ARC Review: Dark Life - Kat Falls

When the oceans rose, entire continents were swallowed up by the rising water: Now humans live packed into high rises on small tracts of land, while those willing to forge new frontiers settle deep beneath the waves.

Ty has lived under the sea his entire life, helping his family to farm the ocean floor: But when outlaws attack, Ty finds himself in a fight to save the only home he has ever known.  Joined by Gemma, a girl from Topside who is looking for her missing brother, Ty ventures into the frontier's rough underworld - and discovers some very dark secrets.  Secrets which threaten to destroy everything...

A world where the deep can be dangerous, the darkness can be deadly and sometimes it's all you can do to stay alive...

Dark Life is being released in the UK on 29th April 2010
The press release confirms that Kat Falls is currently writing a sequel but I don't have any more information at this time

For more information visit Kat Falls' author page on the Simon & Schuster website

Review:
Due to flooding life topside (above water) is very difficult and space is at a premium.  People have been forced to move to the only remaining land and are now living in giant sky scrapers all squashed together like sardines in a tin.  Gemma is an orphan and is a ward of the commonwealth so has never even had a room of her own.  Her only remaining family is her brother but he is missing and she is determined to find him.  The last she heard of him he was a prospector subsea so she decides to go looking for him.

In many ways Ty is her opposite - his family were among the first pioneers who moved subsea.  Having been born subsea Ty can't think of anything worse than life on land where everyone is crowded so close together.  The pioneers are under attack from outlaws who have been stealing their supplies and if the outlaws can't be stopped the pioneers may be forced to leave their subsea homes and move topside.  Gemma needs Ty's help if she is going to find her brother but this is going to be a difficult task when the outlaws are on the scene.

I absolutely loved this book, Kat Falls has managed to create an amazing subsea world that I thoroughly enjoyed reading about.  Her descriptions of the sealife and their underwater homes are amazing and I was able to picture everything so clearly it was like watching a film.  Although I'm not sure I'd want to live subsea I'd love to be able to climb into the book for a visit.  Ty and Gemma are both great characters and there were a few great twists that I didn't see coming.  This book sucked me in from the first page & although the book ended well I was disappointed I'd reached the end of the journey.  I was relieved to see that Kat Falls is currently working on a sequel & I'm looking forward to going back to the Benthic Territory and joining Ty and Gemma on their next adventure.

Source: Recieved for review from publisher Simon & Schuster

Other Reviews:
Presenting Lenore
Empire of Books
So Many Books, So Little Time
I Was A Teenage Book Geek
The Bookette
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