FINISHED:

Michaels, Rune. (2007). Genesis Alpha. New York: Ginee Seo/Atheneum.

[Will post my review for ACL when I write it... I'll say right now, though, that I was pleasantly surprised by this one. The cover made it look like it would be some goofy sci-fi thing, but it was actually more of a "whodunit" that raises philosophical questions about cloning. Here's the "formal" review:

Josh and his brother, Max, are alike in more ways than most siblings. In fact, Josh’s understanding is that he’s a “designer baby”, created out of Max’s DNA when Max was suffering from cancer, and cells were taken from Josh’s umbilical cord in an effort to help Max’s body fight off the disease that was ravaging his body. In truth, when Max is accused of, and confesses to, murder, Josh finds out that he is actually an exact clone of Max, thus sending him down a path of deep self-exploration wondering if he, too, will then be predisposed to become a murderer himself. While the book jacket suggests that this will be a sci-fi fantasy tale, the only fantasy element here is Genesis Alpha, the online game that Josh and Max play together, which is ultimately disclosed to be the means by which Max entices his victim. A minor complaint here is that as Josh’s parents are a biologist and a psychologist, the way in which the family deals with the fact that one of their children is a murderer isn’t very realistic or compelling. Similarly, a side-plot involving the murder victim’s little sister hiding out undetected in Josh’s shed for so long despite a flurry of media attention gets a bit old. Those said, however, this is an engaging thriller that brings up a number of ethical and philosophical questions for young people surrounding gene manipulation, cloning, and the nature of good and evil.]


STARTED:
Prevost, Guillaume. (2006, 2007). The book of time. New York: Arthur A. Levine/Scholastic.

[Reviewing for ACL (I got backed up because of classwork at the end of last semester...) So far, my thoughts on it are nothing to write home about.]

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