I recall liking this better the first time around, but it's still pretty good. Written in first-person, it takes a little getting used to: Candy writes in her journal in shorthand, so we're reading it without much sentence structure, missing pronouns et al. It's a cool hook though. Candy is a great kick-ass 11 year old, believable as a genius, although I suspect you don't want to look too closely at her karate abilities. Adam is not as well defined, but still okay; Candy runs into another couple of believable characters. It does not devolve into evil overlords and cannibalism, a nice refreshing change from most post-apoc books. And so if the last third of the book gets more than a little silly - I could have done without the telepathy, frankly - it's still worthwhile reading. A gripe - my copy published in 1990 has a BOY'S face on the cover!! Fer cryin' out loud, Bantam...
