Dark Life (1)

I picked up Kat Falls' Dark Life on a whim and was very pleased to find it to be well worth the money. Falls is a relatively new author (to me, anyway) and Dark Life was her debut novel.Ty is a fifteen-year-old boy living in the pioneer undersea colony of Benthic Territory, which is located on the ocean floor somewhere off the east coast of the US. Or rather, what was the east coast until a big chunk of it ended up under water due to rising sea levels. His parents were among the first generation to leave the surface world and settle homesteads in the territory, but Ty has lived there almost his entire life. For him and his younger sister Zoe, the undersea world of the territory is _home_.For the most part, life in the territory is good. Or was until Ty comes across a derelict sub on the edge of the territory, a prospector's sub that was apparently attacked by an outlaw band called the Seablite Gang. As Ty investigates the sub, the situation immediately becomes further complicated when he unexpectedly runs into a "Topsider" (someone from the surface world) on the sub, a girl his own age named Gemma who's come down into his world looking for her missing older brother.The author, Falls, is very good at immediately immersing you in the world of Dark Life, bringing it vividly into reality around the reader from the very beginning:"I peered into the deep-sea canyon, hoping to spot a toppled skyscraper. Maybe even the Statue of Liberty. But there was no sign of the old East Coast, just a sheer drop into darkness.--A ball of light shot past me - a vampire squid, trailing neon blue. The glowing cloud swirled around my helmet. Careful not to break it up, I drifted onto my knees, mesmerized. But my trance was cut short by a series of green sparks bursting out of the gorge. I fell back, every muscle in my body tense. Only one fish glittered like an emerald and traveled in a pack: the green lantern shark. Twelve inches long and deadly as piranhas, they could rip apart something twenty times their size. Forget what they could do to a human.--I should have seen them coming, even this deep. I should have known the squid had squirted its radiant goo to divert a predator. And now my helmet's crown lights served as an even brighter beacon. With a jab to my wrist screen, I snapped them off, but it was too late - I couldn't unring that dinner bell.--I pried a flare gun from my belt and fired into the midst of the electric green frenzy. Two heartbeats later, light exploded over the canyon, shocking the sharks into stillness, eyes and teeth glittering. Quickly, I scooped the anchor of my mantaboard out of the muck and hauled myself onto it. Lying on my stomach with my legs dangling, I twisted the handgrips and took off, making serious wake. If my lungs hadn't been filled with Liquigen, I would've whooped aloud.--Not that I was in the clear. As soon as the flare died, the sharks would be on me like suckerfish on a whale. I thought about burying myself in the thick ooze of the sea floor. Bedding down with the boulder-sized clams had worked before. I chanced a look over my shoulder. Sure enough, the darkness twinkled with stars - vicious little stars, shooting my way."Falls is also very good at giving depth to her younger characters, capturing the feel of both what it is like to be that age and what it would be like to be living in the very different world of Dark Life, with Ty who has grown up in his undersea pioneer settlement and Gemma who grew up in her over-crowded Topsider world. And I absolutely adored Ty's younger sister Zoe who insists on keeping dangerous sea creatures as pets and who everyone who knows her tries to avoid making angry. In truth the only reason I rated this book 4 stars instead of 5 was that I felt the characterizations of the adults were not on the same level or depth as that of the younger characters. That said, I definitely want to read the sequel, Rip Tide, that's already been published.Highly recommended not only for young adults but for anyone who likes well-written science fiction with engaging characters in a different setting.

With science fiction exploring so many different realms, it is no wonder it has take YA so long to get into the ocean! Who doesn't want to live in an incredible underwater civilization with kelp gardens, fish farms, and other "deeply" exciting adventures!Dark Life by Kat Falls starts off with a premise that the world has been largely flooded due to global warming, and most of the submerged East Coast has broken off the continent and slipped into a deep underwater ravine. In a world where space is now limited and families are lucky to have one tiny room in a concrete jungle, civilization has found a way to live on the ocean floor. In the Dark, as the underwater civilizations are called, a person can earn huge homesteads in exchange for a few years working the land for food for the Topsiders.Ty's parents were two of the scientists and engineers who put together the Dark, and Ty was the first child born undersea. It is rumored that children born undersea were developing special gifts- Dark Gifts- but if they do, none will admit to it. When Gemma, a Topsider, comes barreling down undersea looking for her brother, Ty gets swept into helping her. But the Dark is being terrorized by a group of outlaws who raid shipments, but have recently started attacking homesteads as well. Now the Topside government has told the Dark that they either catch the outlaws themselves, or the undersea homesteaders will be forced to leave their land and move Topside. Ty and Gemma get caught up in the search for the outlaws, the truth of what happened to her brother, and the fight to keep the undersea settlements safe.This is an immediately interesting book. From the very first page, Falls' world is gripping, exciting, and a very interesting possibility! The technology behind the underwater architecture, travel, and ways of life are really intriguing! The story is also full of adventure and excitement, with multiple conflicts taking place. It has also been described as post-apocalyptic or dystopian, but I think it is more on the adventure/science fiction realm.The writing is fairly simple, and while the story is full, it isn't overly complex. Therefore, this would be an excellent book for middle readers and early high school students. My first thought as I read the book, was "Yeah! A book for boys!" It is so hard to find books that aren't inherently bent towards teen girls, so it is so exciting when you find one that works for both boys and girls! This book would keep any boy reading. The story is also mature enough for an older teen with a lower reading level. And the exciting part? While it ends with a good conclusion and doesn't leave you hanging, it is slated to be a series! I look forward to reading the next book, and I can't wait to pull my students into this fantastic Underwater Adventure!

It's been a while since I last read a good book like this one.I totally recommend you to read this because you'll get surprised with it and the best thing is that there's already the second book from Dark Life.

I love this book. It has a little bit of everything in it.