Starred Review ALA Booklist

Starred Review A young driller breaking up rubble in war-devastated City Five unearths an old water can with a diary inside and then breaks Rules and Regulations by keeping it, rather than surrendering it to the authorities. So begins Toni V's relationship with the diarist, Pelly D, a teen who, before the war, had it all. Toni V enters the everyday thoughts and experiences of a privileged girl who, despite her societal status, may not be protected when the most powerful of the planet's three genetic clans demands all citizens be identified and sorted by genetic type. Although inspired by the buried diaries found in the Warsaw Ghetto, Adlington has crafted an original and disturbing dystopian fantasy told in a smart and sympathetic teen voice. Particularly skillful is the author's use of setting and detail to build slowly toward a full revelation of the unique physical, psychological, and political worlds Pelly D and Toni V inhabit. This provocative addition to the growing body of dystopian literature for teens is a disturbing book that shouldn't be missed.

Horn Book

On the planet Home From Home, Toni V, a barely educated brute laborer helping to pulverize the bombed-out remains of a city plaza, uncovers the diary of Pelly D, a hip member of the swank elite. Adlington interweaves the two narratives. When gene tagging identifies her as undesirable and Pelly D's life begins to unravel, readers will detect echoes of 1930s Europe.

Kirkus Reviews

On a colonized planet, a stolid boy working demolition discovers the buried diary of a self-absorbed rich girl. Toni V is smashing concrete to help rebuild City 5, destroyed in the recent war. His drill hits a diary that he secretly reads at night, against the rules. Adlington skillfully makes Pelly's diary appealing from the beginning, even when Pelly herself is snotty and self-entitled. Her life of luxury begins to unravel, as political forces require everyone's ancestry to be tested and stamped on their hands. Discrimination suddenly affects Pelly, who discovers she's a Galrezi, the lowest genetic classification. Political powers evict her from her apartment and ration her water, which all these humans bred with gills need for nourishment. Pelly's story ends with sudden character warmth and a Holocaust parallel; thoughtful Toni's last decision is hopeful, though it's hard to see where the hope can lead. (Science fiction. YA)

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

In this story-within-a-story, 14-year-old worker Toni V unearths the diary of the once pampered, popular 15-year-old Pelly D and, through her entries, discovers the disturbing history of the war and ethnic cleansing that led to his job clearing a bombed-out plaza. First novelist Adlington sketches the history of Pelly D's society, the "brave new world [of the] Colonials" on another planet ("No cars, no violent crimes, & five capitals of Cultural Renaissance on this continent alone"). The colony was settled by inhabitants who arrived in spaceships, were bred in test tubes, breathed through gills and valued water as a precious commodity. The author hints at a sinister practice of gene tagging and a rivalry between the Big Three gene families—the Atsumisi, the Galrezi and the Mazzini—early on in the journal. In a plot development that recalls the events of the Holocaust, Pelly D, her mother, brother and sister are branded with a "G" for the despised Galrezi and must leave their luxurious apartment. Her father (a superior Atsumisi) eventually abandons them, and Pelly learns more about the disappearances that foreshadow her own probable end. Readers may become drawn into Pelly D's plight, but Toni V remains more of a lens than a fully formed character. Still, Adlington (whose author bio says she has a "longtime interest in war diaries") offers a futuristic portrait of the prejudice and hierarchies that can lead to atrocities. Ages 13-up. <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">(May)

School Library Journal

Gr 7-10-Tony V is part of a crew of drillers excavating the ruins of City 5. While working, he finds a diary hidden in the plaza. Although keeping items from the digs is forbidden, he takes it and begins to read during his free time. It belongs to a girl named Pelly D, who is pretty, popular, and wealthy. But something changes in her life when everyone is required to be tested for gene ancestry, and she turns out to be Galrezi, one of the undesirable genetic strains that society has turned against. Readers witness the shift in Pelly D's life and its inevitable conclusion. The author has clearly based the book on the Holocaust, but the lack of background information about this fictional world leaves readers confused about the true cause of the genocide. Unfortunately, while they get a lot of details about Pelly D's vibrant, glittering rich life, her time in the ghetto is less complete. The true horrors of what is happening are muted until the end of the book, taking away much of its power. The concept is interesting and the world of Tony V is well rendered, but in the end, the novel disappoints.-Tasha Saecker, Caestecker Public Library, Green Lake, WI Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.