Flash Point
Sixteen-year-old Amy isn’t eager to be on a reality show, but she needs the money, especially with Gran’s illness. The Collapse has put most of her dreams on hold, but getting a job with medical benefits becomes one of them. The show, a sort of low-rent Hunger Games, brings together a group of kids, puts them in crisis situations, and asks the audience to vote on what they will do. Kress, a respected sf writer, is at her best coming up with scenarios to challenge the teens and show the shifting alliances. Several of the characters also intrigue. But there’s a lot going on here that is never fully integrated into the narrative. The Collapse-induced riots sometimes seem like background noise: a presidential assassination barely gets a mention, and a corporate merger seems an unnecessary complication. What this does have, in spades, is a high-energy momentum that will keep pages turning—sometimes just to avoid the political backstory—but mostly because readers really will want to find out what happens to their faves. Just like on a reality show. Grades 7-10. --Ilene Cooper