The Blending Time

by Michael Kinch

Overview

In the year 2069, turning seventeen means mandatory Global Alliance work assignments that range from backbreaking drudgery to deadly canal labor. Trying to survive in a world that's been ravaged by plagues and environmental disasters, three "s'teeners" from the harshest backgrounds think they've gotten lucky. Jaym, Reya, and D'Shay are chosen to be among thousands of blenders, whose task is to help repopulate and rebuild Africa after a devastating solar flare. But the continent itself-roiling with civil war and mercenaries intent on crushing the blending program at any cost-poses the gravest danger. Separated, the three friends struggle to escape the violence and chaos, and somehow reunite. But will following rumors of a mountain hideout lead them to sanctuary, or cost them their lives?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780738727486
Publisher:	North Star Editions
Publication date:	11/08/2010
Series:	Blending Time Series , #1
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	264
Sales rank:	948,659
Lexile:	600L (what's this?)
File size:	742 KB
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

Michael Kinch spent his youth in Las Vegas, Hollywood, San Francisco and Portland before enlisting in the Army where he was stationed in Germany intercepting Russian intelligence. A former librarian at Oregon State University, Kinch traveled widely in Africa leading workshops on the library sciences. His Blending Time novels arose from the vivid memories and friendships gained during that time. He lives near Salem, Oregon, with his family.

Editorial Reviews

"Full of action, this is a compelling, realistic, and exciting thriller for more mature young readers." —Kirkus Reviews

"Determinedly multi-ethnic, fast-paced, and with plentiful gore and violence, the book will draw reluctant readers who enjoy action and adventure." —Booklist

"Entertaining, credible, scary, and memorable." —VOYA

"Shocking and unrelenting—Kinch delivers a blistering, no-holds-barred tale of a dystopian future that feels all too real." —Arthur Slade, Governor General Award-winning author of The Hunchback Assignments

From the Publisher

Gr 9 Up—It is the year 2054, and the world has been decimated by environmental changes, plagues, and war. Opportunities for decent jobs and living conditions are limited, particularly for those with little schooling or influential connections. When Jaym, D'Shay, and Reya each turn 17, the mandatory age at which all children of the NorthAm Sector receive their work assignments, the choices are the military, Canal work, street patrol, or blender. Knowing the short life-expectancy statistics of workers in the first three choices, each "s'teener" opts for the unknown fourth choice. Together they travel to Africa along with thousands of other blenders whose mission is to intermarry and live with the African people and help to repopulate the continent after a solar pulse left the population unable to produce viable children. All is not well on this continent, and the three find themselves in a fight for their lives against powers both large and small who want the blender project to fail. Myriad postapocalyptic novels are on the market this year, and at first glance, this seems to be just another one of many. However, Kinch's novel is a frighteningly clear vision of a very possible future where government is in the hands of the few and powerful, and everyone else can expect little from life but deprivation and violence. Graphic scenes of warfare and rape help to build the unrelenting pace of the novel. Readers who enjoyed Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games (Scholastic, 2008) and Joëlle Anthony's Restoring Harmony (Putnam, 2010) may also appreciate this debut novel.—Jane Henriksen Baird, Anchorage Public Library, AK

School Library Journal

A well-realized, harsh dystopia provides the setting for this exciting debut. Sometime in the late 21st century, three 17-year-olds face a future dictated by their corrupt global government. All might be sent to work on the "canal," a death sentence, so they take measures to get any other job possible. The three wind up in Africa, where they are supposed to marry local people and produce offspring—the entire population of the continent has been sterilized by an intense solar flare. One finds herself captured by the "gades" (presumably short for "renegades"), bandits who raid the back country and keep captured women as sex slaves. After some hair-raising adventures, the other two boys find themselves battling the "gades" as well. Kinch invents a plethora of abbreviated jargon that heightens the credibility of his awful future world. His three main characters will easily convince readers that they're real, distinct people. Full of action, this is a compelling, realistic and exciting thriller for more mature young readers. (Science fiction. 14 & up)

Kirkus Reviews