If you like it, support the author.
 
http://www.amazon.com/Shades-Children-Garth-Nix/dp/B00BJEA5J2/
 
http://www.audible.com/pd?asin=B00BOWT1GW


Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
In the brutal world of Shade's Children, your 14th birthday is your last. Malevolent Overlords rule the earth, directing hideous, humanoid creatures to harvest the brains and muscles of teens for use in engineering foul beasts to fight senseless wars. Young Gold-Eye escapes this horrific fate, fleeing the dormitories before his Sad Birthday. He is rescued from certain doom by other refugees who live in an abandoned submarine and work for Shade, a strange, computer-generated adult. Shade provides food and shelter in exchange for information that the children gather on dangerous forays into Overlord territory. But what does Shade really want? He is a sworn enemy of the Overlords, but his use of the children to gain knowledge and power seems uncaring and ruthless. Finally, Gold-Eye and his new friends set out to destroy the Overlords--with or without the enigmatic, dangerous Shade. Garth Nix, author of Sabriel, blends suspense, action, and high emotion in this excellent, fast-moving science-fiction story. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Publishers Weekly
Earth has been taken over by the terrible Overlords in this "amply imagined" science fiction/quest story, said PW. "The twists and turns of the action-filled plot are compelling." Ages 12-up. (Oct.) r
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.



If youΓÇÖre lucky, you live to fight another day.

In a futuristic urban wasteland, evil Overlords have decreed that no human shall live a day past their 14th birthday. On that Sad Birthday, the children of the Dorms are taken to the Meat Factory, where they will be made into creatures whose sole purpose is to kill.

The mysterious Shade - once a man but now more like the machines he fights - recruits the few teenagers who escape into a secret resistance force. With luck, cunning, and skill, four of ShadeΓÇÖs children come closer than the others to discovering the source of the OverlordsΓÇÖ power - and the key to their downfall. But the closer they get, the more ruthless Shade seems to become.

©1997 Garth Nix (P)2013 AudioGO