Porcupines in My Pants and Other Craziness

Life's going to be easy...said no one ever.

Especially for a PlayStation-loving twelve-year-old in a futuristic city.

Being twelve matters. Because that's when I am packed off by the Council on a hardcore, muscle-numbing strugglethon across the five Thinais – the treacherous hills, fatiguing fields, muddy mangroves, dry desert lands and dense forests – to come out shining…or whining. The latter is more my style.

It's me against Nature. Me versus wild animals. Me against who-knows-what-lurks. Me versus Me. Get the picture?