Thunder

Gr 9 Up—This complicated dystopian novel has a little bit of everything: a teen girl coming of age, a mysterious race with special powers, mad scientists, political and family drama, and more. Set in a future North America where strangers called Landers, identified by a prominent mark on their faces, are hunted and sold to a mysterious company in a mountain, the story focuses on Selah on the eve of her 18th birthday. She tries to catch a Lander to prove her worth to her family, but her plan goes awry. Physical contact with Bodhi Locke, the Lander she captured, causes her own mark to wake up, and she soon discovers that her real father was one of these outcasts. The teen flees her family in search of a colony that will accept her new identity. Adding to Selah's conflict, a group of Lander rebels wants to organize a revolt against the government that seeks to marginalize and wipe them out. The many threads sometimes makes this tale difficult to follow and several of them are unresolved. However, readers who stick with it will look forward to learning more about this complex world in the next installment. A good purchase where postapocalyptic series are popular.—Sarah Jones, Clinton-Macomb Public Library, MI