ALA Booklist

Mori, Theo, Julia, and Benji are the kids of Firefly Lane in Old Harmonie, a carefully planned village of the future, located just outside Cambridge, Massachusetts. Each of them is 12 years old, and they are looking forward to another idyllic summer together. Their only worry is that they must choose their "latency," a powerful trait (like puzzle solving, physical agility, or photographic memory) that will be super-enhanced later that year. Then a new girl moves in for the first time since anyone can remember, and Firefly Lane will never be quite the same. Ilana is beautiful, brave, athletic, and practically perfect ybe too perfect? d her strangeness forces the kids to challenge their parents, their utopian community, and their own ideas about life, loyalty, and humanity. The story starts slowly, and Ilana's secret may be obvious to observant readers, but the end will have children turning pages and thinking about important questions. An excellent choice for those who love Lois Lowry's The Giver or Margaret Peterson Haddix's sci-fi adventures.

Horn Book

When new girl Ilana joins her futuristic utopian community, Mori is fascinated by her perfection and a friendship forms. Soon the girls are drawn into an intriguing mystery as they discover the troubling origins of their sheltered community. Fans of The Giver and the like will greatly enjoy this middle-grade dystopian novel that thoughtfully explores a multitude of complex themes.

Kirkus Reviews

A girl realizes her suburban, corporate-run utopia has dark underpinnings. Twelve-year-old Mori lives on a quaint cul-de-sac west of Boston, in a Kritopia (a utopia sponsored by the Krita Corp.), one of several around the world. She and her friends are partly free-range—they can take off on their bikes anytime—but everyone wears a nonremovable "watchu," which tells time but also watches its wearer. At age 13, kids announce their "latency"—an inner skill that will be surgically released—and find out whether they're "natural" (made from their parents' DNA) or "designed" (made from cloned or modified DNA). Into this idyllic neighborhood comes new girl Ilana, who's gorgeous and strong but doesn't quite fit in. Ilana pauses oddly before answering questions, and unlike Mori, whose heritage is Japanese and Scottish, brown-skinned, chestnut-haired, green-eyed Ilana knows of no heritage. This society's secrets aren't gentle, but the text reveals them gently. The pacing is cautious—like Mori herself, though she vaguely remembers having been braver in the past. As Mori and the others break a huge rule, walking along abandoned train tracks toward the rough and scary city to save a friend's life, readers will eagerly await the next installment. Less stark than The Giver (1993), this welcome addition to the dystopic utopia genre is a young cousin of Ally Condie's Matched (2010) and Mary Pearson's The Adoration of Jenna Fox (2008). (Science fiction. 9-12)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Twelve-year-old Mori narrates this suspenseful tale set in the not-so-distant future in Old Harmonie, a closed community founded by the Krita corporation on the outskirts of Boston. "We never stopped experimenting and innovating," says Mori of her home, "but outside they were just struggling to get by." On their 13th birthdays, children in communities like Old Harmonie learn their genetic code, discover whether they are "natural" or genetically "designed," and reveal their chosen "latency," a hidden aptitude that will then be released through surgery. When a new girl, Ilana, moves onto Firefly Lane, her presence disrupts the comfortable dynamics among Mori and her best friends, Julia, Theo, and Benji, who find something "just a little off" about Ilana, despite her easygoing manner. After their group coalesces into "The Firefly Five," the children's gradual realization of Ilana's true nature leads to shocking and painful revelations about their community, their parents, and themselves. In this gripping novel, Blakemore (The Friendship Riddle) creates a disturbingly ordered world in which questions about friendship and family offer courageous and heartwarming testaments to the human spirit. Ages 8-12. Agent: Sara Crowe, Harvey Klinger. (May)

School Library Journal

Gr 4-6 An earnest dystopian mystery that celebrates the power of friendship, individuality, and imperfection. In the corporate utopia of Old Harmonie, life is incredibly controlled. Citizens enjoy ready-made meals delivered to their identical houses in a futuristic suburb of Boston. Parents can modify their children's genetics, amplifying and dampening characteristics as their talents unfold. Twelve-year-old Mori has always felt safe in this world, but she relishes moments when she glimpses something truly unique. When new girl Ilana moves in across the street, Mori is instantly drawn to her refreshing sincerity. Ilana and Mori become fast friends over their love of botany, and together they plant a secret garden in the woods. Mori invites her into her circle of friends, and as a group they begin to explore forbidden areas of the town. They quickly discover Old Harmonie (and its mega conglomerate sponsor Krita) was built on a web of troubling secrets. Perhaps they aren't as safe as they thought. Frazer Blakemore offers an intricate mystery that deals with immensely complicated themes, from the painful changes in tween friendships to the ethics of genetic modification. The characters are charmingly naturalistic in this futuristic dystopia, simultaneously spouting corporate lingo and goofy jokes that modern readers will delight in. The specifics of Old Harmonie's infrastructure is labyrinthine, and occasionally pages of unrestrained exposition break the narrative flow of the mystery. Yet the themes are strong, and the depiction of a tightly controlled world at the expense of individuality will surely fascinate fans of Lois Lowry's The Giver . The ending hints at a sequel. VERDICT A very good selection for middle grade readers drawn to high-concept science fiction. Anna Murphy, Berkeley Carroll School Library, Brooklyn