Pills and Starships

June 1, 2014
Millet imagines a dystopic near future in which the well-heeled make death a family affair.Their parents have brought Nat, 16, and her brother, Sam, 14, to the island of Hawaii to witness their chosen death in a six-day, drug-drenched farewell ceremony, carefully scripted by its corporate sponsor. Even for the well-off, long life in a world of anoxic oceans and animal extinctions no longer appeals. Like most other kids, Nat's resigned to a future without parents; rebellious Sam is less accepting. When, from beneath the glossy surface, a disturbing reality begins to emerge, Nat's emotionally flat narration makes it hard to care. Passive and without affect, she accepts her parents' choices and later abandons her brother during a horrendous storm with elegiac regret. Despite exposition that's rarely interrupted by dialogue, this world's puzzlingly out of focus, real places carelessly portrayed. The novel's narrative conceit has Nat explaining her story to a hypothetical distant reader. Summarizing the action robs it of suspense and interest: Readers do not see the story unfold and watch characters act and interact, making it difficult for them to interpret their behavior for themselves.Detail may be the lifeblood of fiction, but storytelling is its pumping heart; without it, this all-premise effort is DOA. (Science fiction. 12-16)

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December 1, 2014
Gr 7 Up-Global warming has turned the outside air toxic, and the ozone layer is nonexistant. Even the birth of children is a thing of the past. It is in this world, run by corporations instead of governments, that Nat lives with her brother, Sam, and her parents, who are more than 100 years old. Her parents are desperate to leave the dying world, preferring the corp-assisted ritual of the Final Week to dying a natural death. As Nat tries to process the emotions of losing her parents to a voluntary death, she reveals through her journal entries her discoveries that there is more to the Final Week than what the corporations feel like sharing. With a hurricane bearing down on them, Nat must discover the truth about her world if she hopes to survive. Millet's novel combines elegant prose with themes of global warming and governmental machinations. The lingo does take getting used to but is similar enough to present-day jargon to give only momentary pause. As proficient as Millet is with managing tension in the first half of the book, the climax does not maintain that intensity. The last few chapters seem almost an afterthought. Fans of dystopian fiction will certainly embrace the tale, up to a point, but may feel the same dissatisfaction once they have finished listening. Mozhan Marno expertly narrates. Suggest for students who have read everything else on the shelf.-"Michaela Schied, Indian River Middle School, Philadelphia, NY"

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