Vortex (Insignia Series #2)

by S. J. Kincaid

Overview

S. J. Kincaid has created a fascinating dystopian world for Insignia, her futuristic science-fiction adventure series perfect for fans of Ender's Game. Earth is in the middle of WWIII, a war to determine which governments and corporations will control the resources of the solar system.

Teen Tom Raines grew up with nothing—some days without even a roof over his head. Then his exceptional gaming skills earned him a spot in the Intrasolar Forces, the country's elite military training program, and his life completely changed.

Now in Vortex, the second book in the series, Tom discovers that the Pentagonal Spire, where he and his friends are being trained as superhuman weapons, is filled with corruption. He is asked to betray his friends—the first real friends he's ever had—for the sake of his country.

Will he sacrifice his new life to do what he believes is right?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062093042
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	03/19/2024
Series:	Insignia Series , #2
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	405
Sales rank:	564,251
Lexile:	850L (what's this?)
File size:	1 MB
Age Range:	13 - 17 Years

About the Author

S. J. Kincaid was born in Alabama, grew up in California, and attended high school in New Hampshire. She also interned for a politician in Washington, DC, and received degrees from universities in Illinois and Ohio, but it was while living beside a haunted graveyard in Edinburgh, Scotland, that she realized she wanted to be a writer. Several years, several manuscripts, and several jobs later, Ms. Kincaid now lives in California, and Catalyst is the conclusion to the Insignia trilogy.

What People are Saying About This

Veronica Roth

PRAISE FOR INSIGNIA: “Insignia expertly combines humor with a disarming and highly realistic view of the future. The characters are real, funny, and memorable. You won’t be able to put this book down.”

Rae Carson

“Hip, high-tech, and hilarious, INSIGNIA made my heart soar and left me with impossible-to-shake questions about technology, reality, and war.”

Editorial Reviews

Kincaid lays a lot down, twining her increasingly complex plot and characterizations with Tom’s growing awareness. Action fans, fear not: For all the deep thinking Tom and readers undertake, pace, adventure and fun are not compromised one whit. A surprisingly and satisfyingly rich middle volume.”— — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Elite teen-soldier Tom RainRaines is back in Kincaid’s popular Insignia sci-fi series, still battling the bad guys (aka his corporate bosses). The action again rises and the pace becomes more breathless. Vortex is ultimately a technological, high-concept boarding-school tale.” — ALA Booklist

“Readers...will enjoy the action of this installment and will eagerly anticipate the next.” — School Library Journal

PRAISE FOR INSIGNIA: “Insignia expertly combines humor with a disarming and highly realistic view of the future. The characters are real, funny, and memorable. You won’t be able to put this book down.” — Veronica Roth, #1 New York Times bestselling author of DIVERGENT and INSURGENT

“Hip, high-tech, and hilarious, INSIGNIA made my heart soar and left me with impossible-to-shake questions about technology, reality, and war.” — Rae Carson, author of THE GIRL OF FIRE AND THORNS

“Kincaid combines a Harry Potter-like teen discovering that he has unknown abilities being sent to a special boarding school with the Ender’s Game plotline of humanity’s space battles being fought remotely by juveniles. She adds espionage, corporate skullduggery and multiple mysterious enemies to create a blockbuster of a debut.”— — School Library Journal (starred review)

“Fast-paced battles in a variety of virtual worlds will excite gamers of all levels... Insignia [will] make a popular series for readers who enjoy adventures, science fiction, and espionage.” — Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA)

“An unlikely teen is selected to attend Hogwarts-at-the-Pentagon. With action, real humor and a likable, complex protagonist, this fast-moving, satisfying adventure also provides some food for thought.” — Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

Fast-paced battles in a variety of virtual worlds will excite gamers of all levels... Insignia [will] make a popular series for readers who enjoy adventures, science fiction, and espionage.

Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA)

Elite teen-soldier Tom RainRaines is back in Kincaid’s popular Insignia sci-fi series, still battling the bad guys (aka his corporate bosses). The action again rises and the pace becomes more breathless. Vortex is ultimately a technological, high-concept boarding-school tale.

ALA Booklist

PRAISE FOR INSIGNIA: “Insignia expertly combines humor with a disarming and highly realistic view of the future. The characters are real, funny, and memorable. You won’t be able to put this book down.

Veronica Roth

Hip, high-tech, and hilarious, INSIGNIA made my heart soar and left me with impossible-to-shake questions about technology, reality, and war.

Rae Carson

10/01/2013
Gr 8 Up—In this sequel to Insignia (HarperCollins, 2012), Tom Raines still has many lessons to learn about politics in the Intrasolar Forces. Back at the Pentagonal Spire, he and his friends continue their training as superhuman government-weapons-in-training. Even though he has been promoted from Plebe to Middle, Tom knows he will need one of the multinational corporations to sponsor him if he ever wants to advance to Combatant. Unfortunately, after a series of disastrous meet and greets with the corporate VIPs, Tom alienates them all, severely damaging his prospects. The teen persists in furthering his friendship with the lead enemy fighter, Medusa. He's offered a chance to redeem himself and gain sponsorship through Obsidian Corp., but at Medusa's expense. And he's starting to suspect that when he and his friends unscrambled a fellow classmate's neural processor, they made a very bad choice. This action-packed novel delivers intrigue right out of the gate. Tom and his friends' interactions and dialogue are more natural and believable than in the first book, making these characters more memorable. There are still moments of forced dialogue, and some characters are over-the-top. However, readers who endured the length of the first entry will enjoy the action of this installment and will eagerly anticipate the next.—Kelly Jo Lasher, Middle Township High School, Cape May Court House, NJ

School Library Journal

Kincaid's sequel to Insignia (2012) moves beyond derivative fun to real depth. Ever-rebellious Tom Raines has advanced with his pals Vik and Wyatt to Middle Company at the Pentagonal Spire. They've reached the level where they need to cultivate corporate sponsors in order to join the elite virtual warriors who conduct the ongoing space-based war between the Russo-Chinese and Indo-American alliances for control of the moon. Tom may be preternaturally great at virtual-war skillz, but he is horrible at sucking up and almost immediately alienates every single multinational corporate head he needs to impress. Meanwhile, Tom continues to pursue his odd but intense secret relationship with crack Russo-Chinese combatant Medusa and begins to suspect that Yuri, their Russian friend at the Spire, whom Wyatt "unscrambled" in the first book, may not be as innocent as they had thought. Kincaid lays a lot down, twining her increasingly complex plot and characterizations with Tom's growing awareness of the poisonous "military-industrial-media complex." As Eisenhower feared, it has made war a way of life that enriches a very few and impoverishes the many—one corporate head has bought Yosemite as his own private playground, one of many unsubtle but all-too-plausible symbols Tom contemplates. Action fans, fear not: For all the deep thinking Tom and readers undertake, pace, adventure and fun are not compromised one whit. A surprisingly and satisfyingly rich middle volume in a trilogy that exceeds popcorn expectations. (Science fiction. 13-16)

Kirkus Reviews