Seventeen-year-old Tempe was born into a world of water. When the Great Waves destroyed her planet, its people had to learn to survive living on the water, but the ruins of the cities below still called. Tempe dives daily, scavenging the ruins of a bygone era, searching for anything of value to trade for Notes. It isn't food or clothing that she wants to buy, but her dead sister's life. For a price, the research facility on the island of Palindromena will revive the dearly departed for twenty-four hours before returning them to death. It isn't a heartfelt reunion that Tempe is after; she wants answers. Elysea died keeping a terrible secret, one that has ignited an unquenchable fury in Tempe: Her beloved sister was responsible for the death of their parents. Tempe wants to know why.
But once revived, Elysea has other plans. She doesn't want to spend her last day in a cold room accounting for a crime she insists she didn't commit. Elysea wants her freedom and one final glimpse at the life that was stolen from her. She persuades Tempe to break her out of the facility, and they embark on a dangerous journey to discover the truth about their parents' death and mend their broken bond. But they're pursued every step of the way by two Palindromena employees desperate to find them before Elysea's time is up--and before the secret behind the revival process and the true cost of restored life is revealed.
Review
Deep Secrets
I read The Four Dead Queens from this author and I fell in love. So, when this book came out, I was so excited to get more from this wonderful author.
The world this book is set in is very unique. After what is called the great waves, or essentially the melting of the glaciers that covered almost all surfaces of Earth, the population has been diminished and most people now live on floating islands. The author did a wonderful job helping us to picture what living in a world surrounded by water would be like. She has the character express that she wakes up with salt covering her lips and sealing her eyes shut. This is just one example of imagery she adds to the book that allows you to picture yourself there.
In the beginning Tempe is the only one left of her family. She dives every day searching the ruins of the cities before in order to find artifacts to sell to get money for the revival of her sister. I really enjoyed that this revival isn’t something supernatural or magical but “science”. In both of her books she adds unique technology that adds so much to the book. The twist is that she is reviving her, not for one last goodbye, but to have answers to how she died and why her parents are dead.
This book it told by both Tempe’s point of view as well as Lor’s, a boy who works at Palindromena. He blames himself for his best friends’ death and keeps himself locked in the basement surrounded by the dead who are waiting to be revived. You learn that he has his own secrets he is keeping. He is thrown into the mysterious situation of the 2 sisters. He is pulled between his own doubts, and his will to protect his friends as well as the sisters. He is constantly battling with himself in trying to do what is right. This adds so much to the book and really gets you emotionally involved. Through the book many things are revealed about both the sisters and what happened to their family as well as Lor and what happened to him.
This book is constant action. This whole book takes place not much longer than 1 day and yet it feels like a year of developments. I mean the characters even sleep a few different times. No one in history had done more than what happens this day, and yet it changes all their lives forever.
A great read with everything you could ask for. I can’t wait to see what else this author has to give us.