A thought-provoking tale of the future set on an isolated island fortress: “The ending is an absolute mind-blower” (Booklist).
 
Anax thinks she knows history. She has studied the stories of the distant twenty-first century very diligently. Her grueling all-day examination has just begun, and if she passes, she’ll be admitted into the Academy—the elite governing institution of her utopian society. But Anax is about to discover that for all her learning, the history she’s been taught isn’t the whole story. And the Academy isn’t what she believes it to be.
 
In this brilliant and suspenseful novel, Anax’s examination leads us into a future where we are confronted with unresolved questions about technology and humanity, artificial intelligence and the nature of consciousness.
 
“A philosophical inquiry of sorts into a favorite and time-tested conundrum: Can a machine achieve consciousness, and if so, what should its relationship with its creators be?” —The Wall Street Journal