Reviews

If this book was YA, it would have easily been five stars. But it's not, it's middle grade, and herein lies the problem.

The premise of this book is fantastic. Autistic children learning that they unwillingly had chips implanted in their brains, and the data being sold to an evil corporation? An impressive montage of assembling a ragtag group of disabled kids? Accurate depictions of both autistic meltdowns AND autistic joy, with threads of queer representation interspersed? Sounds AMAZING. And much of the plot worked well, particularly the scenes of Paige and Mara finding Kelsey and Marcus.

My main issue was the fact that this was middle grade, but the dialogue and narration did not sound like it was written for or about children. Phrases such as "toxic billionaire" and "without my informed consent" are not ones an eleven year old would use. Nor would they be that salient in listing their identities. I've been fortunate to interact with a wide variety of children, both neurodivergent and neurotypical, through my various jobs. Of course, every child is unique, particularly those who are neurodivergent, but there are certain elements of communication that ring true for almost every verbalizing eleven year old.

I think that Paige could have easily been seventeen years old, and the story would have been a lot stronger. I know Jen Wilde cut their teeth in YA, so that's what they know best, but middle grade is a whole different beast. The dialogue would have made a whole lot more sense coming from a teenager, and I would have focused my review on the inventive plot. Alas, the book is middle grade, so I am reviewing and rating it as middle grade.

Thank you to NetGalley for an e-ARC in exchange for my honest review!

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