Pulse Point

Pulse Point is a YA dystopian science fiction novel about a “City” enclosed to protect its citizens from environmental collapse. Everyone in the City is required to produce as much energy as they consume; when citizens become too old or sick to contribute, they are Balanced, a nice term for euthanasia. Kaia is a teen citizen who runs enough every day to share extra energy with her grandmother, Mae, so that she won’t be Balanced. Kaia is romantically involved with Lev, son of one of the City’s leaders. Lev is an overseer but is uncomfortable with his role monitoring citizens’ behavior, and he is particularly unhappy about being made to participate in a Balancing.

When sharing energy is made illegal, without Kaia’s extra energy, Mae is taken away to be Balanced. Kaia’s father, Sy, tells her that her mother, Raina, left the City many years ago and that she had always wanted Kaia to come and join her. Sy sneaks Kaia out of the city in a tunnel and then sends her on her own to the Mountain where dangerous Prims might live. Lev and another overseer are sent after Kaia to bring her back.

After meeting some Prims and convincing them to trust her, Kaia is brought to their camp and meets her mother. She learns about unethical experiments done on Prims in the City and finds out that she is half-Prim, herself. Meanwhile, Lev and his partner have an encounter with beasts, and Lev causes his partner to be killed. Kaia finds Lev, injured and feverish, and decides to take him back to the City to be healed. They are stopped by Jacob, the man who is really Kaia’s father; he was imprisoned underneath the City along with other Prims and people who disagree with the way the City is run. Jacob is determined to free the rest of the prisoners and get revenge on the City, and Lev and Kaia agree to join him.

The premise of Pulse Point isn’t terribly original, and this novel’s exploration of the consequences of environmental degradation and humanity’s potential for tyranny is simplistic and flat. The City is minimally described so that anyone who has watched a sci fi movie will be able to picture it. The idea of forcing everyone to generate electricity on a treadmill is intriguing, but not practical.

The novel is narrated alternately by Kaia and Lev. Their struggle to fit into their society despite their misgivings makes them empathetic, but they aren't otherwise interesting characters. They are both manipulated by parent figures into leaving the City, and their character development after meeting the Prims is learning that they have been given wrong information all their lives, so there are not many opportunities for them to make character-revealing choices. The most convincing challenge for both characters is coming to terms with their parents not being who they thought they were or who they wanted them to be. The idea of parentage and identity is explored thoughtfully.

The writing is mostly unobtrusive but has too many run-on sentences, sentence fragments and dangling modifiers.

Teens will find Pulse Point an easy read that deals in familiar tropes and settings.