The Fog Diver (Fog Diver, 1)

This was such an interesting concept--a steampunk-ish feel in a futuristic, dystopian-type setting that's still solidly grounded in our world's history--or not so solidly, depending on who's telling the stories. ;) I loved the concept of the fog as a (rather eerily) plausible sci-fi concept instead of the unexplained fantasy-thing it could easily have been. And the feel of the whole world of the Rooftop was somehow both familiar and at the same time utterly foreign. Oh, and don't get me started on all the mixed-up stories that had "survived" from the "old times." I seriously wanted to drop my head on the desk and groan while simultaneously laughing out loud on multiple occasions...Loved, loved, loved the characters! Even though it took a while to get descriptions and I'm not sure I ever got exact ages for some of them, their personalities were so perfectly done that I had no trouble picturing them. Bea was sweet and cute and feisty. Chess made me want to just scoop him up and protect him from the world. Hazel's protectiveness and bossiness and general all-around take-charge abilities were to die for. But for reasons I can't quite lay my finger on, I think I fell hardest for Swedish. Sometimes grumpy, usually pessimistic, full of ridiculous conspiracies--sounds fun, no? But oh, he was!!! And just let someone try to touch his family... <3<3<3 Actually, the whole adopted-family aspect was one of my very favorite parts of the book, and I so adored their relationship. <33 And lest I forget, I love the fact that even with their different and distinct personalities, heavy responsibilities, etc. they still bantered and argued and got utterly silly at times just like normal kids. :D I especially loved the way they'd latch onto a new word and make it mean whatever they wanted it to mean at the time. XPThe stakes were definitely real and present--not to mention extremely high at times (okay, most times)! I was on the edge of my seat for most of the book, wondering if this next plan was going to work out the way they wanted it to and, if it didn't, what they were going to do next. There were any number of places where things seemed entirely hopeless, but...I won't spoil it for you. *points to rating for a clue* I was a little surprised at the almost-abrupt ending, but I hadn't realized (or had forgotten) that this was part of a series, so it makes sense for some things to be left to the next installment. ;)There were only a couple of things that detracted from my enjoyment and that pulled my rating down to four stars instead of five. In both cases, it was a single word or line that made no difference to the story but that came very close to making it a DNF for me. One was the expression "they'd be d----d" used only once in the narration, which felt entirely unnecessary, especially since there are a ton of other words that could complete that expression with the same effect. It wasn't anything said by one of the characters, but it still bothered me quite a bit. The other was a single line in the recounting of what had happened to the kids' former families referring to one character's "dads" being arrested. If that had had any significance to the story or even been mentioned again, I would have put it down. As it was, it really frustrated and saddened me that it was stuck in there for no reason. As it was, they were both one-off incidents with no relevance to the rest of the book, but they still came very, very close to crossing a line for me. At the moment, I'm knocking off a star because they did definitely taint my enjoyment of what was otherwise a fantastic book.Content--one use of "d----d" (see above); one reference to a character having multiple dads (see above); several uses of "butt"; mentions of swearing; fighting; people threatened with knives, harpoons, etc.; battles, crashes, and explosions; mentions of deaths; mentions of human experiments; stealing and general lawbreaking (not explicitly condemned) in a repressive society

PROFANITY: noneSEX: noneVIOLENCE: mildThis is a great read for its target age. My 9 year old son will love it but even my 14 year old daughter is taken with it. The story is fresh and different; It's a dystopian novel but not at all usual. Great plot twists and diverse characters with an intriguing mystery keep the action going. The author reveals the storyline piece by piece while skillfully building the world around the characters.My only complaint is this - the author cleverly has the characters mix up words and ideas from history (Made Marian and Robbing the Hood) but supposedly these stories come from bits of history collected in a scrapbook by Chess's father. If they read these stories they would know that the word was "kaleidoscope" not "colliding scope". Just a thought, but not one that's going to bother young readers.I have no qualms in recommending this series for all ages. I'm looking forward to the next book.

I have been looking for a new book series to get my 8 year old daughter excited about after she worked her way through several of Rick Riordan's series. She LOVED the Percy Jackson series and then moved on to his other series, but lost interest mid-way through his KANE CHRONICLES series. I think it was a combination of author overload (as the KANE CHRONICLES series marked the 12th book in a row by Rick Riordan she was starting. She even read the Percy Jackson- narrated companion books about Greek Gods/Heroes) and the fact that she was missing the Percy Jackson character in the world.In any event, I worried that she would stall out after losing interest in Riordan's KANE CHRONICLES. Instead of forcing her to finish that series, I let her cut bait and she decided to give this book, and its sequel, a try.And she's really loving it. She enjoys the world, the main character and often comments on the humor -- which is something that really appealed to her in the Percy Jackson books.So... All good. Anything that keeps her interested in books is a Win in my book.

It's like Kevin Costner's Water World being told with Roald Dahl's whimsical language. It's set in the far future, after the earth has been choked by a fog of Nanites (tiny pollution scrubbing machines that took over and started their own factories making more of themselves). Humans had to find higher ground above the fog. Civilization is tiered, with the richest at the top of the mountains and the poorest closest to the fog. Like Water World, everything is constructed out of remnants of the civilization mankind had to be leave behind. And like Roald Dahl, there is a lot of clever use of language. Common phrases and objects from the past (our present) are misinterpreted adding quite a bit of humor for the reader to catch on to.I was a little bummed it is the first in a series. I am getting "series-ed" out. But since I connected with the the characters I'll definitely read the second to see how it all plays out.I'm a fifth grade teacher and would even consider this as a read aloud (which is a big honor because we only have time for about 5 books over the year).

I loved how the author played today's phrases or food all mixed up and misremembered in this dystopian future. I laughed so many times, I lost count. And the story of chess kept me turning the page with the adventure in the unique fog world.

My 13 year old son LOVED this. He described the cast of characters and it sounds like things are pretty evenly distributed gender-wise, if you're interested to know. Both genders play key/important roles on the ship.

9 yeard old son read this in one weekend and was so immersed in the story that he insisted on buying the sequel (The Lost Compass) immediately. He talks about the characters with his friend that he ended up sharing the books with. We just got them back and I can't wait to sit down and read this story.

Sublime storytelling, thrilling edge-of-your-seat plot line and loveable characters. This book is a perfect example of how middle grade should read.

Loved this book!Just kept on reading to see how the adventures would turn out. The dialogues are brilliant, the characters unique and lovable, the plot is interesting and it involves aspects of climate change and pollution. Recommended for everyone, young and adult.

It's a great book, shame they only made two