Monday, September 01, 2008

Exodus, by Julie Bertagna


In under a century, Earth has been almost entirely submerged under water from the melting of the polar ice caps. As Mara's island shrinks away, she becomes convinced of the existence of sky cities where the people of her island can find a new home. But leading her people to this promised land, she finds a situation this is horrifying. And now she has a mission to do more than just save her people -- she must find a way to right a historical mistake.

A great premise with an imaginative vision of what the world could become. But like that old Kevin Costner gem Water World, this novel suffers from incoherent storytelling. Bertagna is obviously impatient to get her story from one dramatic turn to another, and she sacrifices character development to do so. The result is reader confusion and exasperation. A missed opportunity.

No comments: