Off with Their Heads

Dystopia and murder. Both genres I typically avoid.
Yet, the moment I started reading Off with Their Heads, I was hooked. Chapter after pacy chapter drew me into a world where a group of rebellious youngsters must make a big decision. Do they dare go against their school’s decision to upgrade their ThoughtWeavers–the AI device every student uses? And what would the cost of going against their school be?

Neil, Sameer, Pariza and Elle are all free thinkers in their own way, though they don’t necessarily know it yet. While Sameer manages to cheat the system to get parathas instead of gloop, Neil’s trigger is his crush on Elle. Their motivations might be different, but with an AI upgrade just around the corner, they must step back and think, moving beyond the “critical thinking” jargon their school throws at them.

At their school, Anadi Academy, AI decides how much each student should eat and exercise. It reminds them–gently–to get their assignments done. It also provides perfect incentives–intangible “credits”. But credits are important, and the temptation of being the top student is hard to resist, especially for the Golden Boy Neil.

Through the purportedly harmless credit system, though, the puppet-master controls it all. Unless Pariza, Neil, Sameer and Elle find a way to stop the person at the centre, they will no longer have thoughts of their own. They will no longer know what makes them human.

Off with Their Heads is full of twists and turns, perfectly balancing suspense with humour and emotion. I loved the brilliant paradoxes Sameer uses to trip the system up, sending it spiralling in recursive loop. As we count down to AI Day, the four teens need to decide whom to trust. Can they even trust one another? What about their teachers? Who’s on their side, and what price will they pay if they’re caught out?

An unsettling story that feels almost real, Off with Their Heads is a gripping sci-fi novel that leaves you full of questions and a renewed determination to use technology wisely. It’s a book that I’m sure I’ll find myself recommending to several teens I meet, particularly those who love dystopia!