Publishers Weekly
Cave's "sequel and prequel" to Sharp North (2009) tells two stories back to back. Dom lives in a near-future Britain ravaged by drastic climate change, its leaders devising radical plans to stay in power. Adeline is a clone living generations later in the world those leaders created, but she knows Dom through his diary--the split narrative alternates between Dom's entries and Adeline's experiences. Dom's old school was the staging ground of a military regimen for the children of prominent parents, and he describes the battery of endurance tests he undergoes to determine if his material will be selected for cloning; he also writes about his love for a girl named Ruth. Caught up in the new "madness" sweeping a genetic engineering–obsessed Britain, Adeline leaves the relative safety of her enclave to participate a game show called "Fit to Live," where losing can be fatal. In so doing she becomes the nation's new fixation. Both of Cave's futures are stark and plausible, and his prose is nuanced and driven by urgency. While complex, this can be read as a standalone novel, offering a potent message about confronting the chilling effects of abusive power. Ages 14–up. (July)
VOYA - Gina Bowling
Dom, abandoned at his school, journals about the changes taking place in the world around him. When a group of young people and soldiers arrive and take over the school, Dom becomes one of them, adhering to their strange training routines and tracking everything in his diary. Many years later, Adeline is a young girl living in a secluded community piecing together bits of her past to determine her role in the future. When it becomes apparent that she is to be the savior of her country, Adeline flees and enters Fit to Live, a televised survival game, in hopes of achieving her goal. When Dom and Adeline's paths cross in a fight for their lives, Adeline must trust the very ones she's trying to undermine and overthrow. Told in each character's unique voice, The Selected weaves an intense tale of survival and what it means to be human. Cave raises questions of what could happen if the cloning of human beings became a reality. Who would be selected? Would only the strongest survive? What is the value of human life? The action of Fit to Live is reminiscent of Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games (Scholastic, 2008/VOYA October 2008), and Adeline is a strong heroine in the vein of Katniss and Kristin Kashore's Katsa (Graceling, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2008/VOYA October 2008). While not a first choice for reluctant readers, this novel will quickly hook fans of science fiction and dystopia literature. Reviewer: Gina Bowling
Children's Literature
Presented as both a prequel and a sequel to the author's previous offering, Sharp North, this novel follows the lives of Dominic and Adeline across time and place. Dominic is the son of a powerful leader intent on controlling the civilian population; Dom is imprisoned at his prep school and must, at first, simply survive, but eventually, must question the moral authority of the government and those who control his school and beyond as they pull from the various students to create clones. Adeline's story, set years after Dom's, follows as she works to create a stronger sense of identity for herself as she deals with her own impossible situation: she is a clone and many believe that she will be the savior of Britain. As she is pulled into a dangerous game of cat and mouse for all of Britain to follow, can she be true to herself and to Dom's legacy even as she faces true evil in the world around her? The interesting premise found in this book will give teen readers much to consider. Reviewer: Jean Boreen, Ph.D.
School Library Journal
Gr 9 Up—This futuristic novel alternates between the stories of Dominic, who is the sole remaining student at his English boarding school following a series of natural disasters that decimated much of the world's population, and Adeline, a clone living centuries in the future whose connection with Dominic causes her to dream of his life in 2023. An old prophecy states that someone bearing Adeline's description will save the world, though she doubts this, given a heart condition that makes her physically weak. Centuries earlier, Dominic struggles to assimilate with the military cadets who take over his school and to gain the affection of Ruth, the groundskeeper's wild, fearless daughter. Cave has devised a unique premise and two likable protagonists, though the plot is convoluted and the connection between Dominic and Adeline unclear until the novel's end, which may frustrate readers as their stories appear unrelated and disjointed until this point. The subplot involving Adeline participating in a fight-to-the-death reality show under an alias comes out of the blue and seems like a pale imitation of Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games (Scholastic, 2008). Sharp North (S & S, 2006), the self-proclaimed prequel/sequel to The Selected, should clear up a bit of the confusion by providing background for some of the characters who appear in the latter, and librarians/teachers should ensure that their library has the earlier book if they choose to purchase this one.—Leah J. Sparks, formerly at Bowie Public Library, MD
