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From Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)

In the not-so-very-distant future, the city formerly known as Austin, Texas, has been walled off to contain a virus. Life inside the Q goes on, with the U.S. government providing shipments of supplies but not much else. Two rival gangs largely control the Q: the Lopez family in the south and the Spencers in the north, where supply shipments come in. Maisie Rojas, 17, is the daughter of the late Isaac Rojas; her father was the Lopez family enforcer. It’s a role Maisie doesn’t think she’s capable of taking over—something her ex-boyfriend, clearly angling for the job, often echoes. Lennon Pierce, 19, lives outside the Q. When Lennon, the black sheep son of a Democratic senator and presidential candidate, is kidnapped and dropped into the Q, he’s found by the Lopez family and becomes the charge of Maisie. In this high-octane novel alternating between Maisie’s and Lennon’s viewpoints, Maisie agrees to lead a mission into Spencer territory to help Lennon escape through the north gate and to hijack the south’s supplies from the Spencers, while Lennon realizes his experience inside the Q is giving him insights about life in the quarantine zone that people on the outside ought to know. The romance that inevitably develops between Maisie and Lennon is just one of the satisfying elements of a fun, fast-paced story in which both characters discover as much about themselves as they do about each other. (Age 12 and older)

CCBC Choices 2023 © Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 2023. Used with permission.

From Booklist

November 1, 2022
Grades 9-12 A deadly epidemic crops up around Austin, Texas, and in an attempt to contain the virus, a quarantine wall is built around the area. Two decades later, the ""Q"" is divided in two, run by the Spencer gang in the north and the Lopez gang in the south. Enter Lennon Pierce, son of a presidential candidate, literally dropped by kidnappers into the Q via parachute. After Lennon receives a temporary vaccine, Maisie Rojas, daughter of the late Lopez enforcer, takes it upon herself to take Lennon through enemy territory to the northern gate so he can leave the Q. The novel is mostly plot driven, and characterization mostly serves to support the action. There are gun fights, fist fights, and car chases galore, with constant near misses (and near kisses). While some readers may find the instances of deus ex machina excessive, and there are holes left in the plot (possibly to be resolved if there is a sequel), the novel is undeniably page-turning and will satisfy any action-adventure aficionado.

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From Publisher's Weekly

Starred review from October 10, 2022
Two teenagers living on opposite sides of a quarantine zone struggle to survive in this thrilling dystopian adventure by Tintera (the All These Monsters series), set in Austin, Tex. When a mysterious virus emerged 20 years ago, the U.S. government built the Q, a walled, city-size quarantine zone for the infected. Now, the Q is divided into two constantly feuding factions stationed in the north and south. Maisie Rojas, 18, who was born in quarantine, struggles to fill the power vacuum left behind after the death of her father, the leader of the southern gang. Conflict begins anew when Lennon Pierce, 19 and the son of a U.S. presidential candidate, is kidnapped and air-dropped into the Q. Lennon has 72 hours to escape before risking infection, and the only exit is in the middle of the opposing gang's territory; Maisie, motivated by her own need to obtain urgent medical supplies from the north, agrees to help him traverse the hostile terrain. Tintera evokes her Austin hometown to great effect, complete with signage reading "KEEP THE Q WEIRD," grounding this wildly inventive, cinematic read rooted in a near-future, post-pandemic world that sharply echoes contemporary society. Maisie is of British and Mexican descent; Lennon is white. Ages 14—up. Agent: Emmanuelle Morgen, Stonesong Literary.

From Kirkus

October 1, 2022
Two teenagers come together from opposite sides of a post-pandemic world. In a dystopian future, Austin, Texas, is now a sealed-off independent quarantine zone known as the Q. It's where 18-year-old Maisie Rojas has grown up. The Spencer gang rules the north, while the south is under the control of the Lopezes, but there's a turf war brewing and other incumbents vying for power. When Lennon Pierce, the 19-year-old son of a U.S. presidential candidate, is kidnapped and dropped into the Q via parachute from a plane, he is given a newly developed short-acting vaccine. He now has 72 hours to leave or else become a permanent resident. The populace inside the walled-off zone's borders has adapted to live with the deadly virus but still pose an infection threat to the outside world. But the only legal exit into the U.S. lies on the other side of the Q, deep in Spencer-controlled territory, where terror, danger, and possibly death await. Maisie and Lennon become allies: She will lead him out and, on the way, try to fix some of the south's leadership problems. This is a thrilling adventure in which the risks are convincingly high, the action nonstop, and the budding romance between Maisie and Lennon believably charming. Both characters go through interesting arcs as they handle generational mistakes and the intersections of power, fear, and history. Orphaned Maisie's mother was from the U.K., and her father was Mexican American; Lennon is White. Ridiculously fun, romantic, and action-packed. (Thriller. 14-18)

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