EnclaveEnclave
But all is not as it seems. The students are hardly the best and the brightest: so-called starlets best known for their empty heads and eating disorders; troublemakers one step away from incarceration; junior royals too embarrassing to be let out in public. The staff isn't much better, from the alcoholic doctor to the last resident of the monastery, an ancient monk with secrets of his own.
And the dangers from which these castaways are being protected? They're stored on DVDs, ready to be trotted out whenever Sarge needs to terrify his little flock. And yet ... the dangers are real, as two boys discover when they hack into the Academy's computer network and connect, for a brief but disastrous moment, to the outside world. But the computer virus isn't the worst invader ... a stranger has entered the Academy. And he has brought Death.
The world is in chaos: war, plague, global ecological collapse. Parents everywhere seek sanctuary for their precious children, the future of mankind. For those who are rich and powerful enough, safety can be found—for a price—at the Clothos Academy. Run by a mysterious man known only as Sarge, set in a former monastery atop a sheer cliff on a tiny island somewhere in the Mediterranean, Clothos will admit only one hundred students before it is sealed off—perhaps permanently—from the terrors outside.
But all is not as it seems. The pupils are so-called starlets best known for their empty heads and eating disorders; troublemakers one step away from incarceration; and junior royals too embarrassing to be let out in public. And the staff isn’t much better, from the alcoholic doctor to an ancient monk with secrets of his own.
And the dangers from which these castaways are being protected? Prerecorded, ready to be trotted out whenever Sarge needs to terrify his little flock. And yet…
Some dangers are real, as two boys discover when they hack the Academy’s self-contained computer network and connect, for a brief but disastrous moment, to the outside world. Worse, a stranger has entered the Academy. And he has brought Death.
Ex-marine Sargent Whitmore has a plan to make millions while protecting children from the self-destructing modern world. He turns an old Mediterranean monastery into a combined impenetrable fortress and school, and enrolls 100 filthy-rich children, most of them already well-known for legal troubles, drug problems and paparazzi run-ins. Once there, everyone is cut off from the outside world, fed only canned news stories about wars and natural disasters. When things inevitably go horribly wrong, young hacker "Killer" Stade, physician assistant Cassie, drug and sex-crazed Sylvie and monastery-raised orphan Benny all attempt heroics, but remain deeply flawed.
In a near-future world beset by war, plague, and ecological collapse, one hundred overindulged children of protective wealthy parents find safety at Clothos Academy, where the mysterious Sarge manufacturers disasters for the outside world. 15,000 first printing.
In a near-future world beset by war, plague, and ecological collapse, one hundred overindulged children of protective wealthy parents find safety at Clothos Academy, where the mysterious Sarge manufacturers disasters for the outside world.
Title availability
About
Details
- New York : Tor, 2009/02/03
From the community