From Publishers Weekly
Two coming-of-age stories—that of pubescent twins Jack and Jilly Doone in 1977 America and that of Kestrel, a mutant 17-year-old of the distant future—converge in Witcover's compelling second novel (after 1997's
Waking Beauty), which blends postapocalyptic SF with Philip K. Dick–like speculation on reality. In Kestrel's world, survivors of a viral war are divided into super-teched humans and super-powered mutants who battle each other endlessly. In the Doones' world, Jack seems to gain the power to alter reality after nearly drowning. The twin's Uncle Jimmy, a game designer, has devised "a role-playing game developed both to cash in on and undermine the success of Dungeons & Dragons." Jimmy's game scenario, in which he immerses the twins as pre-market testers, mirrors Kestrel's world. Jack's "power" begins to take over his life. Is he suffering from a breakdown fueled by sexual awakening, the new game and his preternaturally close relationship with Jilly, or has he somehow become involved in a multireality war fought for "the right to determine what is and isn't real"? Kestrel, meanwhile, is involved in just such a war. The increasingly disquieting parallel stories amount to an audacious toss of some complex dice, but the result is a winning, entertaining cross-genre roll.
Agent, Chris Schelling at the Ralph Vicinanza Agency. (Mar. 1)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From School Library Journal
Adult/High School-This clever, ambitious fantasy opens with adolescent twins Jack and Jilly playing on a beach. When the boy goes swimming, the undertow pulls him down. Suddenly, he is standing on the beach-shaken, scared, but okay. Yet he knows that he died in that ocean, and he questions his own sanity. Before long he learns that he and his sister are part of a dangerous contest occurring on a galactic scale with beings that can bend and alter reality to their will. Readers enter a parallel story through Mutes and Norms, a Dungeons-and-Dragons-style game designed by Jack and Jilly's uncle. The hero of this tale is Kestrel-a half-man, half-bird hybrid who is on a quest with other mutants traveling through a wilderness. What starts as a coming-of-age exercise quickly turns into the twins' dangerous fight for their lives. Kestrel begins to discover the full extent of his unique powers and uses them to protect himself and his comrades. Although the two story lines never connect directly, Witcover inserts many parallels between them. Jack and Kestrel also have similar personalities. Themes of power and responsibility echo back and forth between the two tales. With a colorful world and a fresh approach, this book will satisfy readers tired of the standard formulas of quest fantasy.
-Matthew L. Moffett, Northern Virginia Community College, Annandale Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
