Jump: Twinmaker Book 1 (Sean Williams, A&U)

The world has been revolutionised by ‘d-mat’—fabrication technology that can build any object instantly, atom by atom. Clothes, food and even human beings can be faithfully created, replicated and teleported down to their tiniest imperfections and most personal memories. Climate change, famine and pollution are merely history lessons for teens such as Claire and her best friend Libby, who are free to go anywhere and create anything at the press of a button. But when Libby tries to use d-mat to ‘improve’ her own appearance, Claire begins to realise that the system may not be as safe or as secure as everyone believes. Bringing attention to d-mat’s failures is a dangerous game, however, especially when the molecular pattern that makes you ‘you’ can be manipulated by those with power and secrets to protect. Sean Williams is one of Australia’s most accomplished speculative fiction authors, deftly using high-concept sci-fi to ask young-adult readers difficult questions about identity, self-image and popularity in the age of social networking. It’s all expertly weaved into a fast-paced, white-knuckle chase, making it an easy book to recommend to fans of dystopian YA, such as Scott Westerfeld’s ‘Uglies’, Patrick Ness’ ‘Chaos Walking’ and Suzanne Collins’ ‘The Hunger Games’.

Richard Bilkey is the ereading content manager for Samsung Australia

Books+Publishing pre-publication reviews are supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund.

Category: Reviews