"There's tons of stuff in Hex to get excited about if you're a fan of science fiction, pacy thrillers and absorbing characters. Rhiannon Lassiter wrote this, her first novel, when she was 17--but it doesn't show. The writing is crisp, the narrative engrossing, and the atmospheric vision of a world capital city in the late 21st Century is scarily believable. Raven is a young, black-clad teenage youth of the future, born with a mutant gene that affords her an incredible power--the ability to control computer networks by thought alone. As a "Hex" she can interface with machinery, reach out to explore remote databases anywhere on the planet and break through security codes with the flick of a neural pathway. Unfortunately, in the high-rise London of 2367, such powers are considered freakish in the extreme and these Hexes are hunted down with startling brutality.

Raven--on the run, aloof and seemingly without passion--is contacted by her brother, Wraith. He's looking for their younger sister who has been captured by the authorities and who is currently the subject of wicked experimentation. Together they must evade capture, recruit a motley crew to help them break their sibling out from a top secret test centre--and stay alive. It's a tough mission, but they're prepared to die trying. And, judging by the security they must evade to reach her, they might have to.

Hex explores some wonderful concepts and introduces a world full of new ideas, words, gadgets and surprises--and is just the first part of a highly accomplished trilogy of Sci-fi thrillers. Hex: Shadows and especially Hex: Ghosts are both worth reading as well to complete the Hex experience. Age 11 plus."

"There's nothing quite like a good read to keep you entertained over the long summer T2's. Damian Kelleher and Tony Bradman check out a few of the best books around.

If you'd like to meet a character who gives Lara Croft a run for her money, then check out this thrill a minute cross between Terminator II and Blade Runner. Raven is a 'hex', a 23rd century mutant who uses her mind to hack into computers - which doesn't go down well with the government. When Raven's sister is captured, she, her brother Wraith, and several heavily-armed companions set off to rescue her. Stirring stuff that'll keep you on the edge of your seat and make you eager for the sequel Hex: Shadows."

"I'm not usually keen on science fiction, but was fascinated by Hex. In the twenty-third century, the cities have grown upwards for easons of overcrowding and safety. Rhiannon Lassiter's story opens with the hero, Wraith, piloting his flitter among the builsings two miles above London. Up is safe, at ground level are the dangerous dregs. His sister, Raven, is a hex - a human with a mutant gene who has a dangerous affinity to computers and can mentally hack into them. Hexes are pariahs and hunted down, so she keeps her gifts secret. They are looking for their younger sister who has been fostered and abducted, and their journey takes them through a society that is familiar in its structure and its values, but alien in its surroundings. Lassiter wrote this book when she was 17, and her fresh approach and presentation of her teenage subjects are excellent."

"Hex by Rhiannon Lassiter shows a considerable narrative authority and a real flair for atmosphere. In a dystopian furure where outlaw mutants can interact telepathically with computers, a totalitarian government is intent on destroying them - and worse. The dark landscapes are well evoked and the characters briskly realised."

"Fantasy is often bracketed with science fition and Rhiannon Lassiter's Hex is certainly mainsteam, dystopian-future SF. Raven is a 'hex', a 23rd century teen, who, because of a genetic mutation, has inherited the ability to access computer systems with her mind. But children like her are hunted down and exterminated by the authorities.

"Science fiction addicts will also enjoy Hex by Rhiannon Lassiter, about people who can communicate directly with computers, travelling the networks at will. They are viewed as dangerous outlaws and some of them are used for revolting, sadistic experiments.The narrative is complicated... but it moves, and the main 'Hex' - oddly unpredictable Raven - is a memorable character."

"Rhiannon Lassiter wrote Hex when she was 17. It too deals with fantasy, this time describing 23rd-century London as an unpleasant place, jutting five miles in the sky and ruled by an evil oligarchy. Its only challenge comes from those few citizens born with special powers to gain access to all computer systems - an apt symbol for children today - often bewilderingly far ahead of their parents in information technology..."

...she tells a convincing, pacey, story, and ... could become a author of distinction.

"Hex, a riveting first novel from Rhiannon Lassiter, is being energetically marketed on the basis that it was writen when the author was 17 (she is now 21). The book is eminently worthy of the publisher's excitement. Its science fiction setting - in the 23rd century - is both familiar and fantastic. London has grown into a grotesque five-mile-high city. Lassiter's movement of her characters about this landscape in 'flitters' and 'skimmers' will appeal to lovers of high velocity video games. But the novel has more than special effects.

There is a compulsive page-turning narrative that invoves the rescue of a younger sister from a research laboratory, complete with a shoot-em-up finale and a satisfying resolution. Because it is essentially a first-rate action thriller, Hex wil appeal to those whose tastes don't normally include science fiction."

"A first novel written when the author was 17, Hex is a pacey, sci-fi adventure thriller, both engrossingly written and confidently plotted. It is at the same time a metaphor for the way societies so often deal with those who are different. Set in the 23rd century, it focuses on Wraith and his sister Raven, a girl with mutant gene that enables her to interact with computers. 'Hexes', as they are known, are being either exterminated or used for gruesome medical experiments. Wraith and Raven discover that their younger sister has been taken away, suspected of being a Hex and they are determined to rescue her, if she is still alive.

The book has a bleak edge to it - one Hex who is unmasked finds that her own father is suddenly afraid of her and there are unbearable descriptions of tortured children for whom there is to be no miraculous rescue - the prison that holds them is blown up. Within the conventions of the genre which allows for rather representational characterisation, this darker element is perhaps less troubling than it might have been.

Nevertheless, this book is a considerable debut from a young writer from whom there will clearly be much to look foward to."

"The genres of science fiction and fantasy may be in decline in books for adults, but this is not the case in children's books, where imaginative new worlds continue to be created.
Hex by Rhiannon Lassiter.

When this book appeared in hardback last year, reviewers gave it an universal thumbs up. Now available in paperback, even more readers will judge for themselves why this debut novel from a young British writer has excited so many people. Set in 24th century London, the story centres on Raven - a mutant human known as a Hex. She is one of an endangered species, a strain of humans whose genetically altered brains give them the power to contro computers with their minds. her gift has become a curse, and now her kind has been outlawed. Raven's mission is the search for her younger sister, Rachel, also a Hex, who has been taken to a government research laboratory. Fast-moving sci-fi thriller that parallels todays concerns about meddling with the gene pool."

"The big idea in Hex, Rhiannon Lassiter's first Sci-fi thriller is a strong one. Raven is a teenage "Hex" with a mutant gene that gives her the ability to interface the World Wide Web in the 24th Century--without a modem. She's persuaded by her brother into attempting to rescue their younger sister whose own Hexabilities have landed her in trouble.

Here, in the sequel, Raven is still lurking in the shadows of the gangland underworld of the future and her team of Hexes, family and friends are in hiding. Only when some anti-government terrorists seek them out and suggest a pact, does purpose return to their lives again and the sparks begin to fly. A fatal mistake by Raven forces the two groups to join forces sooner than they had anticipated. This time, there is a rescue attempt of a very different nature. The stakes are higher and the target even more dangerous.

Set a year after the initial drama, the story never quite hits the same heights despite containing more than enough action and suspense. Stranded between the highly acclaimed original novel and Hex: Ghosts, the excellent concluding book in her Hex sequence, Hex: Shadows loses much without the vivid background detail and imaginative scene-setting contained in the first instalment.

However, the Hex experience would definitely be incomplete without this book now that the trilogy is complete. Hex: Shadows should not be overlooked. It develops the characters further, tempts the reader with more of the deadly machinations of an all-conquering world government and leaves us dangling, tantalisingly close, to the engrossing final act."

"Hex: Shadows, by Rhiannon Lassiter, is a sequel to the same author's Hex. Raven, a feisty cybernaut, returns to lead a crop of 24th century, genetically modified teenagers with superhuman minds in their struggle against the might of the European Federation. Strong on plot and action, this is developing into an impressive series."

"Rhiannon Lassiter received rave reviews for her debut novel Hex, the first of three futuristic thrillers, and deservedly so. It was imaginative, energetic and bolstered by a rare "keenness of spirit" that made up for any loss of narrative pace through writing inexperience. Hex: Ghosts follows on from the sequel Hex: Shadows and completes the trilogy with style, delivering a satisfying conclusion to a substantial tale with almost as much verve as was evident in the original.

Hexes are individuals born with the mutant Hex gene that allows them to interface, hands-free, with computer technology and the awesome, all-encompassing World Wide Web. A clever skill--but in the year 2371 it's an illegal one.

Here, the queen of all such rebels is the black-haired, black-clad Raven who, together with her swelling group of family, friends and Hex buddies, occupies a terrorist fortress amidst the scariest and darkest London city levels. They are fastidiously preparing for attack. On one hand, they plan to deliver the Hex population to power and overthrow the European Federation Government. On the other, they must defend themselves against a final assault that could mean the end of their kind for ever. The key to success of both aims lies in Italy where a disk containing vital Hex historical data lies in the fragile hands of two young sibling Hexes who do not realise their perilous position.

Hex: Ghosts is a meaty story with a large cast of characters that together grapple with no less a subject than the future of the world. It's ambitious and highly readable, and disappointing only in that the book is too short. (Age 11 and over)"