Dark Parts of the Universe by Samuel Miller

Dark Parts of the Universe by Samuel Miller. Katherine Tegen Books/Harper Collins, 2024. 9780063160484

Rating: 1-5 (5 is an excellent or a Starred review) 5

Format: Hardcover

Genre: Realistic fiction

What did you like about the book? At the age of five Willie was shot in the eye by his brother Bones (three years older) with a loaded, unsecured gun of his father’s.  Willie lost the eye but did not breathe for five minutes.  He became known as the “miracle boy”.  Now he is 15 and Bones, who is 18, is graduating from high school.  Bones has always seen himself as Willie’s protector (ordered to be by his father).  They live in a small town in Missouri called Calico Springs which was built on the banks of a river.  When Willie hears of a new phone app., Manifest Atlas, that is said to grant your intention once plugged in to the app. he decides to try it.  He types in SEE MY FUTURE.  The app. lights up with a red dot showing where Willie needs to go.  What Willie finds are three graves which he thinks makes sense: he will die one day.  He tells Bones, their friend Rodney, Joe Kelley, the mayor’s son, and Sarai about the Game.  Sarai (a Black girl who lives in Calico Springs with her mother, step-father who is White and little sister) chooses the “intention”: SOMETHING BLOODY.  The red dot appears on the old broken-down mill.  Sarai and Willie are the only two of the group willing to wade across the river to the mill.  And there they do find a bloody dead body who turns out to be Sarai’s step-father!  There is an awful lot going on in this absolutely intriguing story that is built upon the history of Calico Springs which was founded by Blacks who were forced out by Whites to settle across the river in Lawton.  It was leave or die.

Now a merger of the two towns is being planned which many of the residents of Calico Springs do not want.  You will absolutely not be bored by this story which has a problem being placed in a single genre.  Realistic?  Contemporary?  Historical? Mystery?  The author concludes with a bit of history of “Sundown Towns”, places that were built by Blacks who were then forced out of them by Whites.  He found nearly a thousand.

Anything you did not like about the book? No.

To whom would you recommend this book? For high school teens and adults who want to read something very original.

Who should buy this book? Public and high school libraries

Where would you shelve it? YA fiction

Should we (librarians) put this on the top of our “to read” piles? Yes.

Reviewer’s Name, Library (or school), City: Katrina Yurenka, Retired Librarian, Contributor, Youth Services Book Review

Date of Review:  May 20, 2024