Monarch rising / Harper Glenn.

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Title:

Monarch rising / Harper Glenn.

Author:

Glenn, Harper, author.

ISBN:

9781338741452

Edition:

First edition.

Physical Description:

353 pages ; 22 cm.

Abstract:

In a dystopian future seventeen-year-old Josephine Monarch has grown up in the Ashes, the poverty stricken borderlands of New Georgia, but today is the Lineup and if she is chosen she gets a chance to leave that behind--even though it will mean leaving all her loved ones behind, and embracing an uncertain future.

Today is the day Jo Monarch has been wishing on the moon about her entire life. It's the day of the Line Up, when she could be selected to leave her life in the Ashes behind. The day she could move across the mountains to a glittering, rich future. Once Jo is plucked from the Line Up, the real test begins. She still needs to impress the New Georgia Reps at tonight's Gala, and her path forward leads straight to Cove Wells. The damaged stepson of one of the Reps, Cove has been groomed as an emotional weapon, taught that love is a tool -- and he's set on breaking Jo's heart next. When a riot breaks out back in the Ashes the night of the Gala, Jo's dreams might all go up in smoke. Can she really have everything she's ever wished for? when it means leaving all her loved ones behind in the fire?

Reading Level:

Ages 14 and up. Scholastic Press.

Grades 10-12. Scholastic Press.

Subject Term:

Dystopias -- Juvenile fiction.

Life change events -- Juvenile fiction.

Love -- Juvenile fiction.

African Americans -- Juvenile fiction.

Interpersonal relations -- Juvenile fiction.

Dystopias -- Fiction.

Life change events -- Fiction.

African Americans -- Fiction.

Dystopies -- Romans, nouvelles, etc. pour la jeunesse.

Événements stressants de la vie -- Romans, nouvelles, etc. pour la jeunesse.

Noirs américains -- Romans, nouvelles, etc. pour la jeunesse.

YOUNG ADULT FICTION / Social Themes / Class Differences.

YOUNG ADULT FICTION / Dystopian.

African Americans. (OCoLC)fst00799558

Dystopias. (OCoLC)fst00900372

Interpersonal relations. (OCoLC)fst00977397

Life change events. (OCoLC)fst00998231

Genre:

Dystopian fiction. (OCoLC)fst01921637

Fiction. (OCoLC)fst01423787

Juvenile works. (OCoLC)fst01411637

Science fiction.

Dystopian fiction.

Available:*

Library	Material Type	Item Barcode	Shelf Number	Status
Searching... Avon-Washington Township Public Library	Teen Fiction Book Hardback	120791002990203	T GLE	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

In a chilling near-future New United States of America, Jo Monarch has grown up in the impoverished borderlands of New Georgia. She's given one chance to change her fate... if she can survive a boy trained to break hearts.

Today is the day Jo Monarch has been wishing on the moon about her entire life. It's the day of the Lineup, when she could be selected to leave her life in the Ashes behind. The day she could move across the mountains to a glittering, rich future.

Once Jo is plucked from the Lineup, the real test begins. She still needs to impress the New Georgia Reps at tonight's Gala, and her path forward leads straight to Cove Wells. The damaged stepson of one of the Reps, Cove has been groomed as an emotional weapon, taught that love is a tool -- and he's set on breaking Jo's heart next.

When a riot breaks out back in the Ashes the night of the Gala, Jo's dreams might all go up in smoke. Can she really have everything she's ever wished for... when it means leaving all her loved ones behind in the fire?

Harper Glenn's debut is as gripping as it is prescient, an unflinching meditation on whether love can save us from ourselves, and what it takes to be born anew.

Reviews (3)

Publisher's Weekly Review

In Glenn's splashy near-future dystopian debut, Black 17-year-old Josephine Monarch, an artist whose parents died in a revolution, longs to leave the Ashes, a town personified by "waterless borderlands full of brown grass, Radius-ridden rats, disorderly cops, and poor people." Jo's only hope for a future free from squalor is to be selected from the Lineup, a process in which Ashes teenagers must pass an academic exam, dress their best, and line up for wealthy Reps from nearby New Georgia. The Reps then choose the most promising participants from the Lineup to attend an ornate Gala, wherein the teens have the opportunity to be integrated into New Georgian high society for a "lifetime of luxury and comfort." Jo has spent years preparing for this moment; all that stands in her way is white 18-year-old heartbreaker Coventry "Cove" Wells and his determination to break her spirit. But even as she delves deeper into New Georgia's opulence, she fears that a brewing revolution back home will jeopardize her future. Despite uneven pacing and underbaked themes regarding intracommunal oppression and examinations of privilege, Glenn's impressive character-building presents a highly motivated, dynamically layered cast, driven by their respective trauma and desire for change. Ages 14--up. (Oct.)

Kirkus Review

Young adults in the New United States deal with the aftermath of a life-changing revolt. During Revolt 2030, the oppressed actually succeeded in overthrowing the rich and powerful. The victors then accumulated all the wealth and left the rich losers of the conflict to fend for themselves in slums like Ashes, where protagonist Josephine Monarch, a 17-year-old Black girl, lives. It's 2070, and her neighborhood borders New Georgia--a place of prosperity and plenty--but as an act of revenge, she and other descendants of those once in power mostly aren't allowed access to its abundance. Some, however, are allowed to leave if they are picked by a New Georgia Rep in the Lineup. Cove is the privileged White stepson of the current Lineup Rep who is in a sexual relationship with his stepsister. After capturing his eye, Jo is swept into a world of secrets, betrayal, and revolution. The ambitious conceit of this novel does not follow through to the execution due to confusing character motivations and questions around the worldbuilding. Some readers may enjoy the plot's quick pace and dark nature, but others may find that Cove's sexual opportunism and racial fetishization of Jo would benefit from more unpacking. An uneven execution of a solid concept. (author's note) (Dystopian. 16-adult) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Booklist Review

Set in a haunting, not-too-distant future America, Glenn's debut follows Jo Monarch as she tries to survive--and succeed--in the treacherous sociopolitical waters on the struggling border of New Georgia, known as the Ashes. When it's time for the Lineup, Jo's one chance to move to a safer, more luxurious life, challenge after challenge is thrown her way. Schmoozing at galas and trying to navigate complex situations to impress the New Georgia Reps so that she will be picked to leave, Jo's constantly on edge. And then the ultimate challenge arrives: Cove Wells, a Rep's stepson who has been raised to emotionally ruin anyone he might cross romantic paths with. Glenn's lush writing combines with an eerie atmosphere to tell the tale of Jo's dilemma as she decides between leaving everyone she loves to pursue a better life or fighting to save those she cares about--all while trying to overcome Cove's attempts to wreck everything she lives for.

Excerpts

I close my eyes tight. Tighter. Wishing I was anywhere but here. Sweat beads cover my forehead, trickle into wild brows and long black lashes. Despite the nightmare, the familiar cockroach, the odor, I remind myself: Today's a good day. The day, the day of the Line Up. The day I could be picked to leave all this behind, for good. Lingering unease from the nightmare transforms into anxiety about today. I twirl my triangular white Line-Up card between index and thumb, rub raised red letters on the card that read: LINE UP ALLOWED. Everyone who passes exams gets one. I exhale deep, trying to breathe out the panic about Lining Up with other kids, hoping New Georgia Reps pick us to leave the Ashes, to trade this place for a life of luxury across the mountain. The cockroach climbs out of Neal's shoe. I gotta catch it. If I don't, tonight it'll be under Vye's sheets waiting for legs to creep up. It crawls over Vye's frayed black dress and disappears. I freeze. Don't move. It's there. In my hair. It crawls between my roots, skitters across my forehead. I grab it -- feel it jitter in my palm like a moth in a mason jar. I stick my arm out the window beside my bed -- release it, watch it coast into opaque sewer-fog. With my head sticking out the open window, I watch Ashfolk prepare kin for Line Up. Parents outside tattered shacks comb naps out of kids' heads, fathers sit behind offspring on stools brushing kids' hair. Grandparents lick the tips of their thumbs to clean dirty spots on grandkids' faces. My cheeks sit high, smiling, but inside, my heart gulps for air as if thrown into a bottomless ocean. Oceans, fresh air. If I make it past the Line Up and move to New Georgia, I'll never look outside this cut-out window again. No more catching flying roaches. In New Georgia, colorful butterflies'll dance on the tips of my fingers. I release a heavy sigh. Butterfly dances come at a cost. I'll never look out this window, see these people, my people, again. Excerpted from Monarch Rising by Harper Glenn All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.