The Week of Science Fiction

The Silenced - James Devita
Marina is a bit of a rebel. A big problem in a world where there is no freedom of speech, no freedom of movement, and the government rules with an iron fist. Marina cherishes the memories that she has of the time before the Zero Tolerance party came into power. A time before her mother had been labeled a traitor and taken away, a time when her father had a backbone and a personality, and a time when people were allowed to read and write anything they wanted.

She's heard of a resistance, she's even heard that they're growing stronger, but she's never seen even a bit of proof of it's existence. So, she decides, along with two of her friends that since the resistance doesn't seem to be coming to them, they'll start their own resistance. Regardless of the

Dystopian to the max. I enjoyed this novel, but it didn't have a whole lot of new things to say. What it did offer was a really fantastic female protagonist who you want to see win, it had some terrific double crosses that I sort of saw coming, but wanted to keep reading to know for sure, and some really neat surprises (like how Stofs - automaton like guards - get to their positions...whoa!!). And finally, it had good accessible writing (maybe sometimes a bit obvious) that younger teens will really enjoy.

And the author's note was really interesting. I'd like a historical fiction book written on the real White Rose resistance group in Nazi Germany. Someone want to get on that please? Thanks!



Epic - Conor Kostick
Michelle's already written about this one, so I won't say too much. I'm not even remotely a gamer, but I still really enjoyed it. And so I couldn't resist writing about it a little bit.

Colonizers have left earth and started a new life on New Earth. This is a new world without any violence. In fact, all disagreements are settled in Epic. A role playing game that functions as both economy and justice system. But people are spending more and more time trying to earn money in Epic to spend on battles to get the things they need in real life. And in real life things are starting to fall apart. Technology is not advancing, there aren't enough resources to go around. But nobody seems to notice, or even if they do, they aren't doing anything to fix it. Erik certainly doesn't realize the state of decline his world is in until an unfortunate turn of events shakes the foundation of his family. Erik and his friends know something has to be done and they're about to turn the game of Epic upside down.

Lots of double crosses, I wanted to see Central Allocations (the bad guys) crash and burn, and I really enjoyed the game of Epic. The writing was really visual and so I felt like I was right inside the game. Fantastic. There is a sequel and I'm looking forward to it. It will have to be a much different book than the first one and I'm really looking forward to seeing how that plays out. No pun intended :)