The Cydonian Pyramid

June 1, 2013

Gr 7 Up-This title covers the same time period as The Obsidian Blade (Candlewick, 2012), but from Lah Lia's point of view. She explains her origins as a Pure Girl, raised and groomed for eventual sacrifice to atone for the sins of society's past. At her sacrificial ceremony, an interruption occurs with the sudden appearance of Tucker, introduced in the first book, who has been time-traveling between historical events of the future and distant past through portals called diskos. Tucker's presence creates a one-in-a-million chance for Lah Lia to escape her pending doom by jumping through one of the diskos. When she lands in the new world, she sustains multiple life-threathening injuries, but is healed by an advance core of medical specialists termed Medicants. Throughout the story, references are made as to how the technology of the past caused an apocalyptic end to humanity via the Digital Plague. In Lah Lia's world, the use of any type of digital technology is against the law. It is even illegal to refer to or verbally mention numbers. Interspersed with short chapters from Tucker's viewpoint, the story creates a kind of twilight zone surreal atmosphere. The author gives readers a chance to review events from the previous book, eventually allowing the two separate story lines of Lah Lia and Tucker to merge. Tinged with elements of ancient Mayan sacrifices and political intrigue, the book will have fans of historical fiction and science fiction thinking through the motives and concepts of this smoothly layered adventure.-Sabrina Carnesi, Crittenden Middle School, Newport News, VA

Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from April 1, 2013
Middle books in trilogies are tricky, but this taut science-fiction thriller pulls it off with panache. The mysterious teenage girl Lah Lia keeps reappearing at pivotal moments of Tucker Feye's chaotic adventures across time; now, following her own journey through the "disko" portals sheds clarity upon the various rival factions contending through the forthcoming epochs. From her pampered childhood, raised as a sacrifice, to the end of human history, Lia witnesses the early days of the Boggsian technological cult and their transcendence into the spectral tourist Klaatu; the heyday of digitocratic Medicant healers and their persecution at the hands of the fanatically anti-numerate Lah Sept; and the rebellion of the ruthless Yar women against the corrupt priests of her own time. Lia matures from a clever but passive observer to a tough-minded, compassionate and principled actor, determined to take charge of her own life--even if that means rewriting the past. While by no means a stand-alone, the narrative intersperses chapters recounting Tucker's interrogation by Cold War-era Arctic explorers to recap important details and ground the more exotic future scenarios. This device also drives the plot, as the two protagonists strive independently to reconnect. When they meet again in the final pages, it is clear that the past is beginning to unravel, and all history is about to break loose. Hautman continues to write mind-expanding adventures and nail-biting suspense to probe big questions of faith, destiny and personal responsibility. The next book can't come soon enough. (Science fiction. 12 & up)

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May 15, 2013
Grades 9-12 And you thought The Obsidian Blade (2012) was weird? Then gird your loins for Hautman's increasingly difficult to follow butand here's the tricknevertheless fascinating sequel. Tucker Feye, our initial guide through the time-tripping diskos, this time recedes to the background to make room for Lah Lia, brought up in the future world of Romelas as a pampered Pure Girl whose womanhood is celebrated by sacrificing her to the disko atop the city's holy pyramid. Got it so far? Good, because then it goes off the rails. Lia is shuttled back and forth through time and circumstance, from the relatively simple (working on a farm and learning to protect herself from a leering drunkard) to the mind-bogglingly complex (a future war alongside those emerging from what was known as the Digital Plague ). Hautman does newbies no favors by refusing to provide much establishing information. But he understands it, and it's hard not to be both disoriented and intrigued as he leads you through the frequently murky but occasionally spectacular developments. Stay tuned for the (even weirder?) finale, folks. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Hautman doesn't know how to write a bad book. His name recognition should continue to make this unorthodox sf series a high-visibility one.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)