Review: YA Adventure into the Unknown! Great Start to a Fresh, New Series!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 9, 2014
Get ready to follow four teens on an incredible journey as one disastrous earthquake opens a gaping hole that plunges them into an underground world and a secret tribe of people who live there. Olivia Miller has just come home after several months, estranged from her best friend and next door neighbor, Mateo, stinging from the loss of his friendship and unable to makes amends. Everything changes the day of the earthquake, when Ollie, Mateo, Jesse and Alexis, Ollie’s other best friend become the guests of Gabriel, son of the tribe’s leader and his sister, Karen, a girl who has more curiosity about the ways of the upper world than is proper for a young girl. Gabriel is granted permission to return everyone to the surface, so feisty Karen follows along, undiscovered until danger and a huge lizard-like beast confronts them. Now a party of six, their journey continues and Ollie begins to notice things about herself that seem different than her friends and more like Gabriel’s people. There are romantic feelings in the air, but will there be a love triangle? Discoveries are made, horrors are witnessed, getting to the surface is a matter of life and death. Will they make it, if so, what will they discover on the surface?Kallie Ross’s Descent was like falling down the Rabbit Hole into an adventure into the unknown! Sparing the major teen angst, Ms. Ross has “dug deep” and pulled out a winner of a tale. Yes, it’s fresh, yes, it’s creative, and yes there is tension, dark foreboding and some deep secrets to be revealed. I was so happy to find teens that were teens, real, live teens with their bravado, insecurities and sense of adventure and acceptance of the new reality they were facing. She writes with a sense of pacing that moves along with the story perfectly as each scene is drawn with clarity and depth. Toss Descent into the Hidden Gem pile, Kallie Ross deserves it! Looking forward to book two!