Flux

Allison Sivak is a librarian in the Science and Technology Library at
the University of Alberta.

This first book of a two-part series tells the story of Nellie, a
homeless young girl who, with her mother, escaped the Interior, with its
all-knowing government and security police for the Outbacks, a series of
small cities that are home to a resistance force. Nellie’s mother has
gone missing, and she must fend for herself, with the help of what she
calls the flux—her ability to alter the vibratory patterns and move
between what are seemingly identical dimensions, acting in one with
apparently little or no impact on her “home” dimension.

Nellie uses the flux both to enhance her survival skills and to test
her own limits, pushing the boundaries of her knowledge. She gradually
learns that the flux is more complicated and more dangerous than she had
anticipated; that all actions she instigates have a much greater impact
than she originally believed, and that the government has played an
insidious role in it all.

Beth Goobie has created an extremely complicated world that cannot be
fully and easily explained in this first volume. At times, her
descriptions of the more imaginative elements of the plot are laborious.
In Nellie, however, she has created a courageous and believable heroine
whose confusion and fear in the face of what she is dealing with comes
through very clearly.

In merging the familiar aspects of teenage relationships with the
intrigue of science fiction, Goobie has produced a book that, while not
an easy read, will engage and intrigue young readers. Recommended.