The Waning Age

By: S. E. Grove

Narrated by: Kyla Garcia, Julio Sanchez, Arthur Morey

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Glass Sentence, a lightly speculative, relevant puzzle box with undertones of Never Let Me Go.

The time is now. The place is San Francisco. The world is filled with adults devoid of emotion and children on the cusp of losing their feelings--of "waning"--when they reach their teens.

Natalia Peña has already waned. So why does she love her little brother with such ferocity that, when he's kidnapped by a Big Brother-esque corporation, she'll do anything to get him back?

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Glass Sentence comes this haunting story of one determined girl who will use her razor-sharp wits, her martial arts skills, and, ultimately, her heart to fight killers, predators, and the world's biggest company to rescue her brother--and to uncover the shocking truth about waning.

Critic reviews

★ "A provoking, striking call to self-reflection." —Kirkus Reviews, starred review


★ "Unexpected twists create a fast-paced plot . . . A must-have for libraries with dystopian fans." —School Library Journal, starred review

"A dazzling,emotional journey about a sister's love and the fight against an emotionless society." —Booklist

"Grove’s world shines through as a complex statement on empathy." —BCCB Reviews

"Readers, especially lovers of dystopian fiction, will enjoy this book and may just come away wondering, “what if…?” —School Library Connection

"The Waning Age brings dystopia back to YA, in a novel that feels like Lauren Oliver's Delirum mixed up with Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go" —Bustle

"A fun ride with cool characters set in an interesting world you won’t regret diving into." —Hypable

Definitely a response to the world we live in...

...today since that poor excuse for a human being was elected president of the US (and probably would need to look up the word "empathy" but would be too stupid to understand it). Possibly the author has read the recent spate of articles that state that reading promotes empathy, and that got her thinking? Regardless, it was a really good read. I was engaged in the plot and invested in the characters the entire book.

I suppose it kind of failed in making the characters seem totally devoid of emotion. Kind of a fine line to walk there. But I didn't really care. They were emotionless enough but not so much that they were unlikeable. In fact, the main character (Natalia) is quite likeable, intelligent, clever, etc. And anyway, her little brother Cal (whom she has to rescue from big pharma because he shows no signs of waning) claims that even though after "the waning" all emotions supposedly vanish, they are actually still there--horribly blunted and muted, but still there.

The audio narrator for Natalia's character did a great job. If she had actually read the character as emotionless as she supposedly was, it would have been robotic and awful to listen to. She strikes just the right balance.