and the hundreds of sick people in the Ward, all while dreaming about more-than-meets-the-eye Derek and fighting the first hints of attraction to brainy Callum. The checklist of what makes commercial teen dystopias may be complete here, but the clumsy writing and nonexistent worldbuilding prevent this subpar clone from making a splash. (Dystopian romance. 12-16)
