The Song of the Orphans

May 29, 2017
Price follows 2014’s The Flight of the Silvers with a dense second adventure for his ensemble cast of unlikely superheroes. It’s been nine and a half months since Hannah and Amanda Given, Zack Trillinger, Mia Farisi, David Dormer, and Theo Maranan—collectively the Silvers—were saved from the apocalypse by the mysterious, creepy Pelletiers and transported to San Francisco on an Earth in an alternate timeline that diverged from ours in 1912. They soon discovered that they have some unusual powers. Unfortunately, the apocalypse for this alternate Earth is coming in four years, and it’s up to Theo to find the single time string that leads to a safe future. The Silvers have honed their abilities (such as creating portals and slowing down time) and fighting talents, and they’ll need all those skills to contend with the Pelletiers, government agents, and the Gothams, who are convinced they can save the world by killing the Silvers. Price’s worldbuilding is dizzying and complex, and new characters (including a group of very odd children and a tiger named Bo) join the already enormous cast. Returning readers will be excited to get some answers about the Pelletiers, but this is certainly not a book for newcomers. Agent: Stuart Miller, Stuart M. Miller Literary.

Starred review from July 1, 2017
In the second of a series, a group of people escaping the destruction of our world use their newly discovered superpowers to save both themselves and the parallel world where they've landed.Enough time has passed since the publication of the previous doorstopper-sized volume, The Flight of the Silvers (2014), that Price has helpfully provided a stick figure-decorated recap section on his website (danielprice.info/recap). Our heroes were rescued from San Diego and marked with silver bracelets by a family of time travelers--Semerjean, Esis, and Azral Pelletier--as our world was crushed out of existence. The Silvers find themselves in an alternate America, a racist and isolationist country with terrible movies and awful pizza but with the technology to support flying restaurants and extend the lives of beloved pets for decades. True, now the Silvers all have a unique ability to bend time. But this world, too, is doomed to be destroyed in four years. In the short term, the Gothams, a group of New York-based families with similar powers, think that killing the Silvers will save their world, and a powerful and ruthless government agency is after them. More dangerous still are the Pelletiers; while they'll often step in to (violently) defend the Silvers, they're also willing to punish the Silvers for getting romantically involved with one another. Can the Silvers make peace with the Gothams and the government, find the other refugees from their world, discover the Pelletiers' weak spot, and prevent their adopted world's destruction? The action is unrelenting, the body count and the emotional toll are high, the revelations are twisty and brutal, and allegiances shift constantly; as in the previous installment, you may need a score card to keep up. A worthy and thrilling follow-up to The Flight of the Silvers; the wait for Book 3 will be tough to bear.

COPYRIGHT(2017) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from June 1, 2017
The sequel to 2013's The Flight of the Silvers jumps right into the story, assuming readers are familiar with the first book, so you'd better do your homework. The Silvers, a small group of people transported from the dying Earth to this alternate version, are being pursued by some powerful enemies, including some seriously ruthless government agents and some people who are able to bend time itself (the book begins with the Silvers shocked to discover that their own dead selves have arrived in the present from a future time). As if that isn't enough, they learn that the people who rescued them from the apocalypse on their Earth have had a secret, dangerous agenda all along. As intriguing as The Flight of the Silvers was, this follow-up is even more mind-bending. The alternate Earth introduced by the author in the first book is explored in greater detail here, and the relationships between the characters (who are now more like a family than a group of strangers thrown together) are richer and more intricate. A brilliantly imagined fantasy.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

March 1, 2017

An io9 "can't miss" pick and Goodreads Choice Award nominee, the LJ-starred first book in the series opens with sisters Hannah and Amanda caught in a blinding light that ended the world as they knew it. Now, they're joined by four other survivors and here trek through a strange new world, looking for other survivors who may or may not be friendly. Expect demand.

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2017

Sisters Hannah and Amanda Given were among six survivors of an apocalypse that destroyed Earth. Bound with silver bracelets and mysterious powers, now they must cross a new and different Earth to find the one man who can save them--while they try to save their dying world. This follow-up to The Flight of the Silvers takes readers once again on a life-or-death chase, with humanity on the brink of destruction.--KC

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.