Fisher Julane. The Text. Atlanta: Infinite Teen, 2023.

Guide to categories: YA Review – review of books for teens

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Summary of The Text

For readers who loved The Inheritance Games, Legend, or Calculated, prepare to be swept into a chilling conspiracy and nail-biting quest for the truth.

Those sworn to protect me now hunt me. I am the prey.
In 2048, 25 years after a pandemic killed one-third of the world’s population, America is flourishing under the department of Safety Threats and Reinforcement (STaR). STaR keeps citizens safe and healthy and STaR’s social media app, Allicio, boasts two billion users worldwide. Then a power outage shuts down STaR’s health monitors and disables millions of mobile phones.

Sixteen-year-old Rami Carlton earned a starting spot on the varsity volleyball team. For fun, she races tech-genius Finley Drake to decipher the online identities of their techie friends. The game is harmless. So they thought.

Rami receives a chilling text message that she’s being watched. That night, her mother disappears. Despite thousands of city-wide monitors, STaR’s Reinforcement Division cannot locate Rami’s mom and Rami’s stalker threatens to kill her brother if she talks to Reinforcement Officers.

Then Finley hacks the nation’s cellular provider and discovers STaR has a secret. STaR isn’t just watching. They’re manipulating Allicio. And Rami is their next target.

Award-winning author Julane Fisher explores a near future where technology not only governs citizens, it controls them.

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My YA Review of The Text

I have previously read Julane Fisher’s mid grade novels. The Text is totally different. It is a dystopian teen novel that obviously has its roots in the global events of 2020 and beyond. Reading the text was almost a bit concerning at times – it seems so real and so possible. Could the world play out as Fisher envisions in this story? Time will tell. Fisher definitely followed through on the “what ifs” generated by world events. 

The government uses technology and social media to track its citizens and to get them to think the way they want them to. Rami and her friends get pulled into a plot to expose (or hide) what the government is doing. Many of the plot points are tied up by the end of the book, yet there were a couple things that left me hoping for a sequel to see how things play out.

This book may be an eye opener for the teen generation in a way that they can make changes to benefit all.

The Text would be a great addition to a K-12 Christian school library. It is appropriate for middle schoolers and up although because of the “realness” it may be too intense for some of this age group. 

I received a complimentary copy of The Text. This is my honest review.

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