Harbinger

Gr 7–10—In a bleak future time when the Earth's resources are depleted, six-year-old Faye has a mysterious incident on a beach resulting in strange behavior, hallucinations, nightmares, and ostracism. Ten years later, 16-year-old Faye is taken to Holbrook Academy, a boarding school for teens "struggling to cope with reality" on a coastal Maine island. After taking the required sleeping pills her first night, she escapes her room and cannot shake the fuzzy memory of music, drums, and chanting; nor can she shake the feelings she develops for Kel, with whom she bonds in a neighboring solitary confinement cell the next day. Faye's "family" unit includes her roommate, Maya; Kel; and three others, all plagued each morning with red-stained hands, while Faye and Maya also awake with red symbols painted on their floor. As Faye searches for the meaning of the symbols, she discovers that she has a purpose of apocalyptic importance. Etienne manages to pack a lot of popular YA story elements into this debut novel, such as dystopian societies, romance, teen misfits, and a boarding school, and she mixes many genres including mystery, thriller, paranormal, and fantasy. While the plot moves quickly, the story line is disjointed and the flow of the narrative is choppy. The accompanying Holbrook Academy map and tarot cards are a welcome addition to the book, and the cover is visually appealing.—Adrienne L. Strock, Maricopa County Library District, AZ