Monarch Rising

August 29, 2022
In Glenn’s splashy near-future dystopian debut, Black 17-year-old Josephine Monarch, an artist whose parents died in a revolution, longs to leave the Ashes, a town personified by “waterless borderlands full of brown grass, Radius-ridden rats, disorderly cops, and poor people.” Jo’s only hope for a future free from squalor is to be selected from the Lineup, a process in which Ashes teenagers must pass an academic exam, dress their best, and line up for wealthy Reps from nearby New Georgia. The Reps then choose the most promising participants from the Lineup to attend an ornate Gala, wherein the teens have the opportunity to be integrated into New Georgian high society for a “lifetime of luxury and comfort.” Jo has spent years preparing for this moment; all that stands in her way is white 18-year-old heartbreaker Coventry “Cove” Wells and his determination to break her spirit. But even as she delves deeper into New Georgia’s opulence, she fears that a brewing revolution back home will jeopardize her future. Despite uneven pacing and underbaked themes regarding intracommunal oppression and examinations of privilege, Glenn’s impressive character-building presents a highly motivated, dynamically layered cast, driven by their respective trauma and desire for change. Ages 14–up.