Recorder has no family, no friends, and no name. Donated to the Consortium before birth, her sole purpose is to maintain and verify the records. A neural implant and drone ensure compliance, punishing for displays of bias.

Suddenly cut off from controlling technology, Recorder tastes what it means to be human. But if the Consortium discovers her feelings, everyone she knows will be in danger.

With no name, no resources, and only an infinitesimal possibility of escape, Recorder’s time is running out.

Book 1 of the Children of the Consortium series.

A Recorder is a person, but made like an android using nanotech the Consortium can manage. And a Recorder has no name, only an inalterable place. In Recorder, Cathy McCrumb weaves a sci-fi tale with threads of dystopia. In the distant future, society is accustomed to technological miracles, but quiet repression hangs over everyone. The heroine’s journey reveals both ordinary life and hidden, sinister truths. This future regulates religion away from most of life; faith is occasionally referenced, but plays a minor role in the story. McCrumb handles heavy subjects with a light touch, keeping the novel from grimness. Recorder is a creative and engaging novel that will appeal to a broad audience.

Best for: Fans of science fiction and young-adult narratives.

Discern: Some violence includes an explosion that harms children, a man forcibly kisses a woman without her consent, a mother gives away her “defective” children, murder investigators play an autopsy recording, several corpses are discovered in an abandoned facility, and one possibly disturbing sequence involves gargantuan cockroaches.