BOOKTOPIA
Hi! My name is Inaya and I will be writing book reviews on my blog. My first review will be about Rick Riordans book, Daughter of the Deep. This is short summary about the book as told by Disney Books.
New York Times #1 best-selling author Rick Riordan pays homage to Jules Verne in his exciting modern take on 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Ana Dakkar is a freshman at Harding-Pencroft Academy, a five-year high school that graduates the best marine scientists, naval warriors, navigators, and underwater explorers in the world. Ana’s parents died while on a scientific expedition two years ago, and the only family’s she’s got left is her older brother, Dev, also a student at HP. Ana’s freshman year culminates with the class’s weekend trial at sea, the details of which have been kept secret. She only hopes she has what it’ll take to succeed. All her worries are blown out of the water when, on the bus ride to the ship, Ana and her schoolmates witness a terrible tragedy that will change the trajectory of their lives. But wait, there’s more. The professor accompanying them informs Ana that their rival school, Land Institute, and Harding-Pencroft have been fighting a cold war for a hundred and fifty years. Now that cold war has been turned up to a full broil, and the freshman are in danger of becoming fish food. In a race against deadly enemies, Ana will make amazing friends and astounding discoveries about her heritage as she puts her leadership skills to the test for the first time. Rick Riordan’s trademark humor, fast-paced action, and wide cast of characters are on full display in this undersea adventure.
My thoughts about the book are that it is an extremely interesting, fast paced book with exciting characters and a gripping story line.
This exciting undersea adventure throws together some wildly smart teens, cool tech, a hidden island base, and a cranky, 19th-century submarine. Even if young readers found 20,000 Leagues under the Sea a bit of a slog (as the main character did), they will dive into this modern update. It imagines Ana Dakkar, freshman at a prestigious school, as Captain Nemo’s last known ancestor, and the only one who can unlock the Nautilus’ secrets — that’s Nemo’s submarine, and it has AI, and it’s rather mad about being left alone for so long.
Like any good kid-centered adventure, this team of 20 freshmen has barely learned what they need to survive before their only adult support checks out (in this case, their advisor falls into a coma). Luckily they are all specially trained in just about everything at their school: combat, medicine, sign language, electronics, you name it. And they’re up against the senior class of a rival institute who won’t show mercy. Why they sent seniors instead of adult assassins and mad scientists, that doesn’t make sense. Nor does the idea that Ana’s school doesn’t want at least some of Nemo’s secrets out in the world. Who wouldn’t want the cure for cancer? How could that go wrong? But the missing logic doesn’t take away from the thrills here, especially when Ana encounters a surprise villain and a surprise deep-sea friend. And of course there’s a diver fight underwater as part of the climactic action — there has to be. Get your captain’s chair ready and enjoy this page-turner of an adventure, and get excited about the ones to come.
