The Crossing

November 15, 2012
Post-apocalyptic religious exploitation in Micronesia forms the theme of this dystopia. Maryam has waited almost all her life for her Bloods to come, so she can fulfill her destiny in the Holy City. Ever since the Tribulation that churned the sea and destroyed the power sources, the people of her Pacific island--roughly based on the nation of Kiribati, according to the author's note--have followed the guidance of the white-skinned Apostles of the Lamb. As a tiny child, Maryam was taken from her birthparents when a blood test showed she was one of the Lord's Chosen. The religious experience she's been dreaming of, however, is more like a nightmare. The white-robed and white-skinned Apostles enslave the "native" servers, keeping them hungry and sexually exploited, drunk and pregnant, and constantly in superstitious terror. Maryam learns to trust nobody (except, perhaps, for the requisite sympathetic, handsome boy). Maryam's perspective isn't as tightly drawn as it could be, with viewpoints that seem to come more from an Apostle or even a contemporary reader, rather than an islander raised among other islanders. Nonetheless, her struggle to recognize and fight exploitation that's been reinforced by religious faith is compelling. Perhaps one day Maryam will cast off her Chosen name and reclaim the name of her birth, the name given to her by her own people. This trilogy opener will be just the thing for those readers still hungry for dystopias. (Dystopian romance. 13-16)

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April 1, 2013

Gr 8 Up-Maryam has only known one thing her whole life: to blindly follow the tenets of her religious community without question or thought. She lives on Onewere, a small island in the South Pacific that was chosen as a place to live by the Apostles of the Lamb after the world was destroyed by The Tribulation. The Apostles believe that they exist in the form of the living God on Earth and control all of the native inhabitants from an old cruise ship that is referred to as the Holy City. Maryam is among a group of native girls referred to as The Chosen. They are raised to be servants to the Apostles and reside on the ship. Once a chosen girl is old enough, she makes the crossing to live the rest of her days as a server of the Holy City. When Maryam initially makes the crossing, she is filled with the innocent joy of fulfilling her religious destiny. Her feelings are shaken to the core once she discovers the harsh reality of ship life and the true meaning for why she was chosen. A disturbing dip into how abuse of power can lead to racist ignorance and dangerous gender and social discrimination, this book will appeal to readers who love dystopian adventures.-Sabrina Carnesi, Crittenden Middle School, Newport News, VA

Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2013
In a future devastated by plague, one indigenous people is immune. Maryam, a young acolyte of the island's all-powerful (and white) Apostles, realizes that their spiritual leaders have designed a callous scheme to acquire indigenous blood. Hager weaves critiques of systemic racism and religious absolutism into her suspenseful and horrific series opener, but the people's universal cultish credulity is not always believable.

(Copyright 2013 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)