13. Mystery · Thriller | Our Voices Break Open

Y A L O L O G Y

YAL lover, librarian and Metro State professor, Adela Peskorz, asserts the study of Adolescent Literatures . . .

"is not about exploring the 'great books' that often populate curricular reading lists year after year (and as research has proven, often decade after decade), gathering more dust than fans and -- sometimes doing more harm than good in terms of cultivating a lifelong love and appreciation of reading."

"It is far more important to cultivate an avid appreciation of reading than to be restrictively selective about content. There are wonderful classics to consider, but they should be folded into the broader landscape of genres and formats available and shared through a spectrum of vibrant and active techniques."

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

13. Mystery · Thriller

12:01 AM

Vance Holmes

The Unidentified by Rae Mariz

Annotation:

When geeky Katey "Kid" Dade bucks the social networking trend and goes offline, she plugs into the shocking truth of her hi-tech, corporate sponsored high school.

Recommendation:

Despite its electrifying premise, The Unidentified finally reveals itself to be a thinly plotted, poorly edited turn off. Slow to power up, and plagued by technical glitches, this cyber thriller by Rae Mariz is of limited literary value, but demonstrates a relevance to the teen experience that may make it a worthwhile read for young people interested in speculative fiction.

Mariz's modernistic world of corporate sponsored high schools and target-marketed students is delivered through the first-person narration of Katey "Kid" Dade. Kid is framed as a very average, very ordinary 15-year-old who is not particularly popular at school -- or rather, the education shopping mall and arcade referred to as, "The Game." The novel takes an Orwellian turn when Kid and the misfits in her ragtag group of friends rebel against the consumer culture that consumes their lives.

The storyline, with its hint of a love triangle, is extremely weak. What little plot there is in this futuristic fiction is predictable and, ironically, quite old-fashioned. Pacing, though consistent, is painfully slow.

There are a few fun moments in Mariz's mystery, but they are buried in the book's tedious 300 pages. Clearly, a good editor would have helped. I would point out that the reference to "KidZero" appears out of sequence to the "ZeroNet" plotline. (But who's counting?) The writing is so clumsy in some sections of the novel, it feels like a rough draft. Fully half of the chapters needed to have been fixed or nixed altogether.

Rae Mariz is obviously attempting to use language creatively, but she's often too clever by half.

Mariz has given her characters designer names (Abercrombie, Elle, Ashleah) but failed to give them personalities. The students use clever phrases. "Oh my God" becomes "Oh my Google," and to be popular is to "get branded." Unfortunately, the quirky dialogue seems forced and unmotivated because the characters have very little to actually talk about.

The book raises important issues about personal privacy in a world taken over by technology and certainly has relevance to today's teen experience. The unique setting and ideas in this novel are worth exploring, but The Unidentified fails to do so. Rae Mariz has created the very type of product she sets out to criticize: all style, no substance.

Nomination: No

Genre Classification: Mystery / Thriller, Science Fiction

Citation: Mariz, Rae. The Unidentified. New York: Bazer and Bray, 2010. Print.

Rae Mariz home page
http://raemariz.com