Ratings

Content Ratings based on a 0-5 scale where
0 = no objectionable content and
5 = an excessive or disturbing level of content

Guide to Rating System

LANGUAGE

VIOLENCE

SEXUAL CONTENT

ADULT THEMES

Ratings Explanation

Language:  The phrase “like hell” is used once.

Violence:  Ty and Gemma find a sub with blood splattered all over the inside.  Outlaws attack a home and destroy the wildlife.  Shade threatens to kill Ty.  The outlaws from Seablite prison escaped.  They were tortured and experimented on by a doctor who was trying to discover the reason for their dark gifts.  Shade shoots at Ty with a harpoon.   Shade and Ty fight, Shade cracks some of Ty’s ribs by stepping on him.  Zoe shocks people.  Shade grabs Gemma by the throat and threatens to choke her.  Shade is hit with tranquilizer darts and kicked.  People make a noose to hang Shade.  Doc tries to save himself from drowning by grabbing Gemma.  Gemma is almost drowned.

Sexual Content:  There are a few brief kisses.

Adult Themes:  Global warming is the reason for this new underwater life.  Much of the country has fallen into the ocean due to water rising.  Gemma lives as a ward of the government.  She is mistreated and runs away to find her brother, her only living relative.

Synopsis

Ty has spent his whole life living underwater.  His parents own land and farm there as part of the government’s new Subsea Homestead Act.  Global warming has forced people above ground to move closer together as land disappears into the depths of the ocean.  And a select few have determined to make a new life underwater.  Living deep under sea is the only way of life Ty knows and when outlaws attack his homestead, he is determined to fight back to protect his home, his family and his future.

Gemma has spent her life crammed together in the same living space as many other people.  Her one and only goal is to escape and find her brother who she hasn’t seen in years.  Her search takes her deep under the ocean to a world she has only heard stories about.  It is much more beautiful and terrifying then she ever imagined.

I first saw this book in my daughter’s book order from school.  I thought it looked good so I decided to pick it up.  Then I read a really positive review for it and I bumped it up on my to-read pile.  This dystopian adventure was very interesting.  I really enjoyed imagining an underwater world where people can be self-sufficient.  This book had lots of fun adventure and moved along quickly.  I am anxious to pick up the next book in the series called Rip Tide that comes out in August.  This is a middle grade book, suggested by School Library Journal and Booklist as 6-10 grade reading level.  I would agree.