A stunning YA science fiction novel that weaves an exciting digital world with a heartfelt story about grief, identity, and human connection. For fans of The Lunar Chronicles and Catherynne M. Valente's The Past is Red who are looking for an original twist on the genre. Graciela Neumann does as she's told.
She cowers beneath the towering intellect of her parents, goes to school, toes the line. Except when she's connected to the virtual reality world that gives every teenager what we can only imagine-to be completely free.
In the Waves, Graciela can be anyone, anywhere, anywhen. And in the real world, Graciela is drowning. Her best friend recently passed away, she's suffering from crippling panic attacks, and her only connection to life is Khaiam, who keeps trying to draw her back to reality. But how can he compete with the Waves?
There, she can shed her identity and recreate it however she wants. And in that world, there's Thomas, the stunning stranger she's only ever met online, the boy with the deep, sad eyes and beautiful laugh. Thomas seems to be able to defy the rules of the Waves, and he holds secrets of his own-about the origins of his creation, about the nature of AI, and about Gracie's own past.