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  • The Ward by Jordana Frankel
  • Alaine Martaus
Frankel, Jordana . The Ward. Tegen/HarperCollins, 2013. 465p. ISBN 978-0-06-209534-3 $17.99 R Gr. 9-12.

One hundred years in the future, rising oceans have flooded New York City, and the polluted canals and lack of fresh drinking water have given rise to the Blight, a contagious and deadly disease. Across the rooftops of this plague-infested city, sixteen-year-old daredevil Renata Dane races her tricked-out speedster alongside her fellow dragsters in hopes of taking home big winnings. Ren's desperate for money to pay for food and her sick foster sister's pain medication, and she never loses, but when the government offers to pay her to throw a race as a cover for a risky search through derelict buildings for a secret, long-buried water source, Ren [End Page 17] accepts. Suddenly, she is caught in a battle between government officials and a dangerous, ancient tribe for possession of seemingly magical waters that may hold the cure for the Blight. As Ren fights for her freedom, her sister's life, and her city's future, her only allies are the dragsters, the bookie she loves, and an adorable young scientist working on the cure. The underlying plot of the angry, socially dysfunctional but talented heroine battling a ruthless totalitarian government while being torn between two attractive young men is familiar, but Frankel manages to give it an entertaining gloss with a variety of inventive new elements. The racing scenes in particular are almost cinematically intense, and the fountain-of-youth plot device gently treads the line between magic and science. Ren is at times coarse and unlikable, but she is a lioness, fearless in defense of those she considers family, and readers will happily root for her. A dystopian adventure that is likely to please fans of Dashner's The Maze Runner (BCCB 11/09), this title will definitely have readers coming back for more.

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