X Isle

Two years after floods have drowned most of the world, Baz's best hope for survival is to bargain for passage to Eck's Isle—nicknamed X Isle—a former school where it's rumored boys get three meals a day and a safe bed in exchange for work. But in reality, the boys are forced to compete for food, the "capos" supervising them are brutal, the Eck brothers tyrannical, and the leader, Preacher John, a madman. When boys start dying, the survivors realize they must make terrible choices—and take even worse risks—to have any chance of surviving long enough to regain their freedom. Augarde's near-future apocalyptic world is gruesomely hardscrabble without being overly graphic. It edges to the brink of Lord of the Flies territory but Augarde (the Touchstone Trilogy) never fails to display the boys' humanity, even during the most inhuman of moments. The story turns nerve-wracking when the boys set their freedom plan in motion, and it doesn't duck the moral consequences of their actions. A gripping tale of fighting for the slenderest chance of hope. Ages 12–up. (July)