A nonbinary teen in a remarkably homey post-apocalyptic lakeside town must destroy the monster stalking them in Cale Plett's sophomore YA novel, the fierce and haunting The Saw Mouth.
Ten years ago, the "chopped" up and "sewn together" souls of machines awoke in pain, destroying themselves and the world around them. Survivors, like thoughtful dreamer Cedar, call the event Autumn. Most remaining technology is analog and inert, but newer tech that was "used for a more devious purpose" woke "ashamed," "less stable," and eager to punish humanity. ("Almost every smartphone went faulty.") After a decade of survival with their mother, tragedy strikes, and Cedar has to move in with their grandma in the ground-down town of Sawblade Lake. Cedar befriends other teens including makeshift sheriff Morgyn, siblings-by-choice Ada and Papercut, and effervescent busybody Lucy. But as Cedar attempts to settle in, even juggling two crushes, something is killing the residents of Sawblade. It is ultimately up to Cedar to reckon with the grief that brought them to town, draw on their own grit, and trust their friends' devotion to destroy the monster.
Plett (Wavelength) develops a world where machines thirst for blood and the surviving humans have largely shrugged off transphobia. In its place, there is comfort and ease in the characters approach to gender--Cedar is "a lanky teenage enby having a femme day"; Ada uses she/they pronouns--that gives trans and ally readers a soft landing. The Saw Mouth offers messy yearning, sensitively rendered trauma, a creeping atmosphere of dread, and an affectionate treatment of analog technology--like pressing cassette tapes into a crush's hands. --Ari Mackoff, bookseller