The Electric Kingdom
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
From the New York Times bestselling author of Mosquitoland comes “an intricate piece of high-concept sci-fi” (Booklist) about the notion that even in an exterminated world, one person might find beauty in another.
“A postapocalyptic nesting doll of a tale.”—Melissa Albert, New York Times bestselling author of The Hazel Wood
“Utterly unique and genre-busting.”—Jasmine Warga, Newbery Honor–winning author of Other Words for Home
When a deadly fly flu sweeps the globe, it leaves a shell of the world that once was. Among the survivors are eighteen-year-old Nico and her dog, on a voyage devised by Nico’s father to find a mythical portal; a young artist named Kit, raised in an old abandoned cinema; and the enigmatic Deliverer, who lives Life after Life in an attempt to put the world back together. As swarms of infected Flies roam the earth, these few survivors navigate the woods of postapocalyptic New England, meeting others along the way, each on their own quest to find life and love in a world gone dark.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
With a haunting, deliberately paced tale of postapocalyptic survival, Arnold (Mosquitoland) creates a devastated world held together by myth and memory. Years after most of humankind is wiped out by swarms of Flu-flies—genetically modified honeybees that devour humans and leave behind a deadly Fly Flu—the remaining survivors eke out a tentative existence in the Northeast U.S. Nico, 18, is sent by her science-minded father in search of a portal that could grant her a better life. Twelve-year-old Kit, raised in an abandoned movie theater, sets forth to locate a supposed safe zone situated on a cluster of islands. And the enigmatic Deliverer, who has spent dozens of lives attempting to influence events, watches over them both while pursuing a mysterious agenda. As their paths converge, the disparate protagonists discover secret connections that bind them. The slow-burning story unfolds opaquely—Arnold suggests, rather than explains, certain details about the world, focusing instead on how his intertwining characters, clearly wrought and informed by story and speculation, face a changing landscape. Ages 12–up.
