With a premise reminiscent of Lost
, Sutherland's apocalyptic time-travel fantasy kicks off her Avatars series with a far-flung cast of characters, each with something to hide—then casually introduces the end of the human race. Eighteen-year-old Kali can psychically start fires or touch off explosions when she loses control of her anger; Gus, who is infatuated with preteen singing star Venus, becomes her protector when strange events begin to happen; Tigre, a Chilean veterinary assistant, discovers that he can control the rain. Chapter heads tell of an "extrication" in progress, and soon the majority of people on earth seem to have vanished. Kali finds herself alone in the New York subway system, Tigre is taken by strange monkey-like creatures to a nearby town where all the people have disappeared, and Gus and Venus find a letter from his brother implying some great catastrophe in the past. Each of the travelers begins hearing voices in their heads, telling them to move in a certain direction, toward an ultimate "gathering place"—and accumulating friends along the way, such as a giant bird named Quetzie and an ominous elderly man named General Pepper. Sutherland dispenses pieces to the puzzle in small drips, including the "Great Wipeout of year forty," which purged the earth of technology, and leads up to an outcome that recalls P.D. James's The Children of Men
. The author answers some questions at the conclusion but leaves many more unanswered, making volume two as much of a must-read as this one. Ages 12-up. (Oct.)
