The Factory

Gr 4-6–Egan crafts a new science fiction novel with a suspenseful and original story. Thirteen-year-old Asher has grown up in a world wrecked by climate change and takes the chance to change his family’s financial situation in a government-run experiment at a place known only as The Factory. There he joins a diverse group of youth desperate to earn income for their family. As kids start to suffer increasingly severe effects from the experiments, they must work together to find the truth and a way out. Egan does an excellent job of balancing worldbuilding, plot, and character development. The world presented through school lessons and character backstories is one of severe climate devastation and economic inequality. The cast of characters, primarily the children, is diverse in that it includes multiple ethnicities. While the point of view is Asher’s, the other characters’ histories, motivations, and personalities are developed enough that readers will be invested in them. This rich worldbuilding and character development carries through the slower paced first portion of the book until readers are rewarded with an increasingly fast-paced and tightly plotted final third that is hard to put down. The cliffhanger ending will leave readers eager for the next book.