Friday, September 26, 2014

Fiction Friday (34)


A few weeks ago, I looked on my self of books to read and found that none in particular were jumping out at me. That was because I was specifically in the mood to read a book which I did not own. So the next time I was out near a bookstore, I simply purchased the book and began reading it. It was one I'd been meaning to read for two years. I'm happy to say the book lived up to my expectations and it certainly did feel like the right book for me at this time. Enjoy.

A Hero for Wondla by Tony DiTerlizzi
(Simon & Schuster 2012)

The second book in the WondLa series is as equally exciting and interesting as the first. When the story opens, Eva Nine is finally free of the troubles that followed her throughout the first book during her journey across the strange planet formerly known as Earth. Her renewed search for other surviving humans quickly comes to an end once she's picked up by an airship whose pilot's task is specifically to set out and retrieve children like Eva who were conceived and raised in underground Sanctuaries.

Eva is hopeful that New Attica, the human city founded by Cadmus, a futuristic survivalist of the grandest kind, will become her new home. Initially she is in awe of the city, and the quirkiness of its human inhabitants. In its sheltered existence, humanity seems to have evolved very little as the humans have been kept in the dark when it comes to the immense changes to the world, and to its new inhabitants. They live and act much like society today, without much ambition. Little-by-little, Eva grows disillusioned with New Attica and the ignorance of its people. Then she meets Eva Eight, her sister who had been raised in the same Sanctuary before Eva. Their meeting sets off a chain reaction of events that will put Eva on a course of trying to prevent the destruction of her world, which she now realizes isn't the Earth she'd grown up learning about.

At it's heart, this is a story about overcoming the fear of others and trusting the actions of people more than their words, or their appearance. The message is powerful, and never delivered in a heavy handed way. And there is certainly plenty of action to keep the pages turning. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. My only problem with it is same problem I often have with second books in a series, or books that fall in the middle of a larger story. This book feels like a bridge between two bigger stories. It is missing the wonderful sense of discovery from the first book, and lacks a decisive conclusion that I image will come in the next. But that is okay with me as long as the story keeps on going.

And as always, Tony DiTerlizzi's artwork is amazing.

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