Fixed

The chute opened and Nellie hit the threshold to the maze at a full run, body gliding like a snake, eyes alert for movement, any shadow that looked too dense or too oddly shaped. Once inside the small entrance lobby she paused, pivoting side to side in the gloom, one hand hovering at the stun gun in her belt, but the maze's opening section remaining quiet, nothing to be seen or heard except the sledgehammer thud of her heart. Nellie Joanne Kinnan is an Advanced Cadet in the Black Core Program at the Detta training center. Weapons and violence are second nature to this twelve-year-old, but she is never exactly sure what it is she is being trained for. Nellie is a dedicated and skilled cadet. She knows she wants to serve the Goddess and the Empire. But there is so much that she doesn't understand. When a weapons training session brings her face-to-face with her twin, Nellie's world is thrown into turmoil. Suddenly she questions her commitment to the violence that has dominated her young life. As she slowly learns to trust her rebellious twin, she comes to realize that much of what she has been taught about life in both the Interior and the Outbacks is not true. Faced with this reality, Nellie must find new weapons and new strength in her struggle to continue to serve the Goddess. In this exciting sequel to Flux, Beth Goobie has once again created a cast of memorable characters within a story that will both fascinate and challenge readers. Fixed continues the author's exploration of the moral question of societal control versus personal freedom and will certainly add to her well-deserved reputation as one of Canada's best and most ambitious writers of teen fiction. Fixed is the second of two books in a series. Book one is Flux.

Wendy Glenn, Ph.D. - Children's Literature

In this sequel to Flux, twelve-year-old Nellie Joanne Kinnan is an Advanced Cadet in the Black Core Program at the Delta Training Center. She spends her days learning how to use weaponry, running mazes with the intent to kill, and undergoing intense physical and emotional training—all the while asking herself to what end. Although she believes she is serving the Goddess, she knows little of her past or how she came to be a cadet. Further complicating her sense of identity are the regular brain-washing experiences she undergoes in the elimination of memories deemed unnecessary by her teachers. Nellie is a successful cadet who is asked to complete the most dangerous and important of missions, including the planting of a bomb in a museum beyond the walls of the Delta complex. She prides herself on the high body count she achieves and learns to love to hate. When Nellie's twin sister attempts to rescue her from the facility, however, Nellie is forced to call into question all that she has believed to be true. She learns the truth about her mother, about her perceived enemies, and, ultimately, about herself and her destructive role in a war made up by those wishing to instill fear in the common people. The novel is fast-paced, even poetic at times, but it remains confusing due to the complications of travel between levels of reality and the subsequent existence of doubles (humanlike duplicates who lack physical form but can interact with others). The final escape from the Delta complex, in particular, feels contrived. Goobie misses an opportunity when she pays short shrift to Nellie's time outside the complex carrying out the work of her superiors; this is where the controversylies and, subsequently, where Nellie's character could be more fully developed. 2005, Orca, Ages 12 to 17.