by Cory Doctorow; a sequel to "Little Brother."
These are his first attempts at ya fiction; I read a lot of ya to keep up with my students.
I don't really consider either one of these truly "YA;" they fall into that category because the protagonist is, in the first novel, in high school, and in the second novel, a year or two out of high school. The subject matter is purely political, with a strong dose of techno-geek that the author spends a lot of time explaining. Even with all that explanation, they are both riveting, and the real-world correlations are frankly horrifying.
It's also satisfying for me, because the protagonist and his friends are not fucking centrist/neoliberal or right-wing; the antagonists are.
In the first book, a 2nd terrorist attack happens in San Francisco, and homeland security swoops in with an authoritarian lockdown, citizens disappear and are tortured, and the protagonist gets caught up in the action. In the book I'm currently reading, he's getting involved with an independent campaign while his past problems with homeland security come back to haunt him.
I highly recommend both.
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