FROM AMAZON: The year is 2194, and Tendai, Rita, and Kuda are the children of Zimbabwe's wealthy and powerful chief of security. They've escaped from their father's estate to explore the dangerous city of Harare--and promptly disappear. Their parents call in the Ear, the Eye, and the Arm, detectives whose exposure to nuclear waste has given them special powers. Together they must save the children from the evils of the past, the technology of the future, and criminals with plans much more sinister than anyone could have imagined. ( )

Takes place in 2194. Includes interview with the author, glossary, further information on Zimbabwe.

I enjoyed this book, but it had problems.

The story is about a group of 3 children who go out into the world and get kidnapped. Excessively. They get kidnapped, and escape, and then kidnapped again, and escape, over and over again. To the point where it stops being believable.

The other problem is that the author set out to write a sci-fi novel. I know this, because she says so in the introduction. It is not a sci-fi novel. The book has a bunch of stock sci-fi features, but they are randomly stuck onto the story. She could have easily written the book, and then put them all in later. "Hmmm... I should replace the maid with a ... robot maid!" and "Hmmm... instead of being a skyscraper, I will make this building a MILE HIGH! HA! Bet they never saw that one coming!"

Really, the book is a novel steeped in the religious traditions of Zimbabwe. I think adding in the random sci-fi elements really detracts from that, but the book still manages to be pretty good. ( )

children's adventure fiction (a futurist Zimbabwe with robots, and ancestral spirits; Tendai is about to turn 14). This award winner should be counted among the classics along with A Wrinkle in Time. There is violence but only a little blood--somehow it is made more slapstick than graphic, but the Masks gang is established as a terrorist group (which brings up new, too-real associations since the original publications) that tortuously kills children and other people as sacrifices to the spirit world. ( )

This was a very unusual book. It was fun seeing what the author imagined Zimbabwe to be in the 22nd century. The kids were great characters and there was a bit of character development for them. The detectives were also interesting as they tried to find the children. As the children fell into one horrible situation after another it began to be a bit much for me, but overall it was a fun adventure that I think kid in the intended age range would really enjoy. ( )