Paradox

Paquette, A. J.

3.57

445 ratings by Goodreads

ISBN 10: 0375969624 ISBN 13: 9780375969621

Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers, 2013

   Fans of James Dashner's Maze Runner series will love this postapocalyptic adventure about a girl who must survive an alien planet in order to save the Earth.

   Ana only knows her name because of the tag she finds pinned to her jumpsuit. Waking in the featureless compartment of a rocket ship, she opens the hatch to discover that she has landed on a barren alien world. Instructions in her pocket tell her to observe and to survive, no doubt with help from the wicked-looking knives she carries on her belt. But to what purpose?

   Meeting up with three other teens--one boy seems strangely familiar--Ana treks across the inhospitable landscape, occasionally encountering odd twists of light that carry glimpses of people back on Earth. They're working on some sort of problem, and the situation is critical. What is the connection between Ana's mission on this planet and the crisis back on Earth, and how is she supposed to figure out the answer when she can't remember anything?

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About the Author:

A. J. PAQUETTE is the author of the middle-grade novel Nowhere Girl, as well as several picture books for young readers. She is also a literary agent. She lives outside of Boston with her family and her very tall to-read pile. Find out more at AJPaquette.com.

From Booklist:

Ana wakes up aboard a spaceship on an unfamiliar planet with a note informing her that she has “surgical retrograde amnesia.” Indeed, as she begins to explore, she finds she has no idea who she is or why she is there—though her muscle memory indicates that she has experience rock climbing and fighting. Soon she meets up with three other teen voyagers, all of whom are aware that they have 27 hours to reach a human colony on the coast before something dreadful happens. Their treacherous journey is further complicated in two ways: Ana begins to experience slivers of memory about a superflu brought back by the first explorers of this planet, and the teens are being pursued by a gigantic, sharp-toothed worm: “Long white teeth raging out of a cloud of reddish-brown dust.” Paquette’s main characters and primary action feel a bit perfunctory. However, the backstory, initially revealed through interspersed newspaper articles, presents the intriguing notion of memories as a kind of infection. The result is a delayed, but eventually worthwhile, payoff. Grades 7-10. --Daniel Kraus

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