1-minute review:
If you'd lived your whole life underwater, could you leave the ocean and walk on land?
This month's series are the Above World books by Jenn Reese. Aluna is a mermaid - of sorts. The breathing necklaces that allow her people to breathe underwater are failing, and the community elders are sweeping the proverbial problem under the seaweed. She heads Above World in search of answers.
The author re-imagines mythical creatures like mermaids, centaurs, griffins, and more as humans modified by technology to live in a future Earth. A common theme is how fear of others is often based in a lack of understanding and empathy. As Aluna meets and gets to know different peoples, friends are formed and they join her quest.
The series is chock full of representation, characters of color, queer characters, and even disability representation - which is often missing in scifi and fantasy. It's also just plain fun and imaginative!
Longer review:
This month's series are the Above World books by Jenn Reese. I read the first book years ago and passed it onto a friend (who also liked it!), and it was finally time to finish the series.
The books open with Aluna, a Kampii, growing increasingly worried about how the breathing necklaces that allow her people to live underwater are failing. The elders in her community are just pretending that nothing is going wrong. When she takes the risk to go Above World in search of answers, followed by her good friend Hoku, her quest takes her to the mountains, desert, and skies.
These books take mythical creatures common in fantasy worlds and re-imagine them as scientific creations dreamed up to save the human race from an increasingly hostile Earth. Centaurs, griffins, serpents, and modified humans exist in various habitats. It's not quite dystopian, because a lot of the tech is working, but there is a bad guy with nefarious plans.
Common themes include how fear or hatred is often based in a lack of understanding and how getting to know the "other" opens your world in unimaginable ways. Friendship forms the book's core, though by the end of the series it was hard to keep track of all the characters. While there were touches of romance, I particularly appreciated strong male/female friendships.
The series is chock full of representation, both characters of color but also queer characters and disability representation. By the third book, one of the characters is using crutches. I happen to know that the author reached out to a good friend of mine, who is disabled, for help in describing their use and how the character adapted. The author did her work, in other words, and I think it shows on the page.
Lest you think the books are boring - they're not! There are plenty of fight scenes, tech discoveries, and the fun of constantly discovering new worlds. I think the books work for upper middle grade to young YA readers, and adults who love well-written, fun novels set in a future that's deeply imaginative and yet could flow from our own world.
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