Shift (review)

Adrian is a resident of the Orwellian nation of HomeState, and he’s got a big problem: his mother has been unwillingly involved with a secret government plot to simulate the end of the already damaged world, and he is running out of time to help her. While the fifteen-year-old recognizes that his first priority must be stopping the world-ending global “shift,” since all other efforts will be moot if it occurs, he also hopes to protect his prophetic sister and a gorgeous new friend, who’s on her own quest—to save one of the last surviving penguins. Agell’s protagonist, a young man on an unlikely mission to find some sense of home (whether it is a physical space or the increasingly rare experience of being surrounded by those who love him), is both intriguing and disturbing, and his world, a futuristic dystopia where religion is used as a weapon of control and bombs are dropped for little other purpose than to send a strong message, is a dramatic backdrop for his personal turmoil. The story is made particularly compelling by the economy and lyricism of the writing style: elegant turns of phrase and brief glimpses into complex motivations will likely keep readers deeply interested and anticipating more. Agell also wisely avoids an idealized conclusion: though it is impossible not to wish for a happy ending for Adrian, the world in which he lives is so powerfully depicted as flawed and dying that true happiness there seems sadly unlikely. Readers seeking contemplative and philosophical science fiction will find this a haunting exploration of government gone awry and one boy’s steadfast pursuit of justice.