Watermark’s Cool Summer Reads #3:
“Atherton: Rivers of Fire” by Patrick Carman.
Watch News & Notes each week this summer for a featured book recommendation
for young readers ages 7 to 17. We’ll help you find the smartest, funniest,
most exciting summer-blockbusters-on-the-page, books guaranteed to keep a
youngster reading.
“Atherton: Rivers of Fire” by Patrick Carman (Little, Brown Young
Readers, 9780316166720, $16.99, ages 9 and up)
The “Atherton” series is a perfect pick for readers who are eagerly awaiting
“Brisingr,” Christopher Paolini’s “Eragon” sequel, or who’ve already
devoured Rick Riordan’s “Battle of the Labyrinth,” the newest book in the
“Percy Jackson and the Olympians” series. It more than matches both those
sagas in building a big, fantastic world and using it to tell an
edge-of-the-seat adventure story.
Atherton is a floating clockwork island, a grand experiment constructed by a
seemingly mad scientist for an unknown purpose. Edgar is a plucky young boy
who believes he can discover the secrets of Atherton by climbing the
island’s treacherous cliffs and finding someone who can read to him the
mysterious book left by his missing father. Edgar is brave and quick, but
Atherton is quicker: even as the boy begins his journey upward, the island
is busy falling down, collapsing into itself, and Edgar is the only one with
even a hope of finding out why.
In this new second book, “Atherton: Rivers of Fire,” Edgar and his friends
Isabel and Samuel defend the island’s people from strange creatures called
“Cleaners,” which act like Atherton’s immune system and relentlessly attack
anything alive. Edgar also takes up the quest to find the mysterious Dr.
Harding, who made Atherton in the first place and who delivered all its
inhabitants there by unknown means. It’s a smart, engrossing fantasy
adventure with a grand, thrilling conclusion in which all of Atherton’s
secrets and surprises are finally revealed.
New readers should start with the excellent build-up of the first book,
“Atherton: The House of Power,” then return for the big finale of “Atherton:
Rivers of Fire.”
Review by
Mark David Bradshaw, May 22, 2008
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