Kriss Morton - In the Loft of the Cabin Goddess

How the story begins, from one of my favorite recitative hybrid operas, Les Misérables. Hugo wrote many lines which reflect so many ideas and questions about society all within a simple (ok not so simple) performance. This book is not Les Mis, but it is something that questions the simple, complex and the world builds core values and beliefs. It is also on my list for one of my biggest recommended reads coming up in July.

In SOME FINE DAY the world above water has shrunk or become decimated by hypercanes which are now constant and Jansin Nordqvist is doing what every child does in the Transition (the world beneath the earth’s crust where every civilized person does), she is towing the party line, so to speak. A place where the world’s privileged retreated to when the earth was being flooded ahead of the storms which destroyed everything topside.

As with any dystopia, especially in young-adult reads, the children grow up in a controlled enviroment. As young adults they are easier to mold into whatever controlling government/power structure wants them to be.  It is the type of dystopia I like. Non of these prissy new dystopians which end with a happy ending. Now, before you go “Hey I read it, there is a happy ending…” Well there is more hope and promise, there is also a lot of impending darkness and hurdles. For Jansin,  till her life is blown off it’s course (pun intended), all she knows is her mom is an important botanist/scientist and her father is a high ranking officer. She is in her final training for a black ops team and pretty sure she is in love with the person she is expected to be with, at least it feels like she is suppose too and her parents like him. It is a bit more complicated but I am not giving you a book review, just some teasers.

Before graduation Jansin, her family and her boyfriend get to go to the surface for a once in a lifetime vacation, one under the real sun. They are able to track the storms well enough to get breaks like this, which cost a pretty penny. The only fear are the creatures they call toads…. oh but I won’t go further into that. Let’s just say we learn everyone’s true colors when the vacation is cut short by a group of top dwellers. Shocked, separated from her family and captured by this group she learns some harsh truths not only about the world but herself.

I wanted to give you good back-story without spoiling it, I don’t like doing this usually but I wanted you to know what I took away from the start of this story. It isn’t about the storms or an in your face eco-message. It wasn’t about her military training or even living underground and the bleakness at least from our point of view. It is about her core beliefs being questioned and falling apart, about her growing up and seeing the world under a different light, it is about truth and it is about hope. The storms, though a serious reality and for us could even happen in this life time. Sure there is a message about one way the planet could go if we continue on the path we are on. But truthfully it was a vehicle to help steer the story along. Her life was a lot like the eye of a storm, perceptively perfect, but in truth could fall apart at any moment.

Oh dear, did I sound like I was preaching…The kind of preaching which I abhor? Nope, I promise I wasn’t. The book is obviously researched well. The writing is gripping, solid and clean. The science behind it is true, even MIT says it could happen. It does not stray so far off the path of scientific reality which it cannot be seen as a “what if” scenario. Living below ground has always terrified me, after movies like Journey to the Center of the Earth and The Time Machine, what lurks below both science and creations of science have and still frighten me. It is for me, being out of control in the darkest and most complete sense. Kind of funny since when younger I was someone who loved exploring amateur level caves.

Jasin’s world is the opposite, at least in so much she and everyone thinks. The unknown and dangerous on top and the safe and known underneath in Transition. In a way this is true, however as much research is done for a good book, as this is, no good story-teller will let it lie just on the surface, so to speak. After reading into the night I was swept up in the storms above and realized as much as the out of control aspect of the top of the earth is, the true chaos is in the controlled and contained “transition” below, hidden beneath the control of the leaders. Another type of storm breaks Jasin’s path and begins her into another one.

I know, I got a bit deep there. You will too when you sit back and ponder. I swear the book is not preachy in any way, it was pure entertainment, pure enjoyment and heart stopping action (the author is brilliant at action). The “cast” is fabulous, the world is exciting and an edge of your seat ride. A bit of young love, a lot of passion (not the romantic kind), and above all for me is the search for the truth. I love stories that are about truth, not honesty, but truth. This is one of those stories.

So put your life-jacket on and remember your sun screen, and get ready for July 1st when this book arrives on Amazon!