Age of Order (Age of Order Saga) - Softcover

North, Julian

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0692828540 ISBN 13: 9780692828540

Publisher: Plebeian Media, 2016

Synopsis

“Readers will be transfixed by this novel” — Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)

Daniela Machados can run. She’s the track star of Bronx City and an ace student, but that isn’t enough for a nope like her to get out of the barrio.

The Orderist movement has spawned a society that rewards those who supposedly possess “merit,” which includes America’s wealthiest. Manhattan has become the capital of the forty-nine Orderist-led states, while California suffers under an economic embargo. Cities such as Manhattan have become cocoons where the so called “highborn” enjoy the pleasures of farm-grown food and private parks, while their outwardly perfect children are protected by floating nanny-like drones that follow them everywhere.

Daniela has grown up fighting for the chance to attend college beyond the desperation of Bronx City. The chance to attend the elite Tuck School—a place where even the highborn struggle to obtain a spot—is too great an opportunity to ignore. But what do the richies really want from her?

Daniela is thrust into a world very different than the one she expected, a place where both treachery and honor are camouflaged behind beautiful faces. Intrigue and peril soon engulf her, and Daniela learns those at society’s apex will stop at nothing to preserve their so-called order, but their enemies are no less ruthless. Betrayal is everywhere, but it is a girl from Bronx City who holds the future in her hands. Daniela may have a chance to change the world, if it does not change her first.

Hailed by Kirkus Reviews as the novel to revitalize the dystopian genre, Age of Order has the atmosphere of Blade Runner, the intrigue of Orphan Black and the emotional struggle of Slum Dog Millionaire. Grab it.

"[T]he engaging characters, suspenseful storyline and expert world building will keep readers entertained and spellbound." --RT Book Reviews

2016 Lyra Award Winner - Best Young Adult Novel
2017 Los Angeles Book Festival - Best Science Fiction Novel

About this title

About the Author:

I’ve been writing since I could grab a pencil (remember those?) Then I had kids. Not much time for writing anymore. Until they started school... in New York City. I’m not from here, and the tumult of that experience inspired me to write AGE OF ORDER. Now I write what I’m feeling, and let the rest flow from there. I hope you enjoy it.

Review:

From Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review):
"In North's debut YA novel set in a violently divided, high-tech New York City, a poor girl enrolls in a Manhattan school that serves as an enclave for the fabulously rich, powerful, and dangerous.  
An "Orderist" movement has given privilege and rank to those said to have the most "merit," which include America's wealthiest people. This state of affairs made California secede from the Union to become a rogue state; meanwhile, Manhattan, the new capital of the remaining 49, is a paradise of affluence for its chosen elite, with such fabulous luxuries as gene enhancements, gated communities, guardian drones, and self-driving taxis. The Bronx, meanwhile, is wretched, drug-ridden, and plague-filled. It's also home to Daniela Machado, a fierce girl with phenomenal high school grades and impressive stats in track and field. She's driven by a single-minded aim to attend a local medical school and fight "the Waste," a mysterious, eventually fatal malady that's slowly overtaking her political-agitator brother, Mateo. Unexpectedly, Daniela is granted a one-in-a-million chance to attend the Tuck School, a Manhattan academy for the best of the so-called "highborn." She's suspicious of the faculty's motives and of the uber-handsome classmates around her, some of whom are friendly and welcoming, others not. She soon finds out that her predecessor apparently committed suicide, and she gets drawn into intrigue at the highest levels. There's no shortage of YA sci-fi yarns that focus on the gap between haves and have-nots. But North's entry is superlative, and his well-rendered setting is a more interesting conceit than Suzanne Collins' similar Panem in The Hunger Games. Ultimately, what starts out as sort of a fish-out-of-water drama with sci-fi trappings becomes the story of a veritable clash of superbeings, but North maintains expert control over it, much as J.K. Rowling did in her Harry Potter sagas. The action scenes are deftly handled, as are the depictions of compelling, smart, multicultural characters. The background philosophy behind the Orderists also has a sinister verisimilitude (Aldous Huxley is cited, although Ayn Rand, curiously, is not). Both YA and adult readers will be transfixed by this novel, which works well as both a stand-alone and as a series opener.
A promising debut that re-energizes tropes in the dystopian sci-fi genre."
                                                                                                                                                      "Age of Order is a dazzling debut novel that we are tempted to call the best the genre has seen since the original Hunger Games--except that Age of Order is actually the more skillfully crafted story." -- Dystopianrealm.com (5/5 Stars, Top 10 YA Dystopian Novel Selection)
       "[T]he engaging characters, suspenseful storyline and expert world building will keep readers entertained and spellbound." --RT Book Reviews  
                                                                                                                                "The story itself is immensely creative... Setting up a wealth of mysteries before pulling back the veil on each, it's hard to escape the grasp of this book" -- US Review of Books (Recommended)
                                                                                                                                                     "Fans of Divergent and The Hunger Games will find plenty to love in this enthralling, fast-paced story filled with richly drawn characters" -- BestThrillers.com

About this edition

• Publisher: Plebeian Media
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 0692828540
• ISBN 13: 9780692828540
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 414