Omega City (Omega City #1) by Diana Peterfreund

Title: Omega City
Author: Diana Peterfruend
Publisher/Year: Harper Collins 1/10/17
Length:   352 Pages
Series:  Omega City #1

Overview

Gillian Seagret doesn’t listen to people who say her father’s a crackpot. His conspiracy theories about the lost technology of Cold War-era rocket scientist Dr. Aloysius Underberg may have cost him his job and forced them to move to a cottage in the sticks, but Gillian knows he’s right and plans to prove it.

When she discovers a missing page from Dr. Underberg’s diary in her father’s office, she thinks she’s found a big piece of the puzzle—a space-themed riddle promising to lead to Underberg’s greatest invention. Enlisting the help of her brother, Eric, her best friend, Savannah, and Howard, their NASA-obsessed schoolmate, Gillian sets off into the ruins of a vast doomsday bunker deep within the earth.

But they aren’t alone inside its dark and flooded halls. Now Gillian and her friends must race to explore Omega City and find the answers they need. For while Gillian wants to save her dad’s reputation by bringing Dr. Underberg’s secrets to light, others will stop at nothing to make sure they stay buried . . . forever.

My Thoughts

I needed to change it up a bit and find some more YA to read and i’m a fan of Diana Peterfruend so i figured no harm in reading this series. So what we have is the intro to a story that takes us on a journey of a family that’s been broken apart because their father is an author of a book that tried to debunk mysteries behind a scientists work and his notes were destroyed so he can’t prove the facts.  Because of this, their mom left, the kids have had a rough life moving away from what they know and the father can’t seem to get a credible following for anything so he’s kind of in a bind for work and any forward progress in life.

It’s not until the dad gets this new girlfriend who seems to rub the kids Eric and Gillian the wrong way that the story gets good.  There are so many questions around the scientists Dr Underberg’s whereabouts and some inventions of his because they would have been world changing and because of that, there’s so much scrutiny around anything that involves him.  When the girlfriend Fiona starts asking questions about the dad’s research (along with the fact that she’s young and pretty), Gills starts to wonder what her motives are.

That takes us to a missing page in a journal which gives us a treasure map and then a quest to find the missing invention (a battery that will last over 100 years).  This leads us to OMEGA CITY.

From there we have a series of events that happen while the kids not only find themselves being hunted by Fiona a 2 guys, but we find Eric, Gills and their friends Nate, Savvy ,and Howard in this underground city that’s booby-trapped, and falling apart and without ease of getting out.

There’s so much interesting thinking in this book.  We have a doomsday thought process here for preparation on how to survive a nuclear war.  We see a scientist who was so forward thinking that his inventions could revolutionize the world, and honestly i wouldn’t be upset if some of that stuff came to fruition in life since i have a feeling that we’ll need it at some point or another.

I can’t wait to see what’s next though in the sequel since there has to be more – i mean, we know what happened to Dr Underberg but we don’t what’s happened to his inventions and we don’t know what else there is for the father to uncover.  there has to be more right?  Enjoy!

Review: Among the Nameless Stars by Diana Peterfreund

I was searching on Goodreads.com for something new to read and found the prequel to another story that i readlly enjoyed ‘For Darkness Shows the Stars‘.  This prequel takes us deeper into Kai’s story – once he leaves the North Estate and travels to Channel City.

Once he finds himself as a ‘free post’ in Channel City, he sees that life isn’t as expected- the Posts are living a lifestyle that is quite different than any post lifestyle in servitude.  They wear clothes that only Luddites so far had worn and they have more money than they ever had when living on an estate.

So Kai works for a tailor at first and then when his mechanic ability is discovered by Pen – a Post who’s a ‘master’ that’s instilled the fear of God in people, he has no choice but to go and work for Pen.  That’s when Kai hears of the Innovations and where he’s plans unfurl.

It’s a short read, and not as in depth as i would have liked, but it was a nice quick read.  I kind of wished that there was more of a deep dive into Kai’s story and a lead into what we get in ‘For Darkness’ since that was quite the interesting tale, but none the less – it killed time and was worth the $2 that i paid for it.

 

For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund

One of the best things about reconnecting with family is realizing that they have similar interests as you.  This is one of the things that i’ve uncovered in reconnecting with one of my cousins over the past few months.  many of my new book reads are as a result of her recommendations and this is just another one of them.

It’s been a little while since i’ve come across a good dystopian style book, and this story was definitely a great read.  such a great read that i read it all in one night…so i’m pretty pleased with both the book and myself.

We’re introduced to Elliot  who is our lead character – and she’s yes she’s our lead female.  basically, her family is supposed to be the hgh society equivelant, in a society where those who thought they were equal to or better than god were ‘reduced’.  so her family is one of the powerful ones, that’s managed to last over the years, lording over their own group of Reduced and Posts.  Elliot of course has a better ‘inside’ than her sister and father (her mother passed away of course), and wants to do things to better the lives of those ‘below’ her vs. just trying to do for herself.

Kai – or Malakai is Elliot’s best friend growing up, a Post himself, and well – a runaway who found himself a better life.  sort of.  These 2 grew up as friends, ended up loving each other some how, but of course when Kai decided to leave to find a better life for himself, Elliot couldn’t and wouldn’t leave…which is where their big devide came.

so…without giving away too much, Elliot’s family is now bordering on not having enough to sustain their land and the people who live on it, Elliot does a little science work to develop wheat that can over produce and sustain, issues arise with that (mostly because that’s kind of what killed society in the first place, thinking that you could play god and create things that were better than what was already around).

Kai comes back to ‘town’ becuase he’s working for the INNOVATIONS – who some how manage to bring back some of the most amazing things and discover some of the most amazing lands during a time when such a thing isn’t possible

there are twists and turns, unrequited love among Elliot and Kai, and then endings that you don’t necessarily count on.  it’s a great spin on dystopian, and i kind of wish as i often do with stories like this that we had more of a back story  but all in all a GREAT read.  It’s also kind of based on Persuasion by Jane Austen so yet another reason to read…