It’s the year 2124, and Lee Urban is just about to start her undergraduate degree at Peking University. She lives in a world where the elite are genetically enhanced before they are born and one’s social scores (or “sosh” online) affect what they can access—whether it’s housing, groceries, or public transport. However, Urban is not enhanced. She was adopted by the wealthy Lee household and has had no upgrades to her DNA. Her adoptive family and natural boyfriend have kept this fact under wraps, but this will become more difficult once she moves into a dorm and has to compete with other enhanced students in classes. To top it all off, someone knows her secret; and they are sending strange, possibly-threatening messages.

In author Candace Kade’s ENHANCED, the upper-class world is further divided into levels based on actual social media activity. Most of her peers have landing pages, digital avatars, and content such as vlogs. They must make documented appearances at social events, as well as try to link up and be photographed (snapped) with important influencers or Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) to increase their sosh and reach even greater heights of exclusivity. To convince her parents to let her pursue her dream career, the heroine must somehow raise her own sosh to impossible levels.

It is rare to come across a YA dystopia with future worldbuilding so firmly and plausibly set in the present we see around us. Kade’s vision of the technology available in the next century provides a fascinating backdrop for the action taking place. For example, handheld devices are no longer in use. Instead, retinal displays in contact lenses allow everyone to access the QuanNao (this world’s version of the internet), various digital applications, and virtual spaces where they work and socialize.

The enhanced boast all kinds of qualities: increased strength, intelligence, size, as well as better immunity and physical features. Many also have abilities that let them fly, hide using camouflage, and breathe underwater. The author does a great job of making all this believable, as well as injecting a sense of secrecy and tension in the narrative while the main character constantly looks over her shoulder and tries to participate in advanced studies (and dangerous pastimes) alongside classmates with unfair genetic advantages. The furious pacing does feel rushed in places, but it would be difficult to fit so much world-building in so few pages without it.

Intricately constructed and incredibly layered, ENHANCED by Candace Kade will suck readers in, taking them on a thrilling ride through a terrifying future that looks far too familiar for comfort.

~Sakina Hassan for IndieReader