Feeder

December 15, 2017
Weekes offers a novel set in a strange reality full of unseen forces wreaking havoc.To support herself and her little brother, Lori works with a creature called Handler to hunt the titular feeders, monsters that literally hollow humans out. On what should be a routine assignment for the Lake Foundation, Lori makes a powerful enemy in Tia Lake when she stumbles upon five teenagers trapped in a shipping container and sets them free. Turns out these teens possess special powers ranging from superstrength to camouflage. Tia has plans for them, and she's not letting them--or Lori--go without a fight. The teens have three days to figure out what Tia wants and how to bring down Lake Foundation or risk losing their lives in a most dreadful manner. With a mysteriously altered world and creatures that jump dimensions, Weekes creates an intriguing setting, but the novel falters in its development of its diverse cast of characters of various ethnicities and sexual orientations. One character uses a wheelchair, and another is transgender. Lori herself is part white and part Chinese. However, Weekes' handling of diversity can get clunky. While trying to subvert stereotypes, his characters sometimes play into them instead. Interestingly, each teen's power correlates to some very real struggle in their personal life that Weekes makes an effort to explore.This has the makings of a fun, creative novel, but the execution leaves something to be desired. (Science fiction. 14-18)

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January 1, 2018
In the canal city of Santa Dymphna in the Pacific Northwest, 16-year-old Lori Fisher supports herself and her younger brother by hunting down alien beings called feeders with her interdimensional partner, Handler, who communicates with her via text message. While hunting feeders, which take over human bodies to gruesome effect, Lori frees a group of superpowered teenagers called the Nix; they team up to stop their captor, who has nefarious plans for them. Set in a world altered by rising sea levels, this first YA novel from Weekes (the Rogues of the Republic trilogy) is chock-full of pop culture references (one of the Nix “might have wished for Captain Marvel, but she got Professor X”) and diverse characters. Brazilian Iara uses a wheelchair, Filipino Hawk is bulletproof, and sparks fly between sharp-tongued shape-shifter Maya and ultracompetent Lori. The worldbuilding is thin, but the video-game-quick action scenes crackle with energy, and the banter among the heroes is rapid-fire as Weekes uses the action-adventure setup to explore self-acceptance, friendship, and what it means to be human. Ages 14–up. Agent: David Hale Smith, Inkwell Management.

December 15, 2017
Grades 6-10 Within one short week, five diverse teens with supernatural abilities, from superstrength to elasticity, bond as a team and defeat an ancient deity who is bent on destroying the human race in order to be released from a millennia-long curse. Chapters are divided into the days of this extraordinary week, wherein this newly formed set of superheroeshailing from different cultures, parts of the world, and socio-economic groups, as well as having different physical abilitieshave one another's backs when it matters. There are subplots about losing parents and dealing with grief (or not), being different from one's teen peers, and being LGBTQ; but the sometimes-slimy action only slows and never stops to spend much time developing them. Also, the villain is caught in a situation that, once understood, makes it a little difficult for readers not to empathize, and challenges middle-school students to explore gray areas of right and wrong. Readers will enjoy the mix of text messages into the prose, and those who like mythology incorporated into fantasy plots can encounter Babylonian deities here.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)