The Knowing

August 1, 2017

Gr 8 Up-In this companion novel to The Forgetting, Cameron once again fashions an elaborate dystopian narrative that fairly prickles with suspense. Five hundred years ago, Earth lost contact with its fledgling colony New Canaan. In the intervening years, a rigidly hierarchical, no-tech society formed. Samara, one of the Knowing, runs away when she realizes that the Council plans to kill her at the next Judgment. On the lam, she encounters newly arrived scouts from a super high-tech Earth, Beckett and Jillian. Though the scouts are under orders to refrain from engaging with New Canaan residents, Beckett finds it impossible to resist helping Samara no matter what it costs him or his mission. Masterful characterizations, world-building, and pacing make for irresistible reading. As the narrative switches between Samara and Beckett, their voices become distinct. Samara's ability to remember everything she has ever dreamed, read, heard, or seen weighs on her emotionally, yet she is compassionate and courageous. Beckett is confident and smart. Though his self-assurance crosses into hubris at times, he learns from his mistakes. Wildly inventive yet somehow believable elements such as "wellness injections," "weavers singing down the looms" at the end of the day, and oblique references to the Fourth and Fifth World Wars add intriguing depth. For all of its fantastical elements such as caching memories, a handheld gadget that fuses broken bones, and a three-moon sky, this companion novel is ultimately a story about two teenagers, Samara and Beckett, finding their places in the world, managing familial and societal expectations, and falling in love. VERDICT Cameron is a writer of prime caliber. Purchase where the previous book is popular.-Jennifer Prince, Buncombe County Public Libraries, NC

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 15, 2017
Nearly 400 years after the events in The Forgetting (2016), Canaan, long abandoned, its whereabouts lost, has devolved into an evil myth, while New Canaan, the rigid, class-stratified community that's replaced it, faces growing threats, internal and external. New Canaan's rulers, the Knowing, live underground and are served by Outsiders, impoverished surface dwellers. The Knowing have perfect memory; to recall is to re-experience events as if for the first time. For those like black-haired, brown-skinned Samara who are unable to "cache," or repress traumatic memories, suicide is common. Secretly helping Outsiders, Samara may have unintentionally endangered them. Tortured by horrific memories, she escapes to find Canaan's ruins and to Forget. There, she runs into Beckett and Jill, two Americans from Earth's spaceship Centauri III, its mission to learn the fate of predecessor missions. Beckett, multiracial (Chinese/Latinx) son of two anthropologists, is intrigued by Samara, who talks them into returning to New Canaan with her. His growing chemistry with Samara angers Jill, the bright, blonde, white daughter of an archaeologist. Uneasy with Jill's ambition and expectations, Beckett's alarmed by his father's warning that Centauri III has a secret agenda, one that Jill may share. New Canaan, too, has surprises in store, including a burgeoning rebellion. Diverse, well-drawn characters abound, but in the riveting power struggles that ensue, women are dominant players, ruthless ideologues willing to sacrifice all that interferes with the goal. The intricately woven narrative threads come together in a suspenseful denouement sure to leave readers hoping for another installment. (Science fiction. 13-16)

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Starred review from September 15, 2017
Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* In The Forgetting (2016), readers were introduced to Canaan, an experimental colony on another planet, designed to foster a peaceful, technology-free civilization. This companion novel picks up almost 400 years later with two charactersone native, one alientrying to discover what really happened to those colonists, but for very different reasons. Samara Archiva is one of the Knowing, people of the underground city of New Canaan who vividly remember everything they see or experience. Samara yearns to be free from the curse of remembering, and she believes the key to this lies in the long-abandoned city of Canaan. Elsewhere on the planet, Centauri III has landed with a research team hoping to locate Earth's lost colony, and among them is 18-year-old Beckett Rodriguez. Events throw the teens unceremoniously together, but as they get to know each otherand their respective culturesan attraction sparks, even as they plunge into increasing danger. Cameron's complex exploration of what it means to live with a lifetime of memories is fascinatingly developed. Chapters alternate between Samara's and Beckett's perspectives, offering insights and observations on the condition of being Knowing and the risk of falling in love when that feeling will be immutable. Both a politically charged adventure and culture study, this thought-provoking dystopia stands firmly on its own.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)