Last Star Burning

September 4, 2017
The people of the City are beset by encephalitis lethargica—sleeping sickness—and drug-resistant strains are cropping up. The symptoms can be violent, but 16-year-old Jiang Sev, who is infected, places her trust in the City. Years ago, Sev’s mother betrayed the City, infecting Sev with the disease, and now lies in stasis, on display above the Traitor’s Arch, leaving Sev branded and diminished in status. When Sev is blamed for a bombing, she and a secretive boy named Howl wind up on the run. Howl insists that answers lie at a far-off mountain, but the journey is dangerous, and the promise of safety may only be an illusion. Loosely inspired by China’s Cultural Revolution, Sangster’s vibrant debut is set in a world where class and status define its citizens; some genuinely surprising twists highlight Sev’s struggle to accept a reality vastly different from what she has known. Her candid voice propels the tense narrative to a conclusion that leaves no question where Sev’s convictions and loyalties lie and sets up the next chapter in her journey. Ages 12–up. Agent: Victoria Wells Arms, Wells Arms Literary.

September 1, 2017

Gr 6 Up-Game piece soldiers placed on a weiqui board provide a foreshadowing of the plot twists to come in this novel. Jiang Sev, of the First Class, has been demoted to the Fourth Class because of her traitor mother. The demotion has not dimmed the devotion of Sev's Second Class friend, Tai-ge, whose family is tasked with "reeducating" Sev. Heavily influenced by the author's experiences in China, this dystopian fantasy features a strong 16-year-old character who must navigate a world in which city leaders drop bombs on the lower classes while blaming the explosions on a nearby country. As Sev leaves the safety of the walls to face the Outside with the help of the chairman's son, Howl, she begins to uncover the true nature of the city's leadership, and that the rebels within the Mountain have their own agenda-one masterminded by a brilliant double agent and former colleague of Sev's mother. Sangster does a masterful job of world-building, and takes the time to develop characters and a plot that twists in on itself multiple times. As with Sev, readers are dribbled clues that clearly point to more diabolical machinations on both sides. The backdrop of vicious creatures coupled with adventures in which survival is not always assured will keep patient readers engaged. The cliff-hanger ending guarantees a sequel in the offing, and the action-packed, adventurous prose makes it appropriate for younger teens. VERDICT Give to fans of Leigh Bardugo's "Six of Crows" series and Sabaa Tahir's "Ember in the Ashes" trilogy.-Jodeana Kruse, R.A. Long High School, Longview, WA

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 15, 2017
Made an outcast by her mother's crimes, a girl fights to uncover the secrets of those that control her sequestered City.Sixteen-year-old Jiang Sev, called Sevvy, was once a member of the most revered group in the City: Firsts--those of superior wisdom. But eight years ago, her mother betrayed the City, ushering in encephalitis lethargica, or sleeping sickness, and informing the enemy of their location. Sevvy was rebranded a Fourth, the lowest caste, and sent to a military family for re-education. But when an enemy bomb falls near Sevvy and her friend, everything accelerates. The City paints Sevvy as a suspect in the bombing due to her mother's past. While sneaking through her own manhunt, Sevvy meets a boy who seeks to help her--shockingly, he's the Chairman's son. He goes by Howl, and he wants her to venture outside with him, where both fantastical beasts and those ravaged by sleeping sickness roam. As a loyal citizen, Sevvy feels conflicted--but she has nowhere else to go. As Sevvy embarks on a wild journey, she must navigate the duplicity of war, decide whom she can truly trust, and unravel the truth of her past. Brimming with rich detail in an Asian-inflected alternative world that's lightly touched with Maoist terminology and concepts and helmed by achingly real characters, Sevvy's story is thrilling to get lost in. By the end, readers will be clamoring for more. Incredibly immersive and tightly plotted. (Fantasy. 14-adult)

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September 15, 2017
Grades 8-11 For most of her life Jiang Sev has been told her mother sold out the City and endangered its residents by introducing a sleeping sickness that causes violent compulsions. Her family was removed from the First Quarter and stripped of their home and belongings, her father and sister are dead, and her mother rests in a very public place in permanent sleepa warning to all who would commit treason. Sev has been consigned to the Fourth Quarter, the quarter of lowest social standing. But when the government accuses Sev of a fatal bombing, the chairman's son persuades her to leave and head for the Mountain, a rebel hideout, where Sev discovers the treachery that surrounds her. Though unspecified, the political situation and setting evoke China, from the military class informally known as reds to place and character names. There are twists aplenty, although less summarizing by the narrator would have tightened their execution. This may be Sangster's first authorial outing, but the result is a gripping tale of trust, class struggle, and betrayal.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2018
Jiang Sev is a Fourth, an outcast without status since her mother betrayed their people to the enemy and brought about a terrible Sleeping Sickness. When Sev is accused of complicity in an enemy attack, a resistance group smuggles her out of the city. Sangsters post-apocalyptic Chinese-styled setting with its overtones of the Maoist cultural revolution is solidly built, but the shifting alliances become a bit bewildering.

(Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)