Saved by a hologram

Shade’s Children by Gath Nix

Nix, Garth. 1997. Shade's children. New York: HarperCollins. 0064471969. $5.95. Paperback.

Annotation:
In a frightening future world where all of the adults have disappeared, four children fight terrifying creatures and their Overlord masters with the help of Shade, a holographic image of a man.

Awards and Reviews:
YALSA Best Books for Young Adults, 1998
Booklist Review (10-1-1997)
Kirkus Review (8-15-1997)

In the frightening future world of Shade’s Children, on your 14th birthday you literally lose your mind. The alien Overlords come to the dormitories where they keep children and take you away to harvest your brain and body parts. They will use them to create the inhuman creatures they use to wage ritual battles among themselves. Fifteen years ago everyone in the world over that age of fourteen disappeared, leaving the children who remained at the mercy of the Overlords.

But some children manage to escape the dormitories and this terrible fate. If they find their way to Shade, an intelligent holographic image of a man, he will protect them and teach them to fight the creatures. But is Shade really helping them or does he have his own cruel agenda to follow?

Book cover image from WorldCat
http://www.worldcat.org/