The Magpie’s Return

This oppressively dour dystopian novel from Smith (Lovepain) sees 14-year-old math genius Kayla struggling to survive in an America overtaken by extremists. When nuclear war brings the world to a standstill, a theocratic uprising called The Movement vows to rid America of the elites and intellectuals they blame for the calamity and rebuild the country as “a Godly nation.” Kayla’s poet and professor parents are targeted, and soon Kayla is taken to a puritanical school for abandoned girls that advocates for women’s return to traditional domestic roles. As the school becomes increasingly authoritarian and violence erupts among the students, Kayla and a group of friends plan an escape. The final act shifts into a delirious, introspective ode to familial love and good times gone as Kayla wrestles with whether she can face the unrelenting misery of the new world order any longer. Belabored lyricism, a plodding pace, and tonal inconsistencies leave little to commend in this relentlessly gloomy far future tale, and the needlessly bleak ending robs this of YA crossover appeal. Fans of dystopian futures should look elsewhere. (Aug.)