cover image After Intelligence: The Hidden Sequence

After Intelligence: The Hidden Sequence

Nicole Marie. Tandemental, $23.99 (316p) ISBN 978-1-952862-02-1

As 15-year-old Charlotte Blythe and best friends Chai Murthy and Jace Templeton begin their second year at the revered Cognation Academy in the woods of the Pacific Northwest, a set of mysterious, handsome new students is introduced—and revealed to be androids, Cognation’s newest invention. Assigned the role of android guide and matched with Isaac, whose conduct blurs the line between man and machine, Charlotte must question the morality and dangers behind the experimental technology as they grow closer, while also balancing schoolwork, friendship drama and betrayals, deception on an institutional level, and a potential love interest. When an android is blamed for several attacks on students, and Charlotte’s parents remain unreachable for longer than ever before, the teens must interrogate the ethics of created life, re-evaluate their heroes, and concoct a plan to determine the truth. Though complex themes and explanations may deter younger readers, Marie credibly presents the Academy’s fascinating class curriculum alongside webs of lies that will keep readers invested in this high-energy, if trope-reliant, whodunit. Ages 14–up. (Self-published)