Nova

This YA-flavored debut lacks the complexity to do its themes justice. Sixteen-year-old Lia Johansen, if that’s who she really is, contains an implanted time bomb set to detonate on a populated space station within hours of her arrival there. When the mechanism malfunctions, she is left to contend with questions about her identity and her mission. With no instructions on how to proceed in the event of failure, she wanders aimlessly as she struggles to reconstruct her forgotten past—until she meets a boy who triggers deep memories within her, as well as an onrushing feeling of young love. But is she remembering her own actual past, or that of the Lia of whom she suspects she might be a clone? Or are both she and her memories nothing more than laboratory-created constructs? Johansen’s existential angst over her humanity is mildly compelling, and the novel’s resolution is neat and satisfying, but the book resembles nothing so much as a toned-down version of Total Recall. Agent: Lindsay Ribar, Sanford J. Greenburger Associates. (June)