Atherton #1: The House of Power
Atherton #1: The House of Powerby Patrick CarmanI have never read anything by Patrick Carman before. And to be honest I don't know if I would have picked up this series on my own - mainly due to my preference for female main characters. I mean, what do I, personally, have in common with an eleven-year old boy, right? But when I was contacted to review the third and final book in this series, well, I have to say the entire plot intrigued me (even if I can never, ever spell intrigued right and have to let spell-check fix it for me!). I was lucky enough to receive the entire series to review and after having read the first book, I am hooked.I don't even want to write this review right now, I want to read book 2! But there was so much going on in The House of Power that if I don't write stuff down now I might forget. Hmm, maybe I should keep a notepad next to me when I read to write down things that pop into my head. Like a manual-twitter thing. Of course that might make reading into, you know, work and then I won't want to do it as much.Edgar lives on Tabletop. Above him are the Highlands and below him, the Flatlands. Those in Tabletop work in the grove and harvest figs and whatnot and send those figs up to the people in the Highlands. No one knows much about the Flatlands. The people in the Highlands aren't very nice, the people in Tabletop are ruled by the miserable and mean Mr. Ratikan who apparently works for those in the Highlands.But something is starting to change. The ground has been shaking and people are getting concerned about what is happening. Edgar, the only one who has the skill to climb the cliffs from one part to another has been trying to figure out what's going on with the world that he thought he knew. With new-found friends (Isabel in Tabletop and Samuel in Highlands) Edgar has to try and save his home and all the people in it.When you read this book (there are pictures! Woohoo!) you notice that Atherton seems to be one big social experiment. What happens when you have people with everything separated from those who know nothing but work and whose fruits of labour get sent up to those who have everything? What happens when suddenly, the two worlds melt into one and those who have-not are suddenly able to get into the place of those who have? How far will the Haves go to keep away the Have-Nots?The more I read this book the more I got into what was going on and how people were thinking and feeling. Meanwhile, good ol' Edgar is sneaking around and trying to figure out how to make things better. How to save Atherton from its impending doom.I truly liked Edgar. I was happy that the children in this book were written as just that - children. Not once did it sound like two 20-year olds having a chat about superficial things. The kids were innocent and resourceful. Isabel (who is 9?) was a nice combination of bratty and sweet. She obviously looks up to Edgar and wants to know what he's doing at all times and threatens to tell the grownups what he's up to if she can't come along. She ends up being a huge help to the plans that unfold. No one notices a small child who can hide easily. Samuel waffles between knowing what he should do (report that someone from Tabletop is sneaking around the Highlands) and wanting to help out Edgar and finally have a friend.I am longing to find out what else is about to happen to Atherton, so I am going to stop writing now and start reading the second book!Atherton trilogy