A Wave of Excitement

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kyraillion Avatar

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4/5 Stars

The world of The Vanishing Deep will draw readers in from the very first page. Tempe's world is flooded. The Old World has been lost to the ravages of the sea and time, leaving Tempe in a world of danger that took her parents and her older sister, Elysea. Now Tempe resorts to diving into Old World ruins to get what money she can to survive, while hopefully saving enough money to revive her sister for 24 hours. Tempe's beloved sister Elysea was responsible for their parents' deaths and Tempe wants to know why. Hopefully 24 hours will be enough time for her to find out, because that's all the revival process can promise.

But once revived, Elysea has different plans. Those plans put her revival warden Lor's life at risk. Lor has spent the past two years hiding in the basement of the Palindromena facility, looking after those whose bodies may get an extra 24 hours of borrowed time. Is he ready to fight for his life?

All the characters of this story are wonderful and dynamic. None of the main characters are static. Elysea was actually my favorite character. She is spunky and determined, despite knowing that she has died and that she will inevitably die again within the next 24 hours. Elysea has secrets to find and wrongs to right. She is a force of nature.

The book does rely on the count down timer of Elysea's impending death to create tension, but more is quickly brought into the plot when the race to discover what happened to their parents. Even more tension is built near the half way point where the villain is no longer the clock but a flesh and blood person.

The story is a little predictable, especially near the end, but that doesn't make the journey any less enjoyable.

** For teachers and parents, there isn't much in this book that would make parents of 7th or 8th graders squirm. There is no sexual content and I don't recall any adult language. That isn't to say that the book won't hook more mature readers. The concepts of dealing with grief and the chance to return loved ones to life will appeal even to adults.**