My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Highly entertaining, fast-paced novel weaving one part politics, one part "the future", and one part teen love story.
Incredibly enjoyable read. The future as we may-come-to-know-it is realistic, though pleasantly different. World-wide public healthcare has come. 9/11 has been joined by many other dates. There's been a new Jesus Revolution. Phones have video.
Even more identifiable than the possible future are the characters. Duncan, Jimmy, Virgil and all the others ring with the reality of human nature--they're not perfect, but they're real. Even the bullies--frequently overdone in YA books--are (unfortunately) genuine.
The plot itself is intriguing--a presidency challenged? (Now where've we heard this in real life? Ah, but that was Florida, not Kansas.) And a teenager going with his friends to defend it? There's a wonderful blend of political action and reaction woven in; it's never dry, accredited mainly to the idea of MONUMENTALISM though the whole novel. The author has built up a kind of contagious excitement that's impossible to ignore, sucking in the reader and not letting go.
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