Tabula Rasa by Kristen Lippert-Martin (review)
April Spisak · Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books./Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books · 2014
Reviewed by: Tabula Rasa by Kristen Lippert-Martin April Spisak Lippert-Martin, Kristen Tabula Rasa. Egmont, 2014 [352p] Trade ed. ISBN 978-1-60684-518-9 $16.99 E-book ed. ISBN 978-1-60684-519-6 $16.99 Reviewed from galleys Ad Gr. 9-12 Sarah really wants the new life that has been promised to her once her brain is adjusted and she can be rid of the criminal history she has been told she possesses. [End Page 163] Of course, you should never believe the folks in lab coats who promise that erasing your brain is the best possible move, and indeed, governmental experimentation and dastardly goals are involved in the real plans for the subjects’ brains. What follows this revelation is a sharply paced, complex story about who is cheating whom, who is really in charge, and what Sarah can be once she is actually out from under those who see her as simply an experiment. Lippert-Martin almost pulls off the endless plot twists and character revisions, but at the core, it sometimes feels like there is no true protagonist, since Sarah is a blank slate onto whom whatever villain or strong force is nearby imprints a new version of her. It’s therefore hard to find anyone to root for here, as secondary characters generally lack agency (whether they are soldiers or medical professionals who just follow orders or the other teens who have been experimented on), and Sarah herself is too slippery to connect with easily. Nevertheless, a tough chick who doesn’t let anything stop her including an epic blizzard, a whole mess of bad guys, or even huge gaps in her own memory, and who also doesn’t seem particularly interested in romance or being saved, is still a welcome addition to the sci-fi mix. Copyright © 2014 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois