Dealing in Dreams
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
“A novel exploration of societal roles, gender, and equality.” —School Library Journal (starred review)
The Outsiders meets Mad Max: Fury Road in this “daring and dramatic” (Victor LaValle, author of The Changeling) dystopian novel about sisterhood and the cruel choices people are forced to make in order to survive.
At night, Las Mal Criadas own these streets.
Sixteen-year-old Nalah leads the fiercest all-girl crew in Mega City. That role brings with it violent throwdowns and access to the hottest boydega clubs, but Nala quickly grows weary of her questionable lifestyle. Her dream is to get off the streets and make a home in the exclusive Mega Towers, in which only a chosen few get to live. To make it to the Mega Towers, Nalah must prove her loyalty to the city’s benevolent founder and cross the border in a search of the mysterious gang the Ashé Riders. Led by a reluctant guide, Nalah battles crews and her own doubts but the closer she gets to her goal the more she loses sight of everything—and everyone—she cares about.
Nalah must choose whether or not she’s willing to do the unspeakable to get what she wants. Can she discover that home is not where you live but whom you chose to protect before she loses the family she’s created for good?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this dystopian novel by Rivera (The Education of Margot Sanchez), 16-year-old Chief Rocka leads her five-girl crew Las Mal Criadas, one of the violent all-female guardian gangs that keep order in Mega City, a metropolis still recovering from an earthquake that occurred generations ago. Rocka's mother died when she was young, and her father and sister disappeared soon after, so the LMC is her only family. After losing a public match at the request of D esse, Mega City's leader, Rocka is asked to lead the LMC outside of the city into Cemi Territory to infiltrate the Ash Ryders, a group that may pose a threat to D esse's society. The discoveries that Rocka and her crew make there will challenge their notions of how cultures should be organized. Rivera's women-led metropolis may seem just at first, but later chapters reveal the society's subjugation of men and strictly binary view of sexual identity, along with its citizens' state-sponsored drug reliance. Rivera showcases multiple intricate character arcs and details several societies through impressive worldbuilding; young readers drawn to complex action novels that challenge conventions will find this read rewarding. Ages 14 up.