Zenith, by Julie Bertagna

Hey all! 

I just finished Zenith, by Julie Bertagna! This is book 2 of the Exodus set, and is a re-read for me. If you want to see my review for Exodus, click here

"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 . . .”

This book starts right where the last one ended - Mara and her friends, a group of refugees, are on a boat on their way to Greenland, hoping that there is land there to live on. It’s 100 years into the future, and the Earth is basically a huge ocean due to global warming and ice melting. The first half of the book is them sailing to the hope of a new life. 

Mara is having a hard time leaving Fox, and knowing that they’ll never meet again for real really hurts. But she’s hanging onto the idea of being a leader, and bringing the group of people she met in the sky city to safety from the rising waters. 

In this book, a new character is introducted - Tuck, an pirate. Tuck is about Mara’s age, and sees his home destroyed... by her ship. Through several circumstances, he decides to abandon his group of pirates to to go a better future, and join Mara’s group. 

The rest of the book is basically them hiking through the mountains to find a big freshwater lake. 

I really enjoyed the whole environment aspect - at one point, Mara researches what Earth was like before the floods - it really emphasizes the idea that we know that the world is warming up, and that we should at least try to do something, before it’s too late. We know about sea levels rising, why can’t we do anything about it? 

(I swear, reviewing the middle books in a series is so hard! You already know the setting, yet there’s cliffhangers for book 3, so it’s like a filler book.. yet there’s spoilers and important stuff happening too! Get what I mean?) 

I feel like I could relate to Mara more in this book - she felt more realistic and had some reactions to little things that actually made sense! However, there’s some strange love-triangle-+1 thing going on that I’m really confused about. I’m planning on reading book 3 sooner than later, hopefully that problem will be resolved :) 

Anyway, that’s pretty much all I can say without spoiling it! I didn’t like this book as much as book 1, because I feel like this story was almost like an exoskeleton or something - it’s an amazing shell, but I feel like it could have gone so much deeper into the story! 

I’m giving this a 3/5 feathers!!

Have you read the Exodus series? What did you think about it? 

Also, do you have any realistic futuristic book recommendations? 

Have an amazing day! :D