From the library booksale.

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I'd heard a bit about Catherine Jinks's YA books, so I thought I'd give this one a go (though it seems to be aimed at an early teen age group rather than young adult).

Would-be animal rights activist Paula is transported into the future, where she finds herself the subject of experiments to save the vastly genetically altered human race. Her rights are ignored for the greater good, which can be read as a parable for the way we treat laboratory animals (although this message is treated pretty subtly - unlike the rather heavy-handed environmental message at the end of the book).

Generally well written, but there was one aspect of this book I found disappointing: unlike most teen/YA fiction I've read, where the teenager is usually the protagonist, here Paula's role is very passive - there are only a few times when she actively tries to get herself out of her situation, and the rest of the time she seems to just sit there waiting for the adult characters to do something.

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Given to Natecull at tonight's meetup (where I think he read the entire book while eating dinner).

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Read this at the BC meetup last night. It's a bit insubstantial, I guess. A short story idea stretched out to book length. Somehow manages to be both dark, generic and too simplistic extrapolated from today - not a future I find myself particularly believing in.

RELEASE NOTES:

Released sometime last year