Erased by Sebastian Kilex is a science fiction YA novel with plenty of twists and mystery to keep you entertained for hours. The story centers around Lucy, a nineteen-year-old living in Cyclopia. Cyclopia is a vast graveyard of discarded civilization built on a planet stripped bare by ecological collapse. Like everyone else, Lucy’s emotions and memories are controlled by a device called the Skelyx. But after a fall in the dangerous underground wasteland, her Skelyx breaks, allowing her to feel and remember for the first time. When she’s reassigned to the Fields, she learns that her best friend 9 will be left behind for being “too human.” Recognizing that being broken is her key to survival, Lucy must uncover the terrifying truth about her world by infiltrating The Oracle and adopting the enemy's identity, a choice that will determine the fate of two worlds. Can Lucy discover the truth about her world before it is too late?

Author Sebastian Kilex created a terrifyingly believable world where the human mind is controlled to keep a tight grip on people’s memories and emotions. I loved how Cyclopia feels chillingly real, a monument to ecological ruin and technological dominance. I also loved Lucy and her courage. Her awakening from the fog of Skelyx is liberating. It felt very satisfying and exciting, making her journey relatable. She is the type of protagonist that readers root for and feel a connection with. The depiction of a future with emotional suppression and the cost of freedom is scary, to say the least. The more power we give to AI, the more horrible it will become. Erased is a gripping story that successfully appeals to both young adult and adult readers. I highly recommend it to readers who enjoy high-intensity, action-packed stories that simply consume them.

In Sebastian Kilex’s Erased, you are transported to a future ravaged by environmental collapse and under the strict rule of The Oracle, where technology permeates every aspect of life. The story follows Lucy, who, after a near-fatal accident in the vast landfill of Cyclopia, begins to experience destabilizing dreams—memories that she shouldn’t have. With her closest friends, Isa, Tegan, and 9, Lucy navigates a world where every citizen is monitored and implanted Skelyx devices curate memories. Follow her through a forced displacement and her startling discovery about 9 and Zet, the conflicted Cyclopia supervisor. As Lucy unravels the truth about her origins, the sinister purpose of Skelyx, and the Oracle’s plan to erase and exploit humanity’s emotional core, she and her allies must rebel, risking everything for autonomy, identity, and love. What chances of survival do they have?

Erased will prompt you to consider the control that is already being exerted around the world, and the author is a master at exploring memory, identity, and the boundaries of humanity in a dystopian landscape. The setting is richly imagined: Cyclopia is a grotesque monument to human waste, while Fields and the 7th Quarter evoke hope and oppression under a veneer of pastoral order. The main characters—Lucy, 9, and Zet—are well-sketched, their trauma and grit echoing the book’s central questions: What does it mean to be human when your memories and emotions are programmed, altered, or erased? Sebastian Kilex’s world is populated by complex female characters whose bonds of friendship, guilt, and forgiveness drive the emotional energy of the narrative. I loved the way the author writes about the ethics of control, the cost of conformity, and the subversive power of love and memory. I felt transported into a bleak world by the cinematic writing, vivid imagery, and relentless drama.