Randoms by David Liss

Zeke Reynolds is a sci-fi super geek.  He knows all the games, movies, comics and TV shows as if he was living in them along with the rest of the characters—like Captain Kirk or Han Solo.  He’s also something of a bully magnet—and when he sticks up for himself and manages to get the better of his nemesis, it’s Zeke who ultimately gets in trouble.   His father, also a sci-fi aficionado, disappeared many years before, and his mother recently found she has an incurable disease.  Zeke is at a rough spot in his life when he finds that the science fiction stories he loves so much are based in reality, and that he has been selected to spend a year on a massive space station, hand chosen by the Confederation of United Planets as one of four talented delegates from Earth, chosen to evaluate humanity’s worthiness for inclusion in the Confederation.  Three young people were chosen for their talents and abilities, and Zeke was chosen as the Random.  Promised a safe journey and a cure for his mother’s disease upon completing his journey, Zeke sets off on an intergalactic adventure.  Unfortunately, the adventure doesn’t turn out quite as Zeke hoped.  He finds that as a “random” he’s ostracized by his fellow delegates, and when he saves his transport ship from a deadly enemy attack, he is the one labeled a war criminal.  Despised by the Federation, ostracized by his fellow humans, and pursued by a ruthless enemy, Zeke befriends alien “randoms” also rejected by their delegations.  The unlikely trio forms a loyal bond with each other.  They find their presence in the Confederation is not the result of the random selection they thought it was, and, as the danger increases, Zeke finds his knowledge of science fiction and games will be the one thing that will save the day for his new friends. . . . and his family.

Reviewed by Kathy Thornhill, Zauel Memorial Library

Recommended for grades 5-8

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