Author: Joel Ross
Publication: HarperCollins (May 26, 2015)
Description: Joel Ross debuts a thrilling adventure series in which living in the sky is the new reality and a few determined slum kids just might become heroes. Perfect for fans of Rick Riordan and Brandon Mull, this fantasy is filled with daring and hope and a wonderfully imaginative world.
Once the Fog started rising, the earth was covered with a deadly white mist until nothing remained but the mountaintops. Now humanity clings to its highest peaks, called the Rooftop, where the wealthy Five Families rule over the lower slopes and floating junkyards.
Thirteen-year-old Chess and his friends Hazel, Bea, and Swedish sail their rickety air raft over the deadly Fog, scavenging the ruins for anything they can sell to survive. But now survival isn't enough. They must risk everything to get to the miraculous city of Port Oro, the only place where their beloved Mrs. E can be cured of fogsickness. Yet the ruthless Lord Kodoc is hot on their trail, for Chess has a precious secret, one that Kodoc is desperate to use against him. Now Chess will face any danger to protect his friends, even if it means confronting what he fears the most.
My Thoughts: THE FOG DIVER is a post-apocalyptic science fiction story that is filled with action and adventure. It is also the story of four orphans who are on a mission to save the woman who took them in and made them into a family.
Chess, Bea, Swedish, and Hazel work together to scavenge things they can use or sell from the Fog that covers everything except the highest mountain tops. They need to find a big haul in order to sneak Mrs. E to Port Oro where there might be a cure for her fogsickness. However, they need to battle the Fog, mutineers and the evil Lord Kodoc who wants Chess.
The Fog is composed of nanites that were created to clean up pollution on the Earth. After they did that, they were supposed to die. But the nanites learned to create other nanites and decided that humans were the cause of the pollution.
No one can go down into the Fog without becoming infected with the nanites and dying. Chess is an exception. He was born in the Fog and can survive in it. He was born with one eye that has the Fog visible in it. He has been hiding his difference for all of his thirteen years. Now Lord Kodoc, who thought he didn't survive, has found out that he is alive and is searching for him. Lord Kodoc wants Chess to search the Fog for a machine that will let Kodoc end, or control, the Fog. Scientists from Port Oro, a place that rebelled and is fighting against Kodoc's rule, also wants Chess. They also want that machine.
I loved the airships that the kids use to scavenge. They had a very steampunk feel. I also loved the relationships between the kids with Hazel the leader, Swedish the pilot, Bea the engineer, and Chess as the explorer.
While this is clearly the first book in a series, readers will be pleased that the ending is not really a cliffhanger but still leaves lots for our characters to do in future books.
Favorite Quote:
"Do you think there are other mountaintops?" Bea asked.I got this ARC from Edelweiss. You can buy your copy here.
"I know there are," Hazel said from her hammock. "Somewhere across the Fog, if you fly for months or years. There must be."
"If they're too far to reach, it doesn't matter," Swedish said. "It's like they don't even exist."
"I wonder," Hazel said with a wistful tone in her voice, "if they also think they're the last people on Earth."
Nice review. This sounds like a very poignant story: orphans trying to save their benefactor; people who feel they are the only ones who remain. Loved the quote.
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