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jesshaleth's review
3.0
I wish I'd read this as a child, when I read loads of other Monica Hughes books. This one, however, may have gone over my head a bit - there's a lot of interesting politcal stuff. I dunno, probably would have been good for me.
My 9 year old self would like to give this five stars, as it was an exciting book about equal rights, and standing up for what you believe in, and war being BAD. It also has dolphins in, which is cool. The gillmen creeped me out a bit though, as did the almost-death from pressure change when he surfaced too fast. Creeeepy.
My adult self says this has some interesting themes, although it's clearly aimed at children because it's preachy. Really, really nice concept - Monica Hughes has such fantastic ideas, but the book's so short that there's not much time for characterisation. I read this in an hour. (My 9 year old self says she also read it in an hour, and that includes the time it took to make 2 milkshakes. How slow are you.) The setting on conshelf ten was lovely, and the conflict betweeen Topsiders, Moon and Conshelf communities had a lot going for it. Didn't fall in love with any of the characters, and especially not with the dialogue. The gillmen didn't creep me out in the least, but almost-death from pressure change still does a bit, if I'm honest. And, yes, there were friendly helpful dolphins, but I'm an adult, dammit, and I need to talk about things like tone and register and stuff.
9 year old me: :P
My 9 year old self would like to give this five stars, as it was an exciting book about equal rights, and standing up for what you believe in, and war being BAD. It also has dolphins in, which is cool. The gillmen creeped me out a bit though, as did the almost-death from pressure change when he surfaced too fast. Creeeepy.
My adult self says this has some interesting themes, although it's clearly aimed at children because it's preachy. Really, really nice concept - Monica Hughes has such fantastic ideas, but the book's so short that there's not much time for characterisation. I read this in an hour. (My 9 year old self says she also read it in an hour, and that includes the time it took to make 2 milkshakes. How slow are you.) The setting on conshelf ten was lovely, and the conflict betweeen Topsiders, Moon and Conshelf communities had a lot going for it. Didn't fall in love with any of the characters, and especially not with the dialogue. The gillmen didn't creep me out in the least, but almost-death from pressure change still does a bit, if I'm honest. And, yes, there were friendly helpful dolphins, but I'm an adult, dammit, and I need to talk about things like tone and register and stuff.
9 year old me: :P
ltg584's review
4.0
There's a long story behind this review, but I'll try to keep it short. I first read this book in grade 8, although, in typical teenage fashion, quickly forgot the title or author. I spend the next 20 years remembering it fondly, but with an increasing amount of frustration. My memories were too vague. I wanted to read it again!
I asked dozens (or more!) people if they had any memory of this book, but apparently it was not common required reading. In the end, I was scanning through lists of a Goodreads group dedicated to identifying forgotten books. And there it was. Just sitting there for me to find. Unbelievable.
The journey didn't end there, however. Now I had to find the book! The city library didn't have a copy, and it's out of print. Whatever will I do?! Lucky for me, my dad tracked down an old educator's copy at the university library. I feel like this was a whole community effort to get the book in my hands. And as an added bonus? There's a sequel! My dad snatched that one up for me as well, so I get to delve in a little deeper than I initially planned. I'm ridiculously excited! ;)
In the end, the second read through was not as outstanding as I remembered it to be. I think my initial love was all about timing. At the age of 13, I was reading a lot of Ray Bradbury, and this book was an ideal fit with my mood. It was a little outdated with the speculative technology, considering it was written 50 years ago. Also, a little more optimistic than would be realistic (yes, I know it's sci-fi, and doesn't have to be realistic, but we're talking about human nature!).
Overall, a great middle-grade read.
I asked dozens (or more!) people if they had any memory of this book, but apparently it was not common required reading. In the end, I was scanning through lists of a Goodreads group dedicated to identifying forgotten books. And there it was. Just sitting there for me to find. Unbelievable.
The journey didn't end there, however. Now I had to find the book! The city library didn't have a copy, and it's out of print. Whatever will I do?! Lucky for me, my dad tracked down an old educator's copy at the university library. I feel like this was a whole community effort to get the book in my hands. And as an added bonus? There's a sequel! My dad snatched that one up for me as well, so I get to delve in a little deeper than I initially planned. I'm ridiculously excited! ;)
In the end, the second read through was not as outstanding as I remembered it to be. I think my initial love was all about timing. At the age of 13, I was reading a lot of Ray Bradbury, and this book was an ideal fit with my mood. It was a little outdated with the speculative technology, considering it was written 50 years ago. Also, a little more optimistic than would be realistic (yes, I know it's sci-fi, and doesn't have to be realistic, but we're talking about human nature!).
Overall, a great middle-grade read.
lyriclorelei's review
5.0
The first time I ever read a part of this book was during a reading comprehension section of a standardized test in Middle School. I fell in love with the excerpt in the middle of the test and remembered what it said the book was so that I could look it up later. When I finally read the whole book, I was not disappointed. This will always be one of my favorites.
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