Rating: 2 1/2 stars

The Unidentified is a dystopian tale set in our immediate future when money has run out for education and corporations now hold the reins. Kids all over the world now go to a “school” in refurbished retail malls from the past called “Game Centers” and take part in “The Game”.

Now, instead of math and history class, the kids play video games, create new business ideas, start fads and stay active in social networking all for points and the honor of being “branded” by corporations who will sponsor them.

Fifteen-year-old Katey Dade (aka Kid) isn’t the most popular girl, but she’s not quite an outcast either; she has her music and her best friends/band mates, Aria and Mikey—although Aria seems to be showing up less and less for band practice and spending more time with the fashionistas and crafters in the hopes of finally getting branded.

Katy just keeps her head down, focusing more on her music and getting through her game levels than she is perfecting her profile and fitting the corporate mold. Then, without warning, Katy witnesses a prank by a group calling themselves “The Unidentified”. Thinking they’re a rebel group speaking out against the sponsors, Katy begins to look into them.

Before she knows it, her personal quest becomes corporate interest and Katy is pegged as a “trendsetter”; now branded, Katy is in danger of losing everything she holds sacred—her friends, her music and her privacy.

Desperate to regain her anonymity and get to the bottom of the Unidentified, Katy continues to search for answers; but what she finds could end her game for good.

The most unsettling part about The Unidentified is that it’s practically happening right now. Devises and software used in the story are very reminiscent of the iPhone, iPad, Facebook and Twitter. Whereas high school kids are probably already in competition of how many friends and Twitter followers they have online—in the future they’d be rewarded for it.

The Unidentified was well written, entertaining and scarily familiar.

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Reading level: Young Adult
Hardcover: 304 pages
Publisher: Balzer + Bray (October 5, 2010)
ISBN-13: 978-0061802089