A Perfect Blank

by Rye Duran

Project Apogee had one mission: to create biologically engineered perfect teenagers. The teenagers were supposed to be expressions of a perfect genetic mapping of traits, an example of the New Human. But when the teens go before the project committee, they are found to be utterly normal and unremarkable, a disappointment. Then there's Alex, the lost teen who failed years ago, who might just be the most remarkable of them all.

Genres: Young Adult, Poetry, Science Fiction, Teen, Ebooks

200 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 2020

About the author

Rye Duran is a trans writer and multidisciplinary artist from Atlanta, Georgia. Duran studied creative writing at University of Massachusetts Amherst and has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. Duran's fabulist hybrid-genre work has appeared in Ninth Letter, Salt Hill, and Bat City Review. Favorite authors include Octavia Butler and Matthew Salesses.

Reviews

[Claude's Bookzone · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well that was an unusual experience.

I have read a lot of verse novels but this is my first in the scifi/dystopia genre. I finished this a few days ago but haven't quite worked out how to review it. I liked what there was of it, but there was so little. There was hardly any information given about the world at all. That being said, I am pleased to have discovered this as I think the simple language and high interest topic will suit teens that are in the early stages of their reading journey. Just okay for me.

[Kayden Bluhm · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book A Perfect Blank by Rye Duran. The book is wonderful at first, the cover doesn’t make sense but the story that is fiction feels real because lab grown people are something we would do at this moment in time but the dialogue makes it feel so real and the main characters like Alex, and the other nines personalities go with the cover and title so people see why its perfect. The way it’s written with spacing like a poem and is spaced so it’s not clumped together and confusing which helps people not get lost and make the lines look like a poem it also lets you read quickly. The dialogue also connects with the reader with thoughtful background and great descriptions of the settings and what the lab is about and how they get around. Overall the book is great, and I would read it over and over again.

[Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very easy to finish, not just because it was in verse but because it hooked you in. It's starts out explaining the Ten woth Project Apogee, and being introduced to Alex. You then discover Alex got kicked out do to his leg. However, when Project Apogee goes wrong they need Alex's help again. Alex refused until he discovered the other kids were in danger. He returns just to find out he helped shut them down with the help of the other kids. He just didn't know when he went back. In the end it was a good and fast paced book.

[Cat · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short, thoughtful story in verse about identity and what it means to be "perfect" - almost a bit thought experiment-y with the overview style of the Apogee Project and the time skips. The overly controlling eugenicist is also a transphobe - not shocking, the parents are cool and supportive of their memory-enhanced, maybe magic?, Non-binary child, love that!

[Murray · Rating 3 out of 5]

This High/Low book for Young Adults features Alex who is one of 10 children born and raised to save the human race in a program called Project Apogee. At the age of 7 Alex is sent home because his ability (memory recall) has not developed any further, but when he nears his 16th birthday he is asked to come back because the other nine abilities are no longer working. He initially refuses but a call from one the nine begs him to come back. This novel in verse is a quick read with little character development but High/Low books are designed that way for high interest/low vocabulary. This would make a perfect read for a struggling or reluctant teen reader who has an interest in sci-fi/dystopian type stories.

[Thomasin Propson · Rating 4 out of 5]

“I didn’t
hate them.


I just wanted
to belong
to myself.
I wanted
to love
what I love. ”


A sci-fi story about Alex who was created within a secret government lab, engineered to be one of ten “perfect” babies. Alex is kicked out of the program as not good enough, at least, until they are asked back years later; something has gone very wrong with the other teens.

It’s a story about love and acceptance, being yourself and doing the right thing even if it’s scary. Our protagonist is lovable and believable—you want Alex to be safe and succeed and you worry about those running the program and of what they are capable.

I like the short, titled chapters and the free verse format—makes it an easy book to tote around during summer trips to pick up and put down again after just a bite sized piece and yet still follow the story.

West 44 Books (an imprint of Enslow Publishing) publishes free verse, hi-lo stories: a brilliant and new-to-me style of book that is high interest, low vocab/reading skill, so regardless of English language reading level, a teen or adult can enjoy a satisfying story. Accessible to developing or struggling older readers, interesting plots for all reading levels/speeds.

I’d read more from this imprint (curious about some of their other titles after perusing their website) and certainly more from author Rye Duran (whose bio says they are trans, have published “fabulist hybrid-genre” works, and love Octavia Butler).

[TheNextGenLibrarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Perfect Blank by Rye Duran was a fast-paced sci-fi free verse novel that sucked me in from the beginning.
👦🏼
Project Apogee was created to help the planet when disease and lack of food, medicine and money threatened Earth. This secret government agency created 10 perfect children in a lab that would be the future of our planet...only they didn’t account for Alex. They were kicked out of the program years ago when they weren’t found “perfect” in the tests, but when the rest of the teenagers start failing their tests, they reach out to Alex who, surprisingly, might not have been such a failure after all.
👦🏼
I loved the #lgbtq #trans representation in this YA book, as well as the futuristic elements and adventure throughout. Highly recommend!

[Mary Bronson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not much into Sci-Fi, but I highly enjoyed reading this one. This was a book that was written in free verse that follows Alex a boy made in a lab to be part of 10 babies to be made so that these scientist can make the "perfect teenager" each one of them has a special abilities and once they reach a certain age they are adopted into a family and live in the real world, but something goes wrong and Alex who was kicked out of the program needs to come back and help the other 9. I love how this story talks about how having special abilities is not what it is cracked up to be and a lot of them just want to be normal. I also love how Alex uses the pronouns they/them and it is put in a way that flows into the story and it is not forced.

[Tara · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Perfect Blank is a hi-low novel in verse about genetic engineering. Alex is one of the nine, children who were engineered to be perfect and save the world. When the nine suddenly lose their abilities, Alex is accepted back into Project Apogee as the one who can fix everything that went wrong. But Project Apogee isn't what it seems.

A Perfect Blank has a great premise and would do well if it were rewritten with more depth. It wasn't a great topic for a hi-low novel in verse.

[Erin Logan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Project Apogee set out to create 10 perfect humans. A few years into the project, Alex was kicked out for not meeting the standards of the project. What will Alex's life become without the Project? This sci-fi novel in verse was a compelling, fast read, and I'd recommend it to many of my students on my middle school campus.

[Austin]

The writing style of this book is first person. And it is very straight forward and detailed. My favorite character would be Chase. And my least favorite character would definitely Pablo. He was some what mean and wasn't that enjoyable. And this book is also about kids living in a puerto rican city.

[Finley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this book is very amazing in it's own way, it's very unique and I love the fact that Alex is non-binary, and as a person with many issues in life this book helps me escape and imagine what it would be like to be in the moments of the story, it makes me very happy everytime i read it.

[A. Somers · Rating 2 out of 5]

A novel in verse.

[Rylan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book was really good! 4.5 stars. It was a very fast and easy read. The story was a simple an understandable concept. I like this book. I don’t really know what else to say.

[Susan McGilvray · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting sci-fi novel in verse about Alex, an engineered child with cleverness to spare.

[Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't believe in good and evil. I believe in different kinds of scared and who chooses to do what is hard even though it scares them.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dystopian, novel in verse.

[Juilliaunna Martinez · Rating 4 out of 5]

First off, I read this in one sitting and couldn't stop. Second, please read it. It was such an inspiring book and I enjoyed it greatly.

[K.D. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh. So much potential falls flat. Super interesting concept for a dystopian, but there’s so many details lacking. I predict some of my low-level students would enjoy the simplicity of it.

[Julien Guilliams · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think it was a really good book definitely recommend it if you are big into verse novels.

[Cheryl · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think this book missed the mark for me as exciting and suspenseful sci-fi. It was a quick read though and had a bit more depth to it than the surface of the story portrayed, if you read between the lines. It left me feeling kind of blah.

[Diana Gagliardi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting look at interior lives and selves and the exposing of them while dealing with your strengths as "faults" bc they make you different.

Though I HAVE to ask- the entire book talks abt the blue room and Alex's color being BLUE...why why why the orange/warm color cover?! And with a standard male-presenting dressed model?

Sigh.

VERY good, just publishing choices I don't get.

Enjoy!

3/8/24
Reread- hahahahaha! My concern was going to be the very male-coded model on the cover when this teenager should be fem presenting (or in gray if in the control of Apogee). Sigh, not the author's fault.

Enjoy!

[Mandy Macbeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This prose works was interesting. I think there could have been more to it, I think the short length did an injustice because the format and the story where amazing. Perfection and the need to be perfect, as well as the down fall of humanity are some of my favorite topics.