Rip Tide

Gr 6—10—In this futuristic follow-up to Dark Life (Scholastic, 2010), 15-year-old Ty Townson and his friend Gemma, a homeless orphan who used to live in an above-water trade station, discover a submerged township filled with bodies in a trash vortex. Later, when Ty's parents go missing, the duo sets out to find them, fearing they'll meet a similar fate. The first child born of settlers in a postapocalyptic, land-scarce world, Ty possesses a dark gift enabling him to "shine" and generate biosonar pulses used to his advantage in dangerous situations. Gemma's fear of water has kept her from moving in with the Townsons permanently, but her fondness for Ty and his family and her dark gift of exceptional hearing make her an equal protagonist. They seek out Gemma's older brother, Shade, the suitably named leader of the Seablite Gang, for help in gaining information from the local outlaws, and Ty is forced to prove himself in a no-holds-barred boxing match. One of many adventures in the plot, this descriptive scene illuminates the many-layered social-class structure and the setting. Readers will empathize with the subsea pioneers, such as Ty's parents hoping to develop a viable economy based on harvesting laver, a highly edible seaweed, and will relate to Captain Revas and her sometimes-misguided authoritarian decisions to protect the peace in her territory. Readers will immerse themselves in this burgeoning new world that leaves the door open for more adventures.—Vicki Reutter, Cazenovia High School, NY