Wakers

January 3, 2022
In this concept-focused trilogy opener, Card (Duplex) presents a slow-moving, dialogue-heavy exploration of metaphysics and alternate timelines. When 17-year-old, Armenian-descended Lazarus Davit Hayerian wakes up in an empty cloning facility in Greensboro, N.C., his unique gift—“side stepping” into alternate timestreams in which he already exists—offers little to explain how he arrived there from California, or why the empty city seems to have been deserted for years. After awakening the only other sleeper in the facility, Latinx Ivy Maisie Downey—the sole person able to sense alternate timelines without visiting them—the two theorize that they must have been cloned and abandoned, possibly for a reason (“Only two clones were alive in the whole orchard. One was you, the other was me”). Navigating an immediate personality clash, the two work to layer their powers while struggling to survive in a dire landscape. While the premise has potential, thin plotting—which focuses almost exclusively on Laz and Ivy’s snarky interactions—saps it of urgency, even as the two clumsily navigate a seemingly ending world and a blossoming relationship. The result reads more as extended thought exercise than engaging adventure. Ages 14–up. Agent: Barbara Bova, Barbara Bova Literary.

January 12, 2022
Grades 8-10 Lazarus, a teenager with the power to shift his consciousness into parallel worlds, has always wondered about the realities and alternate selves he leaves behind. When he slides into a strange future timestream and finds himself alone in a storage facility, surrounded by dead clones of himself, Laz becomes determined to figure out how and why his future turned to this. Slowly, he finds shelter, food, and clothing, but no easy answers. Other timestreams offer him no clue as to how he, and the world at large, ended up like this. Seeking a companion, or anyone else, he wakes Ivy from the storage facility, and the two of them try to puzzle out the mystery. In general, while this new offering from classic sf author Card is rooted in an intriguing premise, it never feels entirely realized or explained, much like many of Laz's actions. It does, however, hit a sweet spot between science fiction and horror and may appeal to readers of Tochi Onyebuchi's War Girls (2019) or Lora Beth Johnson's offerings.

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September 23, 2022

Gr 8 Up-The first in a planned trilogy, this novel tells the story of teenager Laz. He wakes up in a cloning factory on a seemingly empty Earth. Laz is a side-stepper, a person with the ability to travel to alternate timestreams. He can remember the normal life he had prior to waking up in the factory. But when he wakes up there, all the clones are dead except one who is asleep in a suspended chamber. He contemplates waking her up, but that comes with the consequence that she will have to be on this dangerous, empty Earth with him. He chooses to wake her as he believes she may be the key to getting out of this timestream. The two theorize that they must be clones of themselves and set forth on a quest for answers using their abilities to move among the different timestreams. They have an array of adventures and meet curious people along the way. The novel moves at a slow, but steady pace. It is richly textured and heavy with dialogue, but at times can be more cerebral and interior than as expository and action-packed as many sci-fi readers may expect. Card has created an intricate and deliberate plot device with the timestreams that will be novel to many readers. His characters are relatable and likeable; their witty, snappy dialogue will engage readers. VERDICT For libraries with a strong sci-fi collection that is widely circulated.-Roy Jackson

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