I Become Shadow

Gr 6–10—A lightearted take on government conspiracies and highly trained secret assassins. Fourteen-year-old Rennes Sharpe has a lovely life in Amherst, Massachusetts, until she is pulled out of bed in the middle of the night and taken to a secret facility. She learns that high-ranking officials can now see the future via satellite images, and that young people who would have died otherwise (like herself) are instead plucked from their lives and trained as covert bodyguards for people who will eventually become important to humanity. Her death is faked so her parents stop looking for her; she's given daily injections of something called "fire" designed to destroy her pain receptors; and in four years, she's released as a protective killing machine. But after meeting her FIP (Future Important Person), she finds out that both of them are just pawns in a larger conspiracy. The novel is brimming with wisecracks and jokes, which turn an interesting concept into a very light read. Despite the loose ends that never get tied up, or even addressed fully, and several overly implausible deus ex machinas, there is plenty of excitement and humor to carry the story.—Kyle Lukoff, Corlears School, New York City