by Chris Lynch
First published 2012
Maxwell Huxley is nine years old when he and three other children break out of their isolated mountain school. The facility claims to educate gifted kids, but Maxwell knows the dark truth: students mysteriously disappear when they reach their tenth birthday. His escape triggers a worldwide chase that spans continents and realities. As Maxwell flees his captors, he accidentally unleashes forces that reshape the world around him. Friends and family confront their inner demons made manifest. Artificial beings spring to life with their own agendas. Nanotechnology blurs the line between science and magic, creating wonders and terrors Maxwell never imagined. The boy who just wanted freedom discovers he was engineered for a specific purpose. Each step toward the truth costs him more than he expected to pay. Maxwell must decide whether learning what he was bred to become is worth the price of everything he holds dear.
Genres: science-fiction, adventure, action, alternate-universe
Vibes: dark, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: chosen-one, found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Africa, Asia, Europe, North America
Period: 21st-century
240 pages · Paperback · CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Content warnings: child-abuse, violence