"There’s a brilliant madness to this deadly post-apocalyptic world, filled with complex characters, shifting loyalties, and layers of mystery... it’s also a nonstop adventure, with wild concepts and an almost hypnotic quality to Banyan’s terse, weather-beaten narration. Lines like “I knew it was a day of endings, one way or another” and “One good thing about a world made of stone and steel, that world can’t burn for long” bring this unforgettable setting to life."
- Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW
"Howard has a gift for the phantasmagoric image: the killing Surge that is this future’s ocean, the bark Banyan finds growing on a homeless man, the swarm of locusts descending for the kill, and more."
- Kirkus Reviews
"In his ambitious debut, Howard constructs a crumbling, brutal, ignorant, mystical, and barren world, and he gets his environmental message across clearly as he sets up the next book of Banyan’s continuing adventures."
- Booklist
"Themes of loss, redemption, and sacrifice are explored, along with some big questions about science and family and love. Banyan is a strong character with believable motivation and behavior. There's a lot of violence and misery, but also a surprisingly sweet romance between him and the almost suicidally daring pirate Alpha. Supporting characters are well done. Fans of the Mad Max movies, The Hunger Games, and other blood-pounding, life-or-death adventures will find much to like here, and will look forward to further installments."
- School Library Journal
"Imagine a combination of Patrick Ness, Nancy Farmer, and Paolo Bacigalupi. Now, crank it up a couple more notches and you have Chris Howard. The story lets you catch your breath as a joke, nothing more, and I can't wait for the next one."
- Forever Young Adult
"ROOTLESS is one intoxicating, crazy thrill ride... a book that sinks its hooks into your brain and won't let go."
- Young Adult Books Central
"Mesmerizing. Howard emerges as a compelling new voice... I loved that I could feel the dust and the desperation. I also loved that every corner of this world feels fully realized... A story that dares the reader to examine whether the ends ever justify the means."
- CJ Redwine, New York Times bestselling author of The Shadow Queen and Defiance
"Strikingly original with breathtaking plot twists, ROOTLESS will haunt you long after you've read the last page."
- Jeff Hirsch, bestselling author of The Eleventh Plague
ROOTLESS (BOOK ONE)
THE RECKONING (BOOK THREE)
ROOTLESS (BOOK ONE)
Seventeen-year-old Banyan is a tree builder. Using scrap metal and salvaged junk, he creates beautiful forests for rich patrons who seek a reprieve from the desolate landscape. Although Banyan's never seen a real tree, his father used to tell him stories about the way they grew in the old world . . . before they were destroyed by the plagues of locusts that now feed on human flesh.
When Banyan meets a mysterious woman with a strange tattoo that offers a clue to the whereabouts of the last living trees, he sets off across a wasteland full of desert pirates, underground poachers and the agents of a sinister corporation that controls the last remaining source of food. But Banyan isn't the only one looking for the trees, and he's running out of time. Unsure of whom to trust, he's forced to make an uneasy alliance with Alpha, an alluring, dangerous pirate with an agenda of her own. As they race towards a promised land that might only be a myth, Banyan makes shocking discoveries about his family, his past, and how far people will go to bring back the trees.
THE RIFT (BOOK TWO)
THE RECKONING (BOOK THREE)
ROOTLESS (BOOK ONE)
Banyan was once a tree builder, creating scrap-metal forests for rich clients in a barren burned-out world. Now he's traded his scaffolds for lookouts, his tools for guns. On a stolen boat, surrounded by a mutinous crew, Banyan has escaped from Promise Island with the last living trees on earth, and he's desperate to smuggle them to safety . . .
But powerful enemies are in pursuit, seeking to claim the trees for themselves. To reach a safe haven, Banyan will need the help of the pirate girl he loves, Alpha, his broken friend, Crow, and his troubled sister, Zee. Only together can they cross the mysterious molten wasteland of the Rift. And when Banyan discovers a new threat to Alpha's life, he fears he'll lose not only the trees they sacrificed so much to find, but the girl who inspires him and gives him hope.
Howard's "gift for the phantasmagoric" (Kirkus) is on full display in this thrilling second book of the Rootless trilogy.
THE RECKONING (BOOK THREE)
THE RECKONING (BOOK THREE)
THE RECKONING (BOOK THREE)
GenTech Corporation scours the wastelands, desperate to reclaim the last living trees from the young thieves who stole them. But Banyan no longer has the trees he and his friends smuggled south. Hunted and betrayed, he must trust in strangers as he tries to find his old friend Crow and gather feuding tribes together in preparation for war . As the battle for the trees begins, Banyan is reunited with the girl who always gave him hope, but he finds Alpha has changed in ways he’d never imagined. And when they embark upon a final journey to Vega with the goal of taking down GenTech forever, Banyan must choose between fighting for a conflicted world or saving the lives of the people he loves.
This action-packed final chapter of the ROOTLESS trilogy races toward a conclusion as emotional as it is epic—shocking, original, and darkly beautiful, brought to vivid life by Howard’s stunning prose and "gift for the phantasmagoric" (Kirkus).