“The future has revived the past—but all that glitters is not gold.
In the 25th century, society thrives in a Victorian Renaissance, where polished manners mask political unrest and genetic perfection is the new standard.
Colin, a struggling musician with two obnoxious stepbrothers and a dismissive stepfather, is the only autistic human known to be born in this era. His very existence is an anomaly—and a problem.
Princess Katrin, hailed as the ideal of engineered humanity, is drowning in palace drama and public scrutiny. But behind the glittering image lies a relentless pursuit—and a dangerous secret. When she stumbles upon the darker truths of her government, the key to exposing it all may lie with the elusive “Composer Anonymous” she met on her birthday.
A musician without a future. A princess without a voice. And a society built on buried truth.
Can two rebels rewrite the future before it silences them both?”
Series: As of now, no, it seems to be a stand-alone novel.
Spiritual Content- Psalm 46:1 at the beginning; A Scripture is read & written on a paper; Prayers (including Colin adding to a prayer for God to tell his mother that he loves and misses her & asking God what was the purpose of him being born this way); Talks about God, being created by God, believing in God, & miracles; ’H’s are capital when referring to God; Colin believes in God, but Katrin isn’t sure about Him even though he father believes as well (*Spoilers* towards the end, she prays for help and continues ask questions about it all; At the end, she chooses faith for herself and has a hunger to read and discover more about God *End of Spoilers*); Mentions of God, believing in God, & being created with intention; Mentions of prayers, praying, & blessings over food; Mentions of miracles; A few mentions of a Bible & Bible reading; A few mentions of souls/spirits; A mention of a person pretending to have a faith;
*Note: When Colin brings up about being created for a purpose, his step-father says that the “creation stuff is nonsense”; Mentions of human evolution, scientists trying to prevent aging by putting the human consciousness into an android body, & wanting to be gods like we “were meant to be” (which is said by one side character and Colin disagrees); Mentions of a mythology character becoming a god (Adonis); Mentions of luck & being lucky; A couple mentions of “the next life” (said by Colin who believes in God); A mention of a government executive worshiping his schedule.
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘confound it’, a form of ‘shut up’, a ‘stupid’, and three forms of ‘dumb’; “Skies” (a fictional world phrase/exclamation) is said seven times; Eye rolling & Sarcasm; Falling through a ceiling and into a pool, Being locked in a room, Having a hand caught in a door and broken fingers, & Pain (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of deaths (including of a mother) & grief; Mentions of lies & lying; Mentions of gossip & rumors; A few mentions of eavesdropping; A couple mentions of hatred; A couple mentions of manipulation; A mention of bullies;
*Note: Katrin says that it was planned from the beginning that she wouldn’t have a mother or know who she is and has a longing to know her (Colin says that it was cruel to not give her a mother on purpose as “everyone should have a mother”); Someone tells Katrin that there is nothing special about her which hurts her and she has to tell herself that she has worth; Colin is Autistic/neurodivergent and this is shown through him being overwhelmed by loud noises and bright lights, dislike new or rough clothes (said to be Sensory Processing Disorder), unable to understand sarcasm or hidden meanings in facial expressions, not being good at lying, and making little eye contact; Colin is an anomaly in his world because “advancements in genetic code allowed geneticists to purge so-called “neurodivergence.”” (his mother was offered by the government to take him off her hands, but refused); With the genetic modification and advancements, anyone who can afford it can customize their child’s appearance, health, and talents (and can also “isolate psychopathy”which is what happened to a side character who wishes he had a choice in the matter); One person makes it sound like Colin has a disease (which Katrin rejects), but another wonders if neurodivergence can be useful and happens for a reason; Colin knows that the genetic researchers want to study him and prevent more people like him from being born (including one of his step-brothers); Colin’s step-family mistreats him (*Spoilers* by locking him in his room and also losing him in a crowd on purpose *End of Spoilers*), snaps at him, manipulates and bullies him, and can be unkind to him when he has “attacks or episodes” (Colin apologizes once when his step-father is upset at him and the man replies that if Colin was sorry, he would change; They also bring up past events where he was unable to do something (like give an order to a waiter) and treat him like a child); Colin doesn’t want to believe what his step-father says about him but *Spoilers* towards the end, Colin finds out his step-father has been lying to him about his music’s popularity and withholding the earnings *End of Spoilers*; Mentions of a group of people wanting to eliminate excess population that they deemed are unneeded and can be replaced by androids; A quote from Nietzsche.
Sexual Content- A not-detailed kiss; Wanting to kiss (barely-above-not-detailed); Touches, Embraces, Dancing, Hand holding, & Butterflies (up to semi-detailed); Blushes; Noticing (barely-above-not-detailed); Wanting to hold hands; A few mentions of flirting; A few mentions of crushes; A couple mentions of boyfriends; A couple mentions of a love triangle; Light love, falling in love, & the emotions.
-Katrin, age 17-18
-Colin Burke, age 17-18
P.O.V. switches between them
Set in 2437
307 pages
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Pre Teens-
New Teens-
Early High School Teens-
Older High School Teens-
My personal Rating-
I don’t think I’ve ever read such an art-filled book and it was so neat to see not only an emphasis on painting, but a ton about music and instruments as well. It was honestly fascinating to read and I really enjoyed how creating art was a major importance of the plot.
This was not quite a dystopian book because while it’s set in the future, there isn’t a corrupt government to deal with and take down. It’s not quite a sci-fi book, though,, either because while it’s a very technologically advance setting, it’s not set in space. So perhaps fantasy set in the far future would just be the best way to describe it? Regardless, it was a very unique setting.
I do think that there were a few times where some events could have been explained more for better understanding of what was happening (such as the layout of the swimming pool venue’s roof? how did she get up there? why is the swimming labyrinth such a big deal? it is just a popular sport? it was really only featured at the beginning of the book), but overall I was able to follow along and enjoyed our main two characters. I would have liked to have more details about the world and the technology as I had to guess on some of it, but that could have been because the characters don’t have to explain what they already know and the reader is jumping into their world.
There was a pro-life theme to this book which I loved to read. It highlighted the value of life and creativity in an AI-dominated world—in a futuristic world that has AI-androids and humans “enhancing” their physical appearance, talents, and health. It was a little scary to see what everything could one day be with AI’s assistance and growth.
I only like our main two characters because I was suspicious of basically everyone else—they seemed like either vipers or phony-balonies and I didn’t trust a single one of them. I was squinting my eyes at anyone else and wanting to protect both Katrin and Colin from harm. I knew there were Cinderella elements (but gender swapped) to this book, but I wasn’t sure how much it would have or follow the general idea of that story. I ended up liking the parts that were included and which parts weren’t present.
I’ve commented on it before in a Clean Fiction retelling of Cinderella that was gender-swapped, but I think that I don’t see this fairytale with swapped roles often because it’s a fine line between the male lead being unlike the typical Cinderella and being a bit of a pushover. It didn’t work for me with that other book for other reasons, but it worked well in this book because it was believable with Colin being Autistic but also being told time and time again that he can’t do again—which took time to undo and for him to believe in himself and that he was created with intention. I think this was my first time reading a YA book with an Autistic main character (Colin, in this book’s case) and I think the author did very well with the writing style changes between his and Katrin’s chapters as I could quickly tell who’s POV the chapter was in.
Overall, I quite enjoyed this book! When first seeing the trope list and the many different elements that would be in this book, I was a little concerned that would make the book feel a little rushed, but the author impressed me with the topics shown and discussed throughout it. I look forward to seeing what she writes next!
See y’all on Wednesday with a new review!
*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.
