Teenagers have their phones monitored, hoax riots and protests are staged, violent incidents become ever more widespread and the political sphere is rife with conspiracy, lies and fearmongering. The plausibility of it all makes it even more terrifying – in removing the sci-fi aspect of SLATED, everything becomes even more horrifyingly possible. Teri Terry manages to recapture a lot of what made SLATED so engaging and enticing – it’s a twisty, pacy thriller underneath the dystopian packaging, with realistic and flawed protagonists and a lot of emotional depth. When I read SLATED back in 2013, it was quite fanciful to think that the UK would leave the EU (which is one of the catalysts for the way Kyra’s Britain has developed) but now it’s February 2019 and the country is barrelling towards Brexit and this series becomes more timely and important than ever before. It’s more politics-driven, and the narrative is split between Sam (the teenage daughter of the deputy prime minister) and Ava, her tutor, whose family has been torn apart by the xenophobic border laws.

Set in a near-future Britain where the borders are closed and the country is in chaos, FATED gives us a bit of background on how Kyra from SLATED’s world comes about – through the eyes of her mother Sam, and the scientist and developer of the Slating technique, Ava.įATED takes place before the Slating technology used to rehabilitate young criminals is invented, so it’s a bit less sci-fi than the original series. This review contains spoilers for the SLATED trilogy – if you haven’t read that series, I’d suggest coming back to this review once you have.įATED is the prequel to the SLATED trilogy, a dystopian UKYA series that I tore through back in 2013. Even if her life – and her heart – are on the line … when she meets Ava and Lucas her mind is made up. Sam is torn between family loyalty and doing what is right. Mobile phones are blocked, gatherings are banned and dissent is brutally crushed. The government blames the country’s youth, and is cracking down hard. Borders have closed and protests are turning violent. Sam’s cosy life as daughter of the Deputy Prime Minister is about to end. How I read it: I received a free ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Books by teri terry