Review: Raven (Cinzento Academy Book 1) by Sue Loh

Breaking through a corporate firewall and getting chastised by Mom for not eating enough fruit can both happen in the span of an afternoon in Raven, the first book of Sue Loh’s Cinzento Academy series. When a ragtag team of virus-hunting geniuses is presented with a challenge that may exceed any of their individual skillsets, they will have to redefine teamwork and put their strange minds to the task.

The Cinzento Academy is an elite school for brilliant tech minds – a “Home for Wayward But Brainy Boys and Girls.” Fireball, a whip-smart 16-year-old, along with an eccentric team of other coding castaways, are the whiz kids of the future, working as consultants and online security personnel, but also making sure to keep their grades up. Noob, Whiz, Cricket, Scrappy, Books, and the rest of the colorful cast bring every page to life with their quirky personalities and perpetual precocity.

It’s an unusual premise, but one that readers can immediately immerse themselves in, thanks to the lively prose and barrage of modern cyber language. While YA literature is often rife with children outsmarting or outmaneuvering the schemes of adults, rarely are their interactions in such an academic sphere. The conversations are overflowing with 21st century jargon and high-tech complexities, some of which readers may need to look up to piece together certain segments of the plot. This creates an engaging dynamic, one where readers inherently trust these young brainiacs, and defer to their authority, as we normally do with older protagonists.

The parallels to other school-based young adult stories are obvious, but the story manages to still be intensely unique and compelling. It doesn’t rise to the level of “Harry Potter with coding,” but it is a refreshing take on a familiar structure, and one that has a gripping relationship to real technology, as opposed to magic or superpowers. As such, the book is at its best when these young heroes must take their heroism into the real world, and solve the mystery of their newest member, a 17-year-old orphan. Tangible threats blend seamlessly with online action in this undeniably engrossing read.

Some of the plot points feel clumsily connected, while other breakthroughs are overly convenient, but the arc of the story is entertaining and creatively executed. The target audience is hard to pin down, however, as the language commonly used is quite advanced, while the linguistic complexity of dialogue is less so. This makes for an interesting juxtaposition of adult problems with childish behavior, but there is something of an incongruity between the book’s ideas and interaction.

On a more technical side, the writing does have a number of sloppy sections, where points are reiterated unnecessarily, or words are used redundantly. Additionally, some of the characters seem to fade into the background as the story progresses, and their individual personalities begin to blur, and the narration can be too suggestive, robbing the reader of the chance for genuine discovery.

As a whole, Raven is a wonderfully original tale with memorable characters set in an innovative world, making it a solid foundation for a standout YA series.