Meet Me in the Fourth Dimension

A forlorn college freshman becomes a doomsday conspiracy theorist in this heartrending verse novel by poet Feinstein (Everything Is Real, for adults). “Wicca-as-hell” teen Crosby is shattered when Shannon, her neighbor and best friend of 13 years, pulls away after their high school graduation, abandoning witchcraft and leaving Oregon to study science in Arizona. Crosby senses that this rift portends something even more terrible—a belief vindicated when, during her first semester at Oregon State University, she hears about the rogue dwarf planet Malachite. World governments and “mainstream media” claim that Malachite will pass harmlessly through Venus’s orbit, but thanks to an alleged NASA whistleblower on YouTube, Crosby knows that Malachite’s collision with Earth is “inevitable and unsurvivable.” A like-minded local psychic says those vibrating at a high enough frequency will ascend to another dimension on impact, sending Crosby on an increasingly desperate quest to save as many people as possible, starting with Shannon. Feinstein incisively reflects on friendship and change while illustrating misinformation’s allure and aftermath via first-person-present verse poems by turns snarky and soulful. Lyrical, immersive writing and realistically flawed, mostly white-cued characters enrich the tale’s bittersweet tone. Ages 14–up. Agent: Savannah Brooks, KT Literary. (Mar.)