Author: Julie Bertagna
Rating: 4/5
Genre: Science-fiction, dystopia
Recommend To: fans of Insignia
I really liked it! I did indeed. It was really, pure science-fiction and I gloried in the 3-D internet landscapes and floating cities of the future. Mara is a young girl living on a simple farm on an island. The storms rage for days and the water continues to encroach on their land. However, Mara has an escape, a device that transports her to the long dead Weave, staked with information. There she meets a Cyberfox for an instant and decides to prompt her people into leaving the islands before they meet their death. They continue on to New Mungo, a glittering floating city built on the pain of the forgotten.
It's mostly fantastic. The characters are varied and lovable. Mara, the resourceful protagonist; Wing, her little devil savior; Broomielaw, the broken hearted sweetheart; Gorbals, the languishing lovable poet; Candleriggs, the stubborn old lady with a secret past; and Fox, the daring, dashing, tech expert. The names were ridiculous at times, but they're named like that for a reason.
A few things that I have to say threw me for a bit.
1. Sometimes it was hard to picture the setting for me. The original island was simple and the refugee camp was vivid. But the floating city with the wall around it, the tree covered island so close to it? I had a hard time picturing it. The way Mara got in? I didn't really understand it that well. I also didn't understand how the people in the refugee camp wouldn't have seen the construction projects the city was working on. I don't know. Maybe I should have inferred better.
2. I was having issues understanding the Weave and the Noos. I was trying to make it into the equivalent of the internet, but I wasn't sure how it was like an alternate realm with people hunting for information. And then making programs and viruses....maybe the details weren't that important, it didn't really affect the overall story, but it was an obscure concept at best.
3. L'Amour. This was a teeny problem. At first I thought it'd be her friends Rowan, but then I realized it'd be whoever was behind the Cyberfox. It's obviously going be some cute guy, who was smart beyond belief, who would most likely be connected with high up people and with whom I would probably fall in love with. (I'm proud to say I did actually guess all that and it came true.) It was just....rushed. Yeah disappointing to me, I wanted them to meet, but they didn't for 80% of the book. I get why, Mara had to meet the refugees and become attached to them so she would feel compelled to save them. Yeah, but then the instant she meets Fox they fall madly in love? And kiss within a day of meeting each other? Well okay insta-love. Maybe it wouldn't have been so bad, but then they barely even get to know each other! No. NO no nO. I was a fan of Mara and Fox, as far as I am concerned they make an adorable couple who are dedicated to good and saving the world, putting others before themselves. They suit each other, but they should at least FIGURE IT OUT THEMSELVES BY GETTING TO KNOW EACH OTHER. Sigh.
4. It was a bit shocking how easily Bertagna killed off Mara's parents and then had Mara kill Tony Rex. Mara was "devastated" by her family's loss, but I wasn't feeling it. She tried to drown herself, okay. But after that? Eh not much. Barely mentioned. And Tony Rex? We didn't even know if he was a bad guy. I'm sorry but a little silver thing that could possibly have been a weapon, plus a sleazy nature is not enough to justify killing the guy so quickly with so little guilt. She was "wracked" with guilt for like 5 min. Oh well.
So while I may have ranted a bit about the things that bothered me, they only bothered me this much because the rest of the book was so good. Almost as if these things stopped the book from being a perfect science-fiction, romance, kick-butt heroine saves the day kind of book. I could rave about the awesomeness of Mara and how much I want Zapeedos to cruise around New Mungo. How the vicious little urchins captured my heart, and how I wanted to cry when I read about the destruction of the old human world. The museum and the destroyed books especially made me look at the human world today.
The look at global warming and the damage humans can do to themselves was shocking, but it was interesting having a dystopian world caused by a gradual process rather than a plague or nuclear war. It made me more aware of the problems we could face if we don't do anything. Also the lack of recognition for women in the museum made me outraged alongside Mara. It addressed these problems really well and made me less oblivious.
Overall, this book is an adventure story, a tale of the courage of one girl who tries to help her people and find her purpose in life. A girl who chooses to use her intellect and her curiosity to get people out of their daily stupor and encourage them to make better lives for themselves instead of live like cowards. The book spans from simple farms to high-tech metal hallways and includes a huge cast of characters. The ending leaves much to be desired, but I can't wait to continue the series.
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