In the near future, climate has changed in way that allows
for powerful storms much more often. So often, in fact, that children no longer
ride bicycles, outdoor picnics are a joy of the past, and there are storm
shelters every 15 miles on the highway so no traveller is far from refuge.
Jaden’s father is a renowned meteorologist who has studied
storm dissipation for years, but after the failure of his last project, has
funneled his energy into Placid Meadows, a safe community in the middle of
Oklahoma that no storm ever touches. Jaden comes to stay with her father over
the summer to study at Eye On Tomorrow, an exclusive children’s science camp.
There she meets Alex, a local whose farm is threatened not just by storms, but
also by Jaden’s father’s expansion plans.
EYE OF THE STORM is a thrilling middle grade adventure story
with basis in meteorology. Messner has clearly done her research here and
explains the science behind storms in a clear and engaging way. I also
appreciated the attention to world building details and how many of the future
tech items are consistent with a changed world – e.g. most people eat
bioengineered food because most farms have been abandoned. (One slight quibble I have is in regards to
how casually air travel is treated here.
If storms can pick up with so little warning that people are afraid of
having picnics, then commercial air travel must be decimated. I’d imagine there’d been a ton more plane
crashes and delays so crippling, taking a flight would be a major undertaking. Of course maybe I am hypersensitive about this because of the seven hours I spent on the tarmac/terminal recently because of some thunderstorms.)
EYE OF THE STORM is available in hardcover now. Find out more about it at the author’s website.
See index of all dystopian reviews at Presenting Lenore
FTC disclosure: Bought
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4 comments:
Oooh, good point. I didn't think about air travel, but, then again, that's something I try to avoid thinking about, since it's generally unpleasant. (Why do I always get selected randomly for additional scanning? WHY?) Given the weather, I would imagine flights would be limited almost solely to military/governmental purposes. Or, they would do a lot more short hops, with direct flights being a thing of the past.
Glad you enjoyed other than that one bit. :)
I get what you mean about air travel but maybe they improved on it. This book sounds good to me.
Maybe it was one of those things that the character didn't think to remark on. As someone too young to know how *awesome* air travel is these days, perhaps horrible delays and short hops are just par for the course in the future.
But it does seem to me that flying would be a luxury reserved for military/the rich (and her family was important enough that it probably wouldn't be a problem for them).
middle grade apocalyptic. cool . gr8 review
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