Dark Days

Gr 9 Up—In a dystopian future, 16-year-old Sia awakes with just fifteen days to live before her sector is destroyed and she is murdered by a cyborg army, along with everyone she knows. After climate change took out most of the living creatures on Earth, the remaining people were rounded up into sectors to keep them safe. Eventually, walls were built around the sectors, and a leader with a desire to create a New World emerged. This New World would be inhabited by only the best people, and everyone else would be destroyed. Sia's sector is dominated by constant reports of the horrors to come via television, and a digital clock with red numbers that counts down the days left to live, so she creates a short, four-item bucket list: swim in the lake, spend time with her parents, kiss a boy, and fall in love. In addition to checking off items on her list, the protagonist also participates in a rebellion against the cyborg army. With a half-baked plan for rebellion, a weak romance, and a countdown clock as a poorly disguised plot device, readers may not get lost in Sia's world. This title does not stand up to others in the genre, but if your teens absolutely can't get enough views of our potential future on this planet, consider making a place for this.—Heather Acerro, Rochester Public Library, MN