Flux

by Beth Goobie

Several years earlier Nellie and her mother fled the Interior and its hated security police for the Outbacks, a loose-knit resistance of small cities, towns and rural areas. Since then her mother has disappeared and twelve-year-old Nellie is on her own, scrounging a living where she can find it. When loneliness opens her mind to flux, the ability to alter her vibratory state in the molecular field, she learns to travel to other levels of reality. When a prank by the Skulls, an unruly gang of boys, reveals several large scars on her scalp, Nellie is forced to confront the terrifying truth that her vague memories of experiments that took place while she lived in the Interior are real. Befriended by fourteen-year-old Deller, leader of the Skulls, Nellie learns of the disappearance of his younger brother Fen. Using her ability to travel the levels, she eventually finds Fen trapped in an experimental laboratory deep in another reality. Although Nellie is unable to free him, her discovery precipitates a series of events that lead her and Deller back to the Interior, and straight into the memories she has been trying so hard to forget.

Genres: Science Fiction, Dystopia, Young Adult, Fantasy

276 pages, Library Binding

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Beth Goobie is best known for her quirky and dark young adult novels. She's published several of them, beginning in 1994. Her novel Before Wings won the Canadian Library Association's Young Adult Book Award in 2000, and was chosen by young readers for the Best Books list of the American Library Association.Much of the turmoil in Goobie's life has been laid bare in two books for adult readers, Scars of Light, which is autobiographical poetry, and The Only-Good Heart, a book of short stories. Both are built on the theme of cults, abuse, and emotional torture. They were, she says, both therapeutic for herself and a warning to others.

Reviews

[Rivkah]

Although I am still currently reading this, it seems to be on a slow start so far. She seems to have a worship place made out of an old shack.. I can also understand that someone cut her head open, as she finds's out when some guys shave her head (not very creative) It dosn't seem that interesting at the moment, besides the mysterious gang that was after her, and her praying nothing seems to be happening.. but obviously someone thought this book was good-someone published it after all, so perhaps it will be beter..

I guess it seems slow because it's a bit hard to understand. Maybe the author did it knowingly?

***

I'm wondering why no one has reviewed this book yet? Is it new? It's out in Canada.

[Ashiecha · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a bit confusing however I feel like that was a charm of the book. It really left a lot up to the reader to figure out and that made it a bit mysterious and a more academically challenging read. As well as openly inviting imagination and allowing the reader to interpret things in different ways. It was beautifully written and very poetic and allowed me to not only take things from the book, but also give something to it and change my way of viewing things compared to anyone else. Definitely recommended.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a really fun read and I remember really wanting to read the next book, of course this only just out in Hardcover so I lost track of it. Which is why I hardly ever read book one of a series when it first comes out. I will have to reread and check out the rest of the series.

[Gayle Swift · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was intrigued by the premise of travel between dimensions into parallel universes. The story has a post-apocalyptic edge softened with the YA interest in relationships. A fun read.