An Un-Calibrated Centrifuge

I was intrigued by the synopsis on the back. The book isn't bad, but I wouldn't say it's great either.

It's pretty white-centric. I spent a lot of the first two chapters reading the characters as Black (wishful thinking on my part), until it's sort of made clear that they're all white. There are the unnecessary inclusions of "Indian Chief pads" and a bar called "the Wig Wam."

Holt also uses the term nippy, but that's more a personal pet peeve of mine (chilly works just as fine and doesn't sound like a racial slur... especially since there are Japanese characters in the last three chapters of the book).

Kyle and his sister Emma are both hafu, so of course one of them has dark hair and light eyes (Emma is described as having black hair and green eyes). This isn't a problem in and of itself since genes can present in unusual ways in halfie/mixed kids, but it's really annoying when almost every representation of an Asian half/mixed kid in lit is portrayed as having dark hair and light eyes. A much more common combination is a kid with light brown hair and brown eyes who is often seen as white (or sometimes latinx) before they're recognized as Asian (if they're ever recognized as Asian).

These are small things that impacted my enjoyment of the story. Otherwise it's pretty average MG fiction. I probably won't pick this one up again.