Perfect Ruin

September 9, 2013
Totalitarianism is boring. The challenge for authors of totalitarian dystopias is to write about the boredom in interesting ways—a challenge that DeStefano (the Chemical Garden Trilogy) doesn’t quite surmount in this first book in the Internment Chronicles. Morgan Stockhour is a good tenth-year student who loves her state-mandated betrothed, Basil, and thinks her floating island country, Internment, is beautiful. True, Internment’s history is based on the ground god’s rejection and banishment of its people, but the god of the sky looks after them, as does portly King Furlow and kindly patrolmen like Morgan’s father. Morgan’s world is studded with allegory and symbol: her brother, Lex, looked over the edge of their world and was struck blind; an accused murderer is named Judas; the trains always run on time. It’s difficult not to pity Morgan—she’s a government-molded drone trapped in a familiar dystopian structure, despite the novelty of the setting. Still, love creeps in, and nascent rebellion finally stirs when Morgan realizes that not even the most benevolent despot can keep her world secure and stable. Ages 12–up. Agent: Barbara Poelle, Irene Goodman Literary Agency.

September 1, 2013
An original premise dominates this latest dystopia: A city has floated above the Earth, apparently for millennia. Is it a prison or a refuge? Sixteen-year-old Morgan feels trapped on Internment, her city that floats on a rock in the sky. Her brother Lex tried to jump from their island, only to go blind in the attempt. As the story slowly unfolds, readers learn that Internment is a totalitarian monarchy. Morgan's best friend, Pen, loves her life on Internment, believing all the propaganda even as she enjoys flouting the suffocating rules. Morgan, however, learns that the king and his government do not merely closely watch those they suspect of nonconformity--sometimes they kill them. When a girl is found murdered and excerpts from a subversive paper the dead girl had written begin to appear, Morgan finds herself pulled ever more strongly into opposition. DeStefano creates a believable world in her sky city, with a nicely done police-state theme. If the story moves along slowly, related in Morgan's flat present-tense narration, it remains interesting enough. Characters are developed well, including the dead girl through her quotations. Suspense builds slowly as the plot unfolds, ending, of course, on a cliffhanger. The setting may be novel enough to keep readers going. (Dystopian adventure. 12 & up)

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Starred review from January 1, 2014

Gr 7 Up-The citizens of Internment don't view their city as a prison, despite its name. Suspended in the clouds high above the ground, surrounded by a force field of wind, the people believe that they are especially beloved of the sky god. Occasionally, however, someone will attempt to breach the high fence that circles the island and jump over the edge-an act that is strictly forbidden. Morgan Stockhour, 16, has been shunned by most students at the Academy ever since her older brother attempted a jump. She tells no one, not even best friend, Pen, or her betrothed, Basil, about the dark thoughts she harbors. When a young woman is murdered and fear begins to taint the idyllic life of the floating metropolis, Morgan finds herself helping the accused murderer and questioning everything she knows about Internment. In the midst of these troubles, the romance between Morgan and Basil offers a sweet counterpart to the pall that hangs over the city. DeStefano draws out the story slowly, building the anxiety and confusion with revelations gradually coming to light. Her prose flits from straightforward to lyrical as the story seesaws between gloom and hope. Fans of speculative fiction will enjoy DeStefano's concoction of tension and love with a cliff-hanger ending.-Eric Norton, McMillan Memorial Library, Wisconsin Rapids

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Starred review from September 15, 2013
Grades 7-10 *Starred Review* Morgan Stockhour, along with her family and friends, lives in Internment, a city that floats in the sky. It's surrounded by a train line; go beyond the trains and you come to the edge. Below is the ground, almost imperceptible to the Internment residents, who were banished from there generations ago, supposedly for their demands and curiosity. Morgan's brother, Lex, is one of the currently curious, an edge jumper, who became blinded in the processand put his family under the king's suspicion. Morgan and Lex's relationship has become strained, but she does have a strong support system in her sister-in-law; her betrothed, Basil; and her best friend, Pen. When a young girl turns up murdered, the myth of a safe, serene community is extinguished. A chance encounter with the escaped murderer makes Morgan question all that she's been taught to believe and leads her down a rabbit hole of surprise, suspicion, and conspiracy. DeStefano has created a perfect stormintertwining plot, characters, and setting beautifully. From the first page, readers will be enticed by Morgan's voice, precise in its descriptions yet filled with curiosity. Internment becomes practically a character in itself, and what at first seems an almost magical place, surrounded by stars, will eventually stifle readers, as it does Morgan. The story's framework is expandable enough to encompass tenderness, tension, and surprise. This is a page-turner, and waiting for the next book will be hard, hard, hard. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: DeStefano, author of the New York Times best-selling Chemical Garden series, has a boatload of fans. The promotion for this will garner more.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)