Burn Out

Gr 7 Up—Three centuries in the future, our sun unexpectedly and swiftly grew, burning away all water and most life on Earth. But Tora remains—and she suspects she's the only human left on the planet, subsisting on dwindling air and water reserves in what was her family's emergency shelter. Her mother and sister died tragically and her scientist father was murdered by the government when he refused to turn over weapons he created for them. But then a family frenemy, Markus, returns with soldiers (one of them the smoldering and mysterious James), intent on taking those weapons that Tora has so carefully hidden. The heroine thinks that Markus might be her ticket off the planet—if she can survive this encounter. There is much in Helvig's debut that doesn't make sense: How has humankind mastered interplanetary travel and colonized other worlds without being able to preserve Earth's water or keep the planet habitable? Why would Tora's father key his weapons specifically to her bio-signature and leave them with her, putting her at risk, rather than just destroy them? Too many twists in alliances and betrayals by love interest James will leave readers puzzled at the motivations behind the characters' actions, and the ending leaves very little resolved. Not much differentiates this from others of its kind, but teens will enjoy the mix of romantic tension, "he didn't! he couldn't!" moments, and laser gun-slinging adventure.—Gretchen Kolderup, New York Public Library