2021/035: In Other Lands -- Sarah Rees Brennan

2021/035: In Other Lands -- Sarah Rees Brennan

“We’re shown all this stuff we were trained to want, shown the great adventure, and we jump at it like the dazzled fools we are. We’re too young to know any better, to know that we won’t triumph and be heroes, that we won’t be returned to the other world as if no time had passed, that the lies in the stories aren’t about mermaids or unicorns or harpies—the lies are about us. The lies are that we might be good enough, and we might get out." [loc 3840]

Elliot Schafer is thirteen when, on a 'school trip', he turns out to be able to see things that his classmates can't perceive, and is invited to continue his education in the Borderlands. Elliot is short, red-haired, prickly, and intelligent. As many of us can attest, these would not confer benefits in the contemporary world -- and they don't magically make him popular or successful in the Borderlands, either. ( no major spoilers )