Building from a plausible technological base, Brook combines the passion of young adult dystopia with the moral greys of cyberpunk to create a fast-paced science-fiction thriller that will appeal to a range of readers.
This book is the second in the Sand Runner series. Spoilers might strike from any direction.
After giving away first place in the No Limits Race, Kai hoped he could settle down with Emily. However, with the money he won from the race gone, he is drawn into the underground extreme racing scene. And, when Emily disappears, he must travel even deeper into the decayed underside of society.
Brook applies the same skill to urban slums that she applied to disadvantaged outskirts and shining enclaves in the previous volume, creating a plausible and engaging insight into new parts of the post-replicator world.
With a greater focus on survival, investigation, and the broader uses of technology—and less on extreme racing—this book might potentially be of even greater interest to readers seeking cyberpunk or dystopia than its predecessor.
However, this shift in setting and challenges is an expansion rather than a sudden swerve: there is still plenty of running drama.
References to the previous book are well-integrated, neither leaving the reader without context nor forcing information on them to the detriment of plausibility. As such—while some gaps might remain—this book is capable of standing alone.
Brook opens powerfully, with Kai’s decision at the end of the previous volume to share his winnings with others in need forcing him back into the same choice between poverty and gladiatorial racing that he faced at the start of the first book. However, the disappearance—and possible betrayal—of Emily after he had grown to both rely and love her makes his situation even more emotive.
This interweaving of virtue vs pragmatism and loyalty vs betrayal builds through the book as Kai must choose who he is willing to trust while struggling to fend off allegations that his motives aren’t pure.
In parallel with Kai’s arc, Emily is caught up in the corporate manoeuvring that follows the failed race-fixing. This broader scale narrative both contrasts with the close-focus of Kai’s attempts to survive and provides insight into Emily’s situation that increase the drama of Kai’s search.
Kai remains a sympathetic protagonist. He is somewhat direct and simplistic in the way of teenagers, creating for himself problems that a more mature person might avoid; yet he is not shallow, neither arrogantly refusing to adapt nor constantly bemoaning his fate. As such readers are likely to be more often pleased by his remaining virtue than frustrated by his naïvety.
Emily provides a more cynical viewpoint, yet remains passionate enough to seem a plausible youth. Depending on the their view of young adult romance, readers of the previous volume will find her either free of incessant moping over her separation from Kai or somewhat heartless.
The supporting cast, both new and returning, are similarly a good blend of trope and individual: scavengers all display the same streetwise kid putting on a show, but each have nuanced interests and personalities; business executives all display the casual callousness of those distanced from visceral survival, but each have different goals and desire to harm others simply because they can.
Overall, I enjoyed this book. I recommend it to readers seeking plausible yet dramatic dystopian science-fiction.
I received a free copy from the author with a request for a fair review.
