Ricochet

August 15, 2019
Four teenagers living in parallel universes must unravel the mystery behind their existence. When Californian Tati sent off a saliva sample for DNA testing as part of her high school ethnic studies project, she hoped she would learn more about her Russian birthparents. Instead Tati receives inconclusive results. Meanwhile, Ana--also in California and taking ethnic studies--gets nonhuman DNA results that stall her project's progress. Tanya lives a sheltered life with her mother in Germany while in Russia, an isolated Tatyana lives with her famous scientist father. While circumstances vary for these four Tatiana/Tatyanas, one thing remains true for all of them: unexplained seizures (or me-zures, as Tati dubs them). These seizures, they discover, bring opportunities for them to meet and communicate. As turmoil infiltrates their four universes, it's a race against time to figure out their shared history and stop the mastermind behind it. Berla (Beau & Bett, 2019, etc.) transitions from universe to universe in an often subtle flow. Readers will enjoy puzzling out how decisions big and small reverberate across the girls' different lives. The stakes and the tension in the climax are low, however, as conflict buildup takes a back seat to backstory. The four main characters and most others are assumed white; Tati's Indian American girlfriend, Priya, is an exception, and her family is unfortunately portrayed in a two-dimensional and negatively stereotypical way. A lightly developed take on choice and the multiverse. (Science fiction. 14-18)

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September 15, 2019
Grades 9-12 Seventeen-year-old Tatiana (Tati) has suffered from seizures all her life but is otherwise content, surrounded by her loving adoptive parents and girlfriend, Priya. When she takes a mail-in DNA test for a class project and the results come back inconclusive, Tati starts to wonder if her seizures are related to this abnormal phenomenon and her cryptic origins?not to mention the alluring light-filled tunnel she's started to experience during her seizures. When she makes the decision to plummet down the proverbial rabbit hole, she soon discovers her three parallel selves: Ana, a girl leading a life similar to Tati's but missing some of the most important pieces; Tatyana, a well-off girl in Russia who is imprisoned by her family's dark secrets; and Tanya, a traumatized runaway in Eastern Europe who must flee her family's past. Berla's sf thriller effortlessly traverses between the diverse perspectives of these parts of a whole individual and will have readers empathizing with Tati's heartbreak, confusion, and determination once the secrets begin to unravel and her life?their intertwined lives?spins out of control.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)