Literary Scene: New Young Adult Fiction

By Ryan G. Van Cleave | October 2022

The Killing Code

by Ellie Marney
(Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, September 2022)

Ellie Marney’s new book tells the story of girl codebreakers in WWII who work together to solve the murder of fellow codebreakers. Cool, right? 

Set in Washington DC in 1943, we follow Kit Sutherland and her three friends, Moya, Dottie, and Violet. They’re working at Arlington Hall, a former girl’s college that’s become a secret US Signals Intelligence facility. The team is focused on trying to crack enemy messages, yet it’s hard to ignore that other girls who work for the government are being murdered around the city. Then Kit stumbles across one of the crime scenes and decides that she has to take action. She enlists her friends to use their skills to determine the identity of the killer. Along the way, it becomes clear that people in Kit’s group are keeping secrets that could be dangerous for everyone.

The lesbian romance between Kit and Moya is handled fairly well, though it teeters on the insta-love trope. Another thing that gave me pause is how the single Black character in the group, Violet, info-dumps a lot about Black segregation and racial issues of the 1940s—while these are important, worthwhile issues to explore in a novel set during WWII, the story slows/stops a lot to make this happen, which isn’t ideal. 

Overall, the story moves fast, and the camaraderie between the four girls was well wrought. The codebreaking, too, was more than mere window-dressing—it felt well researched and relevant here. I also quite liked the quotations at the start of each chapter which were all by real-world female codebreakers. Cool in general, yet they also give insight into the world of the story. Nicely done.

My final take—The Killing Code is an enjoyable YA crime novel that feels fresh and interesting. Being rooted so deeply in history as it is, I could see this serving as source material for a robust classroom discussion about the 1940s or WWII.

Ryan’s Rating: 4 out of 5
www.elliemarney.com

Self-Made Boys

by Anna-Marie McLemore
(Feiwel & Friends, September 2022)

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel The Great Gatsby is one of my favorites, so I grew nervous when it entered the public domain on January 1, 2021. I’ve resisted reading any spin-offs and sequels for obvious reasons, but when I saw that Stonewall Honor recipient and two-time National Book Award Longlist selectee Anna-Marie McLoremore was taking it on, I figured, “If not now, then when?” So, here’s my review of her new book Self-Made Boys: A Great Gatsby Remix, which is part of the Remixed Classics series.

The story follows the original nearly beat by beat, which is an interesting choice. The main changes come via the characters. For example, instead of Nick Carraway, we have Nicolás Caraveo, a 17-year-old transgender boy from Minnesota, who’s arrived in New York to try to set himself up in business. Along the way, he meets Jay Gatsby, so you’ve got two self-made people trying to find their way in the world. McLemore does a good job of exploring what it’s like to live in the 1920s as marginalized people (especially with Latinx and queer issues). Daisy, too, adds to this because she’s still Nick’s cousin, but she’s passing as a white woman while being engaged to an incredibly wealthy and terribly bigoted man. Still, McLemore manages to make her compelling, graceful, and substantial. 

The writing is fairly straightforward instead of being as lush as one finds with the original, which is odd since McLemore’s writing is generally so rich and dreamy. Yet she captures a lot of the glamor, glitz, and glory of the Roaring Twenties, just as Fitzgerald himself did.

The book is unapologetically trans, which many readers will love. It also shines a light on marginalized people who remained on the periphery in the original story. While I missed some of the nuances and tonal qualities of the original, the more I thought about this as Gatsby fanfic versus a retelling, the more I liked it. Reading the Author’s Note at the end is especially enlightening as well.

Ryan’s Rating: 4 out of 5
author.annamariemclemore.com

Monsters Born and Made

by Tanvi Berwah
(Sourcebooks Fire, September 2022)

There’s no mistaking The Hunger Games influence on Tanvi Berwah’s Monsters Born and Made because we have a group of teens from ten islands who are competing for status, power, and glory via the Glory Race (think aquatic monster chariot racing). Add in post-apocalyptic castes/districts and anti-establishment rebels lurking in the shadows, and you’ll see what I mean. Plus, the main character, Koral, is a Katniss Everdeen-style hero who even has a weaker sister to protect. There’s also a love interest who begins as a rival (think Peeta). 

Like Katniss, Koral and her family are dirt-poor. So much, in fact, that she decides to enter a competition that isn’t supposed to be an option for people like her. But she needs the money for medicine for her little sister. Koral’s got a fierceness to her that readers will find admirable. It makes sense for her to be tough—there’s no room for weak folks when your job is wrangling aquatic beasts, after all. 

I like the Waterworld type of environment as well as the strange monsters (maristags) in this world that are bred and sold by poor caste members to rich caste members who then employ them in spectacular events that remind me of Roman times and the Colosseum. I wish I knew a bit more about the watery world and the apocalyptic event that created it, and how the island farers did (and didn’t!) survive that cataclysmic event. 

If you’re a fan of fast-paced stories centered around a competition or stories about teens dealing with a haves/have-nots class war, this book might work for you. Though if you can’t get past works that model after hugely successful existing titles, this book might be a pass. The writing is mostly competent, but with fantasy I yearn for a descriptive richness this book didn’t consistently deliver. 

Ultimately, from the pitch I heard for this book—a family of sea monster trainers!—I expected to like the story more than I did. But I’d probably try the sequel which is sure to follow because “a family of sea monster trainers” is super compelling.

Ryan’s Rating: 3.25 out of 5
www.tanviberwah.com