Merged
The greatest minds of a generation dream of imparting their wisdom and making a mark for decades to come. The young, who inherit all that came before them, dream of creating something new that will stand alongside the works that came before. What if both generations could share a consciousness and work together on groundbreaking research in the fields of literature, physics, physiology, chemistry, art and peace?
That’s the premise of Merged (MONTH9BOOKS) by husband and wife duo Jim and Stephanie Kroepfl, a YA sci-fi novel in which six teens, each talented in a different Nobel Prize category, are selected to “merge” their minds with those of six late geniuses. It’s a very clever premise that immediately sets Merged apart from the dystopian trend in YA.
We are first introduced to Kevin (or Orfyn as he likes to be called), a gifted street artist who can recreate a da Vinci in an alleyway overnight. He’s Banksy by way of Dick Grayson, and when he’s caught graffitiing one night he thinks his goose is cooked—until he’s given a second chance by the Darwinians, who adopt him and sweep him away to “The Flem,” a facility not unlike Charles Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, albeit maybe with an excess of security.
The nature of “The Flem” builds the suspense and sense of dread early, expertly foreshadowing the events to come. Here, Kevin’s mind is merged with the quirky artist Bat—a late addition to the Nobel program, begrudgingly admitted by the Darwinians to secure crucial funding. But though Kevin is the fastest Nobel candidate to successfully merge, he is not alone in merging.
The awkward but brilliant Lake, the Chemistry Nobel candidate, merges with a talented if difficult to work with scientist whom she hopes to learn a lot from. For Lake, merging is personal—she wasn’t originally sure that she would even be able to do it, and she laments the progress that she could have made for her family and her research if she’d been successful sooner.
Isolated from the other Nobel candidates in her early attempts, the Darwinians throw Lake a bone and introduce her to the smoldering Stryker, an unlikely candidate for Peace. The way these characters’ conflicting personalities and foibles play off of each other is a masterclass in dialogue and characterization.
Stryker is hotheaded and impulsive, which sets him apart from the other candidates but particularly from Lake. His lack of trust for the Darwinians could be the one thing that will protect him and his fellow Nobels… or it could be the very thing that puts them in harm’s way.
As the Nobel experiment progresses, each of these six teenagers is forced to decide who they trust: each other, their shared-consciousness Mentors and the Darwinians themselves may all be hiding something.
This is a YA novel that considers heady questions like “What is the line between one’s consciousness and oneself?” “Where do we go when we die?” “What does it mean to inhabit one’s own body… let alone someone else’s?” Merged manages to ask these and other such questions while building intrigue at every turn until the thrilling final act.
Merged is now available for purchase.
Learn more about Jim and Stephanie on their Author Profile page.
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I read this book. It will make you think and keep you turning pages as you get invested in the characters.
This could be a bestseller with the right promo. A large House should pick it up.