Publishers Weekly

Gritty story of a bold young woman in a class-segregated future California.

Great for fans of Tehlor Kay Mejia’s We Set the Dark on Fire series, Lauren Oliver’s Delirium.

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YOUNG ADULT Tetherless: The Port Allegiance Chronicles, Book 1 C.K. O’Donnell | Redline Press 299p, e-book, $7.99, ASIN B0CF74F56C

In O’Donnell’s spirited debut, a grisly California­n dystopia, Abilene “Abbie” Spencer is an 18-year-old living in a class-segregated Eureka in 2040, where the prosperous half of the wall-divided city, Port Allegiance, holds the majority of wealth and the rest of Eureka “only [...] serve[s] Port Allegiance.” Living conditions are so atrocious that Abbie won’t even let herself dream of a better life, away from squalor and the city’s serial killer, but her uncle Jesse encourages her to apply for work in Port Allegiance to escape her depressed, addict parents and abusive boyfriend, Ty, who hectors her audacity: “You and your worthless ideas to earn money for college. Never gonna happen, baby.” But it does. Abbie gets a job working as a house servant at the prestigiou­s estate, Redwood Manor, and discovers life on the other side of the wall—and the conspiracy shaping her world.

Fast-paced, suspensefu­l, and at times horrifying, O’Donnell’s compelling plot offers a prophetic imagining of American life in a capitalist totalitari­an regime, though the world-building, localized to the Cold War Berlin-inspired split city, will leave readers eager for more informatio­n about this fallen future. The story develops with page-turning power: apart from having to deal with Mrs. De Young, the unpleasant owner of Redwood Manor, Abbie’s working conditions, pay, and coworker relationsh­ips are better than she ever dared to imagine back in Eureka, especially with the sudden appearance of Dylan, an old flame. Abbie, meanwhile, proves an engaging, surprising character.

Abbie discovers the sinister schemes that fuel Redwood Manor and Port Allegiance as a whole, and what begins as a first step towards a new life plummets into a nightmare that threatens to wipe out the entire human population. Young readers should beware of the book’s depictions of violence and abuse, including sexual abuse, but on the whole, Tetherless, the first of O’Donnell’s Port Allegiance Chronicles, is a promising, debut with a classic setup: one young woman disrupting an empire.

Cover: A | Design & typography: A | Illustrati­ons: – Editing: A | Marketing copy: A

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