Strange Exit

The world has come down to a simulation. Lake is on a mission to wake those still in the sim in order to save everyone on board, kept waiting for decades to go back to an Earth that has healed after a cataclysmic event. It’s a delicate procedure—you cannot just tell sleepers to wake up. Lake has to find what they cherish most and bring them slowly back to the realization that they are hiding in a sim. When she wakes Taren, who has been in the sim a long time, she hesitantly accepts his aid, but realizes, too late, that he was in too long, and his help may jeopardize the health and lives and future of all on board.

Science fiction has a new addition to its ranks—this one combines an uncertain future with the questionable safety of technology and gaming into one. There are aspects similar to Nyxia by Scott Reintgen and Life as we knew it by Susan Beth Pfeffer. Even though no satisfactory explanation is offered for the fact that the teens are still teens decades after the destruction of Earth’s atmosphere, the quick pace and well-developed characters make it a book that is impossible to set aside.