The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm

I loved this book back when I was a kid. Cyberpunkish scifi in 22nd century Zimbabwe, with heroic kids, mutant detectives, evil criminals. You can never really go back, so does this book hold up? Well, yes and no.

I didn’t realize how much I’d appreciate the main character, Tendai, and his relationship with his younger siblings as he tries to protect them. The future African setting is also well-imagined; as a rising power and real nation that has reached an accord with the legacy of colonialism. Farmer worked in Zimbabwe for years, and the magical-religious elements with spirit possession and witchcraft really kick the story up a notch.

On the minus side, the plot of captivity-escape-captivity is a little repetitive and didactic; a rising series of challenges for Tendai to overcome. The titular mutant detectives are also kind of a dud, speaking with identical voices and rarely using their powers to good effect. In a post -Harry Potter and Hunger Games world, the standards for YA fiction have moved.