Entangled

Starred review from September 16, 2013
In this accomplished debut, the scattered remains of the human race live as second-class citizens on alien worlds, plagued by the “spacesick” that comes from space travel. Seventeen-year-old Cade survives on the desert planet Andana, contending with the “Noise,” a constant jumble of sound in her head. Playing guitar for the spacesicks who love her music both makes her a living and keeps her sane. One night the Noise stops, and the hologram of a dead man appears to tell her why—Cade is the product of an experiment and has been entangled on a quantum level since babyhood with a boy named Xan. Xan is being held captive in Hades, an area of space infested with black holes, and to find him, Cade joins forces with a human smuggler, an alien captain, and his sentient ship. Capetta has a muscular writing style that embodies both Cade’s sensitivity to the world around her—essential for the artist she is—and the mental shields she creates to protect herself from the brutality of that world. Ages 14–up. Agent: Sara Crowe, Harvey Klinger.