Dark Parties

Booklist

"The heart-pounding rush of twists...will induce extreme page turning.

Library Media Connection

"With vivid imagery and realistically portrayed teen angst and emotions, Grant creates a believable, if horrifying, world peopled with interesting and well developed characters...Grant is a debut author to watch.

Publishers Weekly

Sixteen-year-old Neva lives in Homeland, a country protected by an electrified dome called the Protecto-sphere. Shut away, the population becomes more homogenous and inbred, and their resources dwindle. Neva's grandmother believed there was still life outside the dome, but she disappeared 10 years ago and now heads Neva's "List of The Missing," a roster that grows daily. At a "dark party," a gathering in total darkness, Neva and her friend Sanna incite their peers to rebel and demand the opening of the Protectosphere, but the revolution fizzles, and Neva is taken in for questioning. Assigned to a new job, Neva is determined to uncover the truth, and she learns Homeland's ugly secrets at great cost. Aside from Neva, Grant's characters don't evoke sympathy or empathy, and dystopia fans will find many recycled concepts, even harking back to Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four. Heavy-handed terminology and imagery (e.g., the inherent individuality of a snowflake) let down this dark examination of governmental control. Ages 12–up. (Aug.)

VOYA

Sixteen-year-old Neva lives under the Protectosphere, an impregnable dome constructed generations ago in response to "the Terror." Appalled by the extent to which the government controls their lives, Neva and her best friend, Sanna, initiate a tiny rebellion. The intensity and speed with which the government responds convinces Neva to continue, but she becomes increasingly isolated as her friends cave under pressure. In addition, she is falling in love with Sanna's boyfriend. When the plot shifts, which one will turn out to be the revolutionary, the informant, the betrayed idealist trying to maintain a facade in order to protect Neva? These two conflicts are given nearly equal weight in a book that seeks to mix romance, science fiction, and action but cuts so many corners; story elements lack depth. Stock characters abound: the disapproving father, the accommodating mother, the menacing secretary, the devoted boyfriend. "The government" remains a vague nemesis whose motivations seem out of proportion to its actions. Faced with a dwindling population, the government kidnaps teenage girls and impregnates them. This makes good horror, but not much sense in a world low on resources and technology. Pacing suffers too: after an initial burst of plot and a precipitous slide into the numbing horror of enforced conformity, there is a long wait before something else happens. Science fiction readers will wish for more about life under the dome, and thriller fans will find all the plot holes, but readers whose primary interest is romance may not go away disappointed. Reviewer: Paula Willey

School Library Journal

Gr 9 Up—Neva is a citizen of Homeland, a small country completely enclosed by an electrified dome called the "Protectosphere." The dome was erected after the "Terror," and Neva and the rest of the population have been taught that beyond the dome is an unlivable wasteland. Homeland suffers from dwindling resources and a limited gene pool. Young people are encouraged to marry and reproduce to maintain the population. Neva and her best friend, Sanna, suspect that the government is lying, and at a "Dark Party" (the only one mentioned in the entire book), they try to rally their peers to rebellion to demand the opening of the Protectosphere. Their efforts are short-lived and have severe repercussions. Soon Sanna is added to Neva's list of The Missing, but not before Neva betrays her with bad boy Braydon, Sanna's boyfriend. Neva will have to risk all for her friend and for a chance at real romance with Braydon. Comparisons to Ally Condie's Matched (Dutton, 2010) are inevitable. Unfortunately Grant's characters, setting, suspense, and romance don't quite measure up. Fans of Condie (and Suzanne Collins) will be disappointed.—Anthony C. Doyle, Livingston High School, CA