by Sim Kern
First published 2023
Rylla McCracken lives in a trailer in the Dust States, counting days until college. Her mother has other plans. Drop out and work at Lockburn chemical refinery instead. When Rylla discovers Lockburn wants to dam the Guadalupe River, Texas's final flowing waterway, she rebels. She travels to the state capital to protest. The demonstration fails spectacularly, but her viral notoriety opens doors. Wingates University accepts her. At this elite school, Rylla joins brilliant students developing planet-saving technologies. She should feel hopeful. Instead, guilt eats at her. Her brother remains trapped in the Dust while tensions mount between the Dust States and Lush States. Civil war looms. Rylla throws herself into her studies, believing success at Wingates offers the best path to help her family. Then she uncovers the truth about the billionaires funding the school. Everything changes. Rylla and her friends must steal back their own innovations before the wealthy elite can twist them into tools of oppression.
Genres: science-fiction, dystopia, activism, alternate-history
Vibes: suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, rebellion
Setting: Dust States, Guadalupe River, Lush States, Texas, Wingates University
Period: 21st-century
440 pages · Paperback · Stelliform Press
Content warnings: violence