The Summer Prince

Four hundred years after nuclear war devastates the world, the Brazilian city of Palmares Três thrives as an isolationist matriarchy. June, stepdaughter to one of the powerful political leaders known as Aunties, is determined to be an artist, and her daring, anonymous installations challenge the city's restrictions on technology, its corrupt infrastructure, its disregard for the young (technology has allowed lifespans to stretch multiple centuries), and its rigid class system. She finds an ally in Enki, the charismatic new summer king who will be an honored celebrity for a year, until he is sacrificed as part of a ritual to choose the incoming queen. In precise prose Johnson evokes an utterly foreign setting, complete with technologies that push at the limits of what it means to be human, and the relationships that delineate the social landscape are intriguingly unconventional and startling in their intensity. The story itself is thematically rich, encompassing the political nature of art in a time of vast upheaval, the potential of power to corrupt, the tension between tradition and innovation, and the toils and rewards of underground creative expression. While its complexity and disorientingly immersive sense of place may limit its appeal among teen readers, it stands as an imaginative and thoroughly realized addition to the sci-fi genre. claire e. gross