Shade's Children
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Shade's Children is a young adult science fiction/fantasy novel written by Garth Nix. It was published in 1997 by HarperCollins. The cover art was designed and made by Elliot Earls. Image:Shade's Children.jpg
The story takes place in a grim future where no adults exist and children rarely live above the age of fourteen. Evil Overlords control the earth, and use the bodies and brains of fourteen-year-old humans to create mutant armies to battle for their amusement and competition. A group of humans have developed unique powers that have evolved over years, they use these to escape from the Dormitories that the Overlords raise them in. The uploaded consciousness of an adult known as "Shade" recruits the survivors and leads them in the fight against the Overlords. The children regard Shade as a hero, but respect turns to hatred when they are betrayed by Shade's plan to become human again before defeating the Overlords.
When a child grows to the age of 14 in the dormitories they are taken away to a large factory known as the "Meat Factory". Here they are stored for a short time before being dissected and having their various body parts used in the creation of the various creatures owned by the overlords.
Small silvery orbs are implanted in to the creatures. The orbs supress the human brain's higher functions and act as a form of mind control. The orbs also enable the creatures to have superhuman powers such as flight or extremely sensetive hearing. The orbs draw power from radiation given off by transmitters which are usually placed within the overlord's immediate power bases.