3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Courtesy of Teens Read Too, January 14, 2008
Edgar knows that he should be working rather than climbing and swinging in the trees, but he just can't seem to help himself -- even if it does earn him a beating from Mr. Ratikan's stick. It would hardly be the first time and it isn't likely to be the last. He also knows he shouldn't be climbing the cliffs, but he has to.
Edgar's world is shaped sort of like a three-leveled top. The top level, the Highlands, are populated by the well-to-do people. They control the water for all of the other levels. If you fell off of the Highlands, and didn't die, you would land on the middle level, Tabletop, which is the level Edgar lives on. They are the workers who harvest food and raise animals. They receive water based on how well they feed the people above. If you fell off of Tabletop and weren't killed by the fall to the Flatlands, you would either be eaten by the monsters that live there, or die of starvation. If you could survive long enough to fall off of the Flatlands, you would fall off of the earth.
Edgar's father fell off of the middle level when Edgar was just a small boy. Edgar has one memory of him, though. The older he gets, the weaker the memory becomes, but he knows that it has to do with a book that he is supposed to find. It's hidden in the cliffs between the top and middle levels. So Edgar climbs, and searches, whenever he can.
In one day Edgar finds the book, climbs all the way to the Highlands (forbidden), and makes a friend (hopefully) there. The biggest discovery Edgar makes that day could be he most dangerous of all. The Highlands are sinking. If the cliffs keep shuddering, eventually the Highlands and Tabletop could be level with each other! That thought alone sends Edgar off on the adventure of a lifetime.
Edgar is off. He is on a search for answers, for the right questions, for his destiny. It's going to get far worse before it gets better.
This book is a fantastic mix of mad scientist, alternate worlds, and realistic people. Patrick Carman hasn't missed a trick in this one; believable characters, a fully imagined and realized world, and an absorbing plot. I had a hard time putting this book down. I can't wait to see what happens next! Though while you're waiting you should check out the very cool, interactive website athertonseries dot com.
Reviewed by: Carrie Spellman
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
19 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
They called me MAD at the university! But who's mad now???, July 14, 2007
Poor, Atherton. Poor, baby. If it's not one thing with you then it's another. If the CD-ROM included with your book doesn't have a glitch in it then you're berated in Publisher's Weekly for carrying half a cover. And on top of all that, your publisher's marketing department created an ad for you on the School Library Journal website that drew ire, fire, and fury for its insidious nature. Poor, Atherton. It's okay, honey, I still love you. The fact of the matter is, no matter what the flaws with your packaging and advertising may be, your book is incredibly fun. An exciting adventure with enough sci-fi drippings and fabulous plotting to overcome whatever string of bad luck you may collect later. So while I may have suffered personally from the crazy ad campaign of "Atherton", I'll tell you here and now that I liked liked liked this book. It's going to be hugely popular with any kid who reads it and you can bet that I'll be recommending it every chance that I get.
As far as Edgar is concerned, the world of Atherton has always been as it is now. On his level, people tend to the fig trees and raise sheep and rabbits. One a level above his (in the "Highlands" as they're called) are people there live a life of ease and luxury and control the flow of water that trickles down the sheer cliffs that separate his world from theirs. And on the lowest level, far below another cliff, is a barren wasteland where no one has ever gone and where no one even lives. This is the world as the boy, Edgar, has always known it and he doesn't think to question his existence until the day he climbs a cliff, finds a book, and discovers that there are secrets to this world that he never could have suspected. What's more, it looks like the different levels of Atherton are slowly sinking into one another. For good or for ill, Atherton is changing, and life is about to never be the same again.
I didn't actually intend to like this book. Patrick Carman's previous work on his
Elyon series had potential but ended up a rather didactic fantasy series that never really distinguished itself from the pack. So for all that people told me that "Atherton" was a fun book, I could never really believe it. Let that be a lesson to you, my children. Whatever problems I might have had with the "Elyon" books, those foibles were completely and utterly absent from Carman's latest. The premise that there is a world that exists in layers with the rich at the top and the poor at the bottom crops up in children's literature from time to time (I'm thinking of Zilpha Keatley Snyder's,
Below the Root series as one such example) and works particularly well here. And though he may not have realized it, Carman's book fits well into a variety of different literary tropes without really replicating a previous idea.
When I think of boys scaling rocky cliffs in children's literature, the first image that comes to mind is that old fairy tale about the princess at the top of a crystal mountain and the men who tried to reach her. Now the princess has been replaced by knowledge and the human desire to reach for it. The fact that his main character cannot read was a bit of a risk on the author's part. Normally a writer will somehow muck with his setting so that the protagonist is the ONLY person who is able to read. You know what I'm talking about. I'm sure you've all read stories where a kindly grandmotherly/grandfatherly character teaches a kid to read and that kid, in turn, has an advantage over their fellows. So for Carman to make Edgar illiterate, that's huge. It also gives the boy just the incentive he needs to scale the massive cliffs of his world.
The pacing of this book is also consistently impressive. It doles out information and action in equal amounts, never giving too much time to one aspect or another. Nine times out of ten, when a kid is in a children's book looking for answers only to be put off and told just a little information at a time, that bugs me. It didn't bug me with "Atherton" though. Carman knows just how to consistently satisfy a child reader's need for both story and suspense without ever giving too much away or frustrating the reader in the process. Secrets abound here, but there are enough left over at the story's end to make you want to read the sequel pronto. If I'm going to be honest with you, I'm a little miffed that I have to wait a year or two for Book Two to come out. I wish I could write the last sentence of the book here, as I think it's one of the cleverest endings I've seen in a series book in a while, but I won't spoil it for you.
Also, I love a book that takes place in the future that doesn't happen a measly 10 or 15 years from now. There's nothing that gets my goat more than the words 2015 and a view of Earth decayed and crumbling. This story takes place inn 2105. Thumbs up all around on that choice of date. And I liked some of the precautions Carman took in terms of time and memory. Stop reading here if you don't want to know a couple spoilers for the book. Now do you remember that horrible Kevin Costner vehicle,
The Postman? The film takes place a mere fifty or so years in the future when no one can even remember anymore than there was ever a United States of America. Since time was of incredible importance in this novel and since there had to be characters that were around before the formation of Atherton (which is a floating planet above Earth) and during this actual story, there had to be a way to make the characters in this book unaware of where they'd come from. To this end, Dr. Kincaid, the creator of this world, makes a stipulation to anyone arriving on Atherton that they must have their memories wiped of their old life before arriving on this new planet. It makes sense in the context of the story and it allows the author a way in which to talk about a future that both makes sense and is seriously suspenseful.
It's not all sunshine and roses. For example, I'm not sure that I was a big fan of the narrative techniques used at times in this book. Sometimes Carman adopts a kind of "dear reader" voice that feels a touch at odds with the rest of the text. Sentences like, "It was midday when Edgar arrived at a place in which we are well suited to rejoin him...," and, "Before we discover what Edgar saw, it is worth noting that Edgar was usually a careful climber..." This sort of familiarity with the reader is meant to feel natural and easygoing. Unfortunately, I sometimes thought it a little affected. Fortunately it doesn't happen all that often, and when it does it mostly fails to distract. Another detail that chapped my hide was that there aren't many explanations regarding gravity and how the water in Atherton circles about. Hopefully these will be addressed in upcoming sequel.
In a way, the book this title reminded me the most of was Jeanne DuPrau's
The City of Ember. In both cases a child discovers that the artificial world in which they live is a farce. They go up and down to find an escape with the help of a mysterious book. And in both books the adults are corrupt, there's food hoarding, and time is of the essence. Both books are also of the science fiction genre, which is important. Of course, while there might be cursory similarities, "Atherton" is an entire world unto itself. Exciting and painful and not like anything else you'll find aside from some surface details.
There are kids in this world who want exciting adventure novels that don't contain wizards and witches. Crazy, no? These kids are fans of the Suzanne Collins
Gregor The Overlander series. They come to me, desperate for any kind of a recommendation I can give, and let me tell you that exciting sci-fi books of this nature are hard to find. Ask anyone in the publishing industry and they'll tell you that sci-fi doesn't sell. They tell you this because their definition of what constitutes sci-fi is limited (i.e. big scary aliens).
A Wrinkle in Time is sci-fi.
Tom's Midnight Garden is sci-fi. And "Atherton" is sci-fi too. Not only sci-fi, but also containing a message or two about the environment and what we're doing to our world. Rather than preach, though, the book just ends up displaying a future that almost no one else could have ever thought of. Like nothing you've read before, "Atherton" is definitely one of the most diverting adventures of the year. Thumbs up and then some.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
