If you liked The Lightning Thief, if you liked Twilight, and if you liked Roar (by Emma Clayton) you will probably like this new action/adventure/science fiction by Kat Falls. Ty and his family live in a world after the eastern seaboard has slid into the ocean because of global warming and the destruction of the Ozone layer. Most people left on the earth are crammed into very densely populated apartment buildings, and it is hard to grow food because of intensified UV rays. A few people have started colonizing the ocean floor and developing aqua agriculture. Ty's family are some of the early settlers of the ocean floor and his parents helped design the jellyfish like homes the settlers live in. The settlements are being terrorized by a group of underwater pirates, and at the same time Ty finds a Topside girl, Gemma, who has come to the settlement looking for her lost brother. Ty and Gemma become friends and Ty helps Gemma learn the ways of the settlement and unravel the mystery of her lost brother. Their search is hampered by the pirates who are becoming increasingly bold in their attacks, and by the commonwealth who are threatening to shut down the settlement unless they stop the pirates. One of the cool things about the book is that Falls makes the descriptions of the underwater settlements amazingly believable. I am sure a marine biologist would find lots of faults, but the lay reader is totally transported into another world. The final action sequence is very intense, and the relationship between Gemma and Ty is a fun little romance. This is great for either boys or girls, about 6th grade and up. (297 p.)
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Dark Life by Kat Falls
If you liked The Lightning Thief, if you liked Twilight, and if you liked Roar (by Emma Clayton) you will probably like this new action/adventure/science fiction by Kat Falls. Ty and his family live in a world after the eastern seaboard has slid into the ocean because of global warming and the destruction of the Ozone layer. Most people left on the earth are crammed into very densely populated apartment buildings, and it is hard to grow food because of intensified UV rays. A few people have started colonizing the ocean floor and developing aqua agriculture. Ty's family are some of the early settlers of the ocean floor and his parents helped design the jellyfish like homes the settlers live in. The settlements are being terrorized by a group of underwater pirates, and at the same time Ty finds a Topside girl, Gemma, who has come to the settlement looking for her lost brother. Ty and Gemma become friends and Ty helps Gemma learn the ways of the settlement and unravel the mystery of her lost brother. Their search is hampered by the pirates who are becoming increasingly bold in their attacks, and by the commonwealth who are threatening to shut down the settlement unless they stop the pirates. One of the cool things about the book is that Falls makes the descriptions of the underwater settlements amazingly believable. I am sure a marine biologist would find lots of faults, but the lay reader is totally transported into another world. The final action sequence is very intense, and the relationship between Gemma and Ty is a fun little romance. This is great for either boys or girls, about 6th grade and up. (297 p.)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I just finished reading this book and I enjoyed it very much. I agree that the underwater world that Kat Falls created was fascinating. While the main characters were interesting and well developed, and the action was well paced, it really was the underwater world that she created that was most interesting to me.
ReplyDelete