The Bar Code Prophecy

October 15, 2012
The third installment of this series about bar-coded humans, set in the near future, gets off to a strong start, but flimsy characterization and slipshod storytelling sink the promising high concept. Grace can't wait to get her bar-code tattoo when she turns 17 in two days, but Eric, her crush at the climbing gym, has doubts. He suspects the manufacturer, genetics arm of megacorporation Global-1, may still be releasing malicious nanobots with the tattoos. Grace is sure he's wrong--her dad works for Global-1, and besides, it's convenient to have all that encrypted personal information tattooed on your wrist. She learns otherwise when she runs into her father's colleague Dr. Harriman. Alarmed to see her new tattoo, he tells her to go home immediately, where she finds her family gone and her home invaded by well-armed Global-1 security police. Soon Grace herself lands in the hands of Decode, an underground group opposed to Global-1. This is promising material, but worldbuilding is superficial, and the generic characters are nearly indistinguishable. Substituting action for substance, the frenetic plot serves up dollops of underdeveloped rubber science and vaguely Hopi and Navajo mysticism without investing the effort needed to bring it all to life. Appetizing flashes of wit and occasional vivid moments leave readers hungry for a real meal. (Science fiction. 12-16)

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December 1, 2012

Gr 7-9-In 2025, tattoos are not only acceptable; they are required. Thanks to the manipulation of big business and crooked politicians, everyone over 17 must have a bar-code tattoo to access everything from spending money to college admission. Grace, 17, is looking forward to the 'too-it's a rite of passage. Who needs to listen to the fearmongers, who say that it is the evil tool of an overbearing government? But Grace's tattoo, far from being the ticket to adulthood, leads her straight into trouble. Her family disappears, security men from Global-1 begin chasing her, and a shaman tells her about a prophecy of "lines of destruction," and Grace appears to have a key part. She meets up with members of Decode, a group of rebel hackers and inventors committed to protecting Mother Earth and her children from strip-mining and other indignities perpetrated by greedy leaders. Most Decode members are Grace's age or slightly older. Third in a trilogy that includes Bar Code Tattoo (2004) and Bar Code Rebellion (2006, both Scholastic), this book reads best with the background of the previous books, but it can stand alone. Weyn relies at times on imagined newspaper articles, letters, and paragraphs of explanation to move the action forward. Some readers might question how teens easily hack government sites, produce sophisticated fake tattoos, construct magnetically propelled cars, and escape professional security forces time and again. Others will sit back and enjoy the action, the occasional romance, and the Native American conservation themes in this swiftly moving adventure.-Maggie Knapp, Trinity Valley School, Fort Worth, TX

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