Genesis Alpha

Review

　　"Genesis Alpha is an intriguing tale of one boy facing devastating revelations about his brother and himself. Grappling with age-old questions about good and evil -- made even more complicated by modern technology -- Max has to come to terms with his own fate, intertwined with his brother's. Or does he?"

　　-- Margaret Peterson Haddix, author of Among the Hidden

　　"An adrenaline-charged thriller that also takes a fascinating and unflinching look at some difficult ethical issues, including the origins of good and evil. Genesis Alpha is dark, dangerous, and utterly riveting."

　　-- Kenneth Oppel, Michael L. Printz Honor-winning author of Airborn

Description

　　Josh worships his older brother, Max. They look alike, they talk alike, and they both have the same interests, including their favorite massively multiplayer online role-playing game, Genesis Alpha. But Josh and Max have an even deeper connection. Because Josh was born for a reason. It was Josh's stem cells, harvested when Josh was newly born, that saved his dying older brother's life.

　　Now that same beloved older brother is arrested, accused of the brutal murder of a teenage girl. Josh is bewildered. Is Max really a monster, or is all of this a terrible mistake? And if the worst is true and Max is guilty, does that mean Josh is guilty too? After all, Max wouldn't exist without him. But this is only the beginning. Before long, Josh will come to a number of searing revelations -- revelations that have dire implications not only for Max's future, but for Josh's as well.

　　Rune Michaels explodes onto the teen literature scene with this gripping, chilling debut -- a compelling picture of the intersection where science, family, and morality collide.

Author

　　Rune Michaels studied psychology at the University of Iceland and at the University of Copenhagen. Genesis Alpha is her first novel. She lives with her husband and two cats in Reykjavik, Iceland.

ONE

We were playing a computer game the day it happened.

Genesis Alpha. Its the greatest game ever invented, and its huge, a whole universe filled with thousands of people from all over the world. Its got everything: space battles and swordfights, aliens and elves, planets and cities and underground systems. I can play for hours every day, especially when my brother Max joins me.

I play at home after school, Max from a computer lab somewhere on campus. Hes older than me, and hes away at college, so mostly we keep in touch through the game.

We fought Kreepz that day. They had enslaved the entire population of Yartan 3. The slaves were kept in caves deep underground, mining precious metals from the earth. So there was a lot of treasure to be had, yartanite and black diamonds.

The underground cave system was huge, but apart from the big gangsters at the entrance, the Kreepz guards down below werent all that tough. So we split up. Alezander -- thats Maxs character name -- took care of the east side while I did the west side. Alezander had his Bloodstone axe, and I had my broadsword. Thats the coolest thing about Genesis Alpha. You can fly around in a spaceship and run around cities with a machine gun, but when you go down on a primitive planet, you wear old-fashioned chain-mail armor and wield a sword or a crossbow. Its got the best of all worlds.