Exiles

Twin sisters Saunders and Saunders (The Rule of One) team up for a tale of twins fighting injustice that reads like Neal Stephenson writing a cyberpunk Sweet Valley High. Crys, a senior at tech billionaire Damon Yates’s exclusive academy for orphans of Los Angeles’s 2040 earthquake, is poised for riches and success: she’s both benefited from Yates’s training for “aspiring young innovators,” and been adopted by Yates as one of his heirs. Her twin sister, Jade, suspicious of Yates’s motives, fled the school to lead a group of runaways calling themselves the Exiles. Now Jade’s a wanted criminal and the trauma of the night Jade escaped has left Crys terror-stricken at the sight of Jade’s face—and even her own identical one in the mirror. But when Crys’s best friend, Zoe, disappears, the only people who might know what happened to her are the Exiles. And when Jade discovers a terrible conspiracy built into the foundations of Yates’s shining utopia, she and Crys must relearn to trust each other to bring him down. The authors aim high with an ambitiously complex plot, a huge cast, and a well-meaning message; however, the breakneck pace leaves the characters underdeveloped and critical moments are weaker for it. It’s a dizzying ride on a shoddily constructed roller coaster. (Sept.)