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
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