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Reviewed by:
  • While We Run by Karen Healey
  • April Spisak
Healey, Karen. While We Run. Little, 2014. [333p] Trade ed. ISBN 978-0-316-23382-8 $18.00 E-book ed. ISBN 978-0-316-23383-5 $9.99 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 9-12.

This intense sequel to When We Wake (BCCB 4/13), explores further questions about power and ethics, morality and survival, and love and hate as it continues to follow Abdi and Tegan. These two have been captured by the government and are now being forced to hawk Australia’s cryonics project or face torture, even while it becomes clear that there are fatal problems with the program. Tegan, frozen for 100 years (starting in 2027) is meant to be the shining example of what cryonics can offer, but she and Abdi and their traveling, musical-ambassador tour may not be be able to compete with the underlying truth, especially after their friends aid the duo in a risky escape. The group of friends is remarkably, refreshingly diverse in ways that are conveyed clearly but with enough nuance and smoothness that they remain a group of flawed, realistic teens rather than a purposive cast of characters. The heated romance between Abdi and Tegan is fascinating, particularly as they know how it has rendered them vulnerable to their enemies, and how its situational origins may mean that it’s unsustainable. Readers unfamiliar with the first volume will be able to catch up through the fluidly integrated backstory, though they will likely be so intrigued to read about how Tegan first woke and met Abdi, her complex beloved, that they’ll want to go back and see how it all began. [End Page 576]

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