Spliced

In a near future of gene modification, personhood is political and not just for the modified.

In an America that has survived several major flu epidemics and where only the cities have easy electrical power and only the rich have anything passing for internet or cell service, the interested (with enough money) can have their genes altered and change their appearances. Those who are “spliced” become chimeras, humans with animal DNA. The changes are somatic (rather than germinal), so the spliced have characteristics of the animal of their choice but don’t pass on traits. Nevertheless, Howard Wells, an unscrupulous millionaire and politician-wannabe, has seen the chance to play on the public’s fears, and he pushes a Pennsylvania state law to make the chimeras nonpersons, and other states soon follow suit. High school junior Jimi has no desire to get spliced, but her best friend, Del, despite his repressive father’s wishes, wants nothing more. When Del vanishes just after becoming a chimera and Wells’ law passes, Jimi sets out to find her friend with the help of spliced acquaintances in a country where they are suddenly legally less than human. Adult thriller author McGoran creates a very believable future seen through the eyes of a believable white teen for whom discrimination on the basis of visual difference has suddenly become real. This nightmare study in manufactured prejudice will resonate with many teens who see themselves as part of a marginalized group, especially in the era of Trump.

Timely, thrilling, and more than a little scary. (Science fiction. 14-18)

Spliced by Jon McGoran (September 5, Holiday House): I’ll read pretty much anything Science Fiction, anything about fighting oppression, and anything YA, and this SciFi YA thriller — about humans going to back-alley geneticists to have animal DNA spliced into theirs — does not disappoint. If you are born human, but you become a chimera, are you still a person? The book is told from the POV of Jimi, a teenage girl whose best friend Del is obsessed with becoming a chimera in an environment where legislators and religious leaders are waging campaigns against them. McGoran keeps you hooked from the start.

This thriller imagines a bizarre yet gripping near-future that will win over most fans of sci-fi dystopia. Jimi, 16, has grown up next to her best friend, Del, who lost his mother and been left in the care of his abusive father. Jimi enters the shadowy netherworld of “chimeras,” people who choose to have their genes spliced with those of animals. Desperate to help Del, Jimi joins forces with some colorful chimeras and begins to understand their subversive decisions, but activists are lining up against her new friends, making it very dangerous to be around them. The body modification experiments create a wild menagerie of sympathetic hybrid characters—half-dogs, half-birds, and even people who get expensive leopard fashion tattoo splices—as the plot moves Jimi through a series of perilous adventures. Sometimes the story begs for more fleshing out, and the whole premise seems pretty far-fetched, but the action grabs hold as Jimi moves further out into the dangerous world beyond the cities and into the off-the-grid areas called “zurbs.” Though this is no Divergent, the plot is gripping and teens will probably enjoy taking this completely strange ride. VERDICT A good choice for YA dystopian and sci-fi collections.–Sara Scribner, Marshall Fundamental School, Pasadena, CA

In this near-future political thriller, America has weathered cyberwars, flu outbreaks, energy shortages, and extreme weather. Only the rich have things like mobile phones, Internet implants, and fashionable gene modifications. Philadelphia teen Jimi is worried for her best friend, Del, who desperately wants to become a chimera. Only the wealthy can safely and legally undergo this procedure, which entails splicing one’s DNA with an animal’s; everyone else sees a back-alley geneticist, or “genie.” Jimi knows this will ruin Del’s future, especially once Humans for Humanity passes state legislation to declare chimeras nonpersons. Still, Del goes through with it, but when he disappears shortly after, Jimi recruits a few friendly chimeras to help find him. McGoran extrapolates a believable, all-too-relevant future, but he wisely focuses on Jimi’s transformation from someone aware of but untouched by discrimination into a willing activist with an emotional connection. McGoran doesn’t skimp on the action, either, which is suspenseful and scary though precipitated by a predictable third-act development. This is a timely, thought-provoking start to a probable series.