Sixteen-year-old Mara and her ship of refugees are tracking the North Star, desperate to find a homeland in the melted ice mountains of Greenland. The vast, floating city of Pomperoy is just one of the shocks that are not in their navigation plans. Unwittingly, the refugees bring catastrophe in their wake for Tuck, a gypsea pirate-boy, and also for Ilira - a land whose inhabitants exist in a state of terror at the top of the world. Back in the drowned ruins at the feet of the towering sky city, Fox is beginning his battle with the cruel, corrupt forces that rule the New World. But separated from Mara, his resolve begins to waver . . .

Grade 9 Up–A well-written and well-paced sequel to Exodus (Walker, 2008). Mara has sailed away with a group of people to find a land that may or may not exist at the top of the world. Fox, her true love and co-revolutionary, has chosen to stay behind to fight the corrupt government. Mara communicates with him using their stolen cyberwizz technology. Tuck is a sticky-fingered, misunderstood boy from a floating atoll of scavengers whose existence is said to have brought bad luck to his family and his town. After the ship that Mara is on destroys part of his town, he sees his chance of escape and stows away on it. Their quest to build a future while trying to survive will keep teens involved from the first chapter. While familiarity with the first book is not a necessity, it is recommended. Fans of postapocalyptic fiction will snap this novel up.–June H. Keuhn, Corning East High School, NY
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Starred Review In this sequel to Exodus (2008), 16-year-old Mara guides a ship of refugees north from New Mungo, hoping to find safe haven in Greenland now that their globally warmed world is almost completely submerged. Upon arrival their ship is sunk and they are enslaved by the barbaric inhabitants of Ilira, who live in apartment-style caves shuttered by automobile doors scavenged from the sea. Eventually Mara and a few others escape, hiking to an interior valley with a glacial lake where they settle permanently. Although told alternately by Mara, Fox, and Tuck, this is mostly Mara’s story—a plucky, imperfect heroine leading the way to an uncertain future in a hostile world filled with inhabitants who do whatever it takes to survive. Still, signs of hope emerge: Mara’s (and Fox’s) baby is born just as the group discovers their promised land; Fox finds encouragement in his campaign against world corruption; and Tuck rehabilitates himself from pirate and thief to builder of fantastic bridges. Sadly, Mara and Fox can no longer communicate (Tuck has stolen part of her cyberwizz, a tool for surfing the Weave), but with a forthcoming final volume in the works, fans can still hope for a reunion. Grades 6-10. --Kay Weisman