The Only Thing to Fear

September 29, 2014
Richmond makes an impressive debut with this alternate history, which sees a 16-year-old half-Japanese girl growing up in the Nazi-dominated Eastern half of the United States, decades after Germany won WWII through the use of genetically engineered superhumans. Zara St. James, constantly subjected to prejudice and discrimination, is hiding a secret: she, too, is an Anomaly, with the power to control wind. Though she wants to join the rebel Alliance, her uncle believes it too dangerous for her. Events spiral out of control when the Nazis crack down on potential rebels and sympathizers, forcing Zara to reveal her powers while teaming up with a surprising allyâthe privileged son of a high-ranking German official. Readers will be able to detect shades of Katniss in this story of a brave and resourceful young woman who inadvertently becomes the poster child for rebellion. But Richmond twists history and throws in creative exploitation of superpowers to deliver a fast-paced adventure that incorporates romantic themes without being overly reliant on them. Ages 12âup. Agent: Jim McCarthy, Dystel & Goderich Literary Management.

July 1, 2014
That 20th-century speculative-fiction staple, the what-if-Hitler-won-the-war alternate history, meets 21st-century special-girl dystopia.It's been almost a century since the Axis powers divided a conquered North America among them: Japan in the west, Germany in the east, and Italy in the Dakotas. In the Nazi-controlled Shenandoah Valley, 16-year-old half-Japanese Zara is an Untermensch, a half-breed fit only for scut work. Though she works all hours as both a janitor and a farm girl, Zara desperately wants Uncle Red to allow her to join the Revolutionary Alliance, the anti-Nazi underground. But her uncle, still grieving the death of Zara's mother in an Alliance mission gone wrong, is determined to protect her. Besides, he argues, it's vital that Zara hide her Anomaly power-superpowers the Nazis developed in their death camps that allowed them to win the war. Only Aryans are allowed to be Anomalies; if the Nazis learn Zara can control wind with her mind, she'll be headed to a dreadful fate. Along with an Aryan child of privilege who wants to join the rebellion, Zara must do the unthinkable and save the world. Though these Nazis are oddly restrained in their evil compared to the real thing (they haven't tried to ethnically cleanse North America, for one), they make for believable dictatorial overlords.Overall, a satisfying and appropriately hectic action adventure with a perfectly likable if interchangeable (but for her biracial heritage) protagonist. (Dystopian adventure. 12-15)

COPYRIGHT(2014) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

July 1, 2014

Gr 9 Up-Sixteen-year-old Zara St. James lives in a dystopian futuristic society in which the Nazis won World War II and now control the world alongside their Axis allies. Ever since Zara's mother and best friend were killed by the Nazis, Zara has been living with her uncle who is one of the leaders of the Alliance, a rebel group attempting to overthrow the government. Outraged by everything the Nazis have done to her friends and family, Zara is eager to join the Alliance, but her overprotective uncle won't allow it. Because of Zara's special ability to control wind, however, she feels she would be an invaluable asset, and spends the majority of the book complaining that her uncle won't allow her to do more to help. But when she meets Bastian, a Nazi soldier eager to join the rebels, she seizes her opportunity to defy her uncle and aid the Alliance in overthrowing the Nazi Empire. The romance that sparks between the two teens feels forced, and neither character is particularly likable or sympathetic. Zara's supernatural abilities seem misplaced considering the premise, and while the premise is intriguing, its distant third-person point of view and less-than-stellar writing make it a poorly executed story. Readers are unlikely to get past the first few chapters.-Candyce Pruitt-Goddard, Hartford Public Library, CT

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.