Feeling rejected, Charlie, an artist, is drawn into a destructive new relationship with her sexy older co-worker, a 'semifamous' local musician who's obviously a junkie alcoholic. But things don't go as planned in the Arizona desert, because sweet Mikey just wants to be friends. After spending time in treatment with other young women like her-who cut, burn, poke, and otherwise hurt themselves-Charlie is released and takes a bus from the Twin Cities to Tucson to be closer to Mikey, a boy she 'like-likes' but who had pined for Ellis instead. Seventeen-year-old Charlie Davis, a white girl living on the margins, thinks she has little reason to live: her father drowned himself her bereft and abusive mother kicked her out her best friend, Ellis, is nearly brain dead after cutting too deeply and she's gone through unspeakable experiences living on the street. This derivative debut never finds its wings.Īfter surviving a suicide attempt, a fragile teen isn't sure she can endure without cutting herself. A cliffhanger ending sets up the obligatory sequel. Phaet’s journey from elective near-mute to military whiz is barely credible, and Bao’s awkward attempts at lyricism detract from the narrative action. Unfortunately, neither the characterization nor the prose helps Bao’s riff stand out from the crowd. Many of the elements of this debut-the totalitarian regime, amoral soldiers, class struggles, family secrets and love triangle-are familiar from other post-apocalyptic novels.

Her age and her silence (she rarely speaks) put her at a disadvantage only her tentative friendship with Wes, a gifted trainee, gives her a fighting chance at survival, let alone at the high ranking she needs to earn prize money.

To provide for her family, Phaet decides to begin her mandatory military training three years early. Her plans change, however, when her mother’s illness and quarantine leave Phaet and her younger siblings destitute. In a far future in which humans have settled on the moon to escape wars and climate change on Earth, a teenage girl trains to become a soldier in order to support her family.īorn and raised in the Lunar Bases, 15-year-old Phaet (whose name means “Dove”) works part-time in the greenhouses with her best friend and hopes to become a Bioengineer.

Dove arising by karen bao