The Evaporation of Sofi Snow

April 15, 2017
Top gamer Sofi Snow and her team compete in the FanFight Games, which take place in an arena in post-Fourth World War Manhattan.During a game, Shilo, the brown-skinned teen's younger brother and the team's on-the-field player, is unexpectedly attacked by an opposing player who's strapped with a bioweapon. The ensuing explosion is believed to have killed Sofi and her entire team, including Shilo. Sofi survives, however, and goes into hiding, protected by her underground community of hackers. Sofi believes Shilo is alive and has been kidnapped by the Delonese, the humanoid, extraterrestrial species that resides on the ice planet that now orbits Earth. With Earth's natural resources all but depleted, humans are left to rely on the Delonese for advanced technology. Needing undercover transport to the ice planet to save Shilo, Sofi turns to Miguel, the suave, fully tatted, brown-skinned young ambassador to the Delonese. What begins feeling like an interactive video game version of the Hunger Games evolves into an unfolding political plot as both Sofi and Miguel, in alternating third-person chapters, seek to uncover who is behind the terrorist attack. Dry political discourse in Miguel's chapters occasionally stalls a strong beginning. Though the diverse cast of hackers that drives this dystopian tale is refreshing, characterizations are underdeveloped, suiting this tale to readers who favor plot over all else. A cool vision of future Earth that realistically reflects an increasingly multicultural world. (Science fiction. 14-18)

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May 1, 2017

Gr 9 Up-Eleven years prior, Delonese aliens arrived and ended Earth's fourth world war among private corporations and the original governments, a conflict caused by oil shortages, energy crises, a declining environment, high-level corruption, hate speech, and terrorism. The elite UW (United World Corporations) has become the overseer of much of the new dystopian society's population. Poverty, expensive medication, and a severe lack of jobs still vex Earth. Seventeen-year-old Sofi and her 12-year-old brother, Shilo, are gamers forced to represent their estranged mother's pharmaceutical corporation, Corp 30, by competing in the UW's Fan Fights. It is Sofi's task to protect Shilo, but the introduction of a new Corp 24 player mid-game leads to an attempt on Shilo's life and a violent explosion. He is escorted off by a Delonese medic as Sofi helplessly watches. With the help of handsome playboy Ambassador Miguel, Sofi's first heartbreaking crush, she begins the quest to rescue her brother, one that will rouse suppressed emotions along the way but eventually lead her to Planet Delon and to secrets and realizations beyond belief. Weber's world-building, complete with political overtones, betrayal, blackmail, sexual tension, genetic testing, and questions regarding the sanctity of human life vs. technical advancement, will leave readers lost in thought and pondering the outcome of Sofi's mission. VERDICT Suitable for all sci-fi fans who don't mind books with little closure, but recommended for teens with a grasp of hot political issues and a willingness to wait for loose ends to be resolved.-Susan Harris, Ridgeway High School, TN

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