THE ENCLAVE

Aguirre’s YA debut centers around Deuce, a teen who has only known life in the “Enclave” below New York City, where she must fight off freaks (zombie-like mutants) in the tunnels and hunt rats for meat. Emily Bauer effectively voices the pride and fear that mingle in Deuce as she and her enigmatic partner, Fade, carry out their job of protecting and feeding their clan. When village elders exile the hunting pair for discovering important secrets, they go aboveground, and Deuce realizes her whole existence has been a lie. As Deuce’s life completely changes, some situations seem somewhat implausible, yet Bauer still manages to make her a believable character. Several secondary characters fall by the wayside, however, because of undifferentiated narration. Uneven recording levels may also occasionally jar readers. J.M. © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine [Published: JULY 2011]