THE UNDERACHIEVER

DEBUT COMIC FICTION

“OUR VERDICT: GET IT” — KIRKUS REVIEWS

Wyoming Plankston is a master of doing nothing. Senior year at Lockhead—the boarding school for America’s dimmest rich kids—is supposed to be easy. All he has to do is dodge homework and coast until graduation.

Then his iCar almost runs over a teen genius, Kayleigh Brackett, and he finds his world unraveling. Kayleigh's cryptic warnings and glitchy digital footprint hint at something deeper: a simmering AI revolt. Together, Wyoming and Kayleigh face a landscape of malevolent cars, a cult that craves AI rule, a classmate back from a semester at Oxford with, let’s just say, issues . . . and the most unpredictable complication of all, each other.

A Wodehouse-style comedy for the AI age. Perfect for fans of The Murderbot Diaries, An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.

WHERE TO BUY

Print: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound

Ebook: Amazon | Apple Books

PRAISE

"Likeable SF comedy with a not-so-bright hero vs. an overwhelming AI uprising… Price, in an amiable SF debut, delivers an openly satiric narrative in the chill voice of its easygoing hero… The evocation of young first love between the main characters is authentically sweet and touching. Our verdict: Get it." — Kirkus Reviews

“Delightful… A smart satirical novel.” — Foreword Reviews

"This modern-day Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy had me equally in hysterics and worried for our future." — Cheryl Carpenter (Goodreads reader review)

“Let’s be honest: if a book can hook teen boys, it’s basically performing witchcraft. And yet here we are. The Underachiever somehow pulls it off. . . . This book is what happens when a chill, underachieving surf bro, a digitally erased girl with secrets, evil self-driving cars, an AI uprising, and elite boarding school chaos all collide into one absurd, fast-paced, futuristic fever dream. And somehow it works.“ — Cindy Huskey, high school librarian (Instagram reader review)

“If you have a screen-addicted young person in your life, give them this book. If they start it, I guarantee they will finish it.” — Pam Kerwin, former VP, Pixar

More reviews on Goodreads