METL: The ANGEL Weapon

Gr 5-8–Thirteen-year-old Caden’s greatest talent is shoveling horse manure, which he suspects is the reason he has been passed over on every adoption day. In the “Home Full of Nobodies,” a place for children whose parents were arrested by the Church for using technology forbidden by their moon-dwelling god, Gotama, adoption is considered a second chance at salvation for their “tainted souls.” But on the day a merchant unexpectedly decides to adopt Caden, someone else shows up, too: a giant mechanical spider who tells Caden he is going to destroy the world. METL, Earth’s second moon, is on a collision course with Earth, and the giant red “X” that has appeared on its surface matches the red crosses that have developed on Caden’s hands. Pursued by an elite police squad known as the Twelve Apostles, Caden and his new friends, Annika (a human girl) and Deber (a horse), have two days to find Caden’s father and master the mysterious ANGEL weapon that lives inside Caden, or risk destruction of the entire planet. A cliff-hanger ending leaves room for a sequel. The plot, which is full of vivid Christian imagery, is undermined by inadequate world-building that will frustrate readers drawn to its dystopian premise. Cliched villains with unclear motivations confuse the climax. Six pen-and-ink illustrations are interspersed throughout.