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    Dark Life
    Dark Life
    Dark Life
    Audiobook7 hours

    Dark Life

    Written by Kat Falls

    Narrated by Keith Nobbs

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    DARK LIFE is set in an apocalyptic future where rising oceans have swallowed up entire regions, the Earth’s shifting plates have fractured entire continents, and pollution has eaten away the ozone layer. On the dry land left, people live packed like sardines, stacked in towering skyscrapers where space is a rare and precious commodity. In this world, the only people with any land of their own are those who live on the ocean floor in sub-sea settlements.Much like the homesteaders of late 19th century America, these underwater pioneers (“Dark Life” as they’re pejoratively called by “Topsiders”) have carved out a life for themselves in the harsh deep sea environment, farming the seafloor in exchange for the land deed. Though they’re often treated with suspicion by Topsiders who believe them to have supernatural Dark Gifts, the homesteaders are a fierce and proud bunch. Sixteen-year-old Ty has lived his whole life on his family’s underwater homestead, and has dreams of claiming his own stake when he turns eighteen. But when outlaws’ attacks on government supply ships and settlements threaten to destroy the underwater territory, Ty finds himself in a fight to stop the outlaws and save the only home he has ever known. Joined by a girl from the Topside who has come sub-sea to look for her prospector brother, Ty ventures into the frontier’s rough underworld and begins to discover some dark secrets to Dark Life. As Ty gets closer to the truth, he discovers that the outlaws may not be the blood-thirsty criminals the government has portrayed them as. And that the government abandoning the territory might be the best thing for everyone, especially for someone like Ty, someone with a Dark Gift.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherScholastic
    Release dateMay 1, 2010
    ISBN9780545238892
    Dark Life

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    Reviews for Dark Life

    4/5

    234 ratings32 reviews

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    • 2/5
      Very imaginative. But quite boring for me. Thankful it was an audio book. If not for that wouldn’t have finished book.
    • 4/5
      Reason for Reading: I've read a couple of other books about permanent settlements on the sea floor and find the concept quite interesting.It is the future and an experimental colony on the sea bottom is flourishing. Ty was the first child born sub-sea and it's the only life he knows. When Gemma comes from Topside looking for her brother she joins him in a journey to safe the colony from a force that seems to be out to get the pioneers. A band of Outlaws are attacking pioneer homes, killing their livestock, invading their homes and deflating them, plus Ty and Gemma have evidence they might have killed someone. Things are taken to such a point that Ty and other sub-sea children must reveal a dark secret they have been keeping.This was a fun read. I read the book in a day and carried it with me everywhere. The descriptions of underwater life sound plausible to this layman. The way the community is set up is very intriguing and makes one want to visit such a place. I've always thought that underwater living would make a much more sensible next step than colonization of another planet. Ty has a whole family who play a part in the book's plot but Gemma is the one who brings the popular orphan theme into play. I found Ty to be a bit of a whiner, disrespectful to his parents and authority so I never particularly liked him but, nevertheless, the book did have an easy to read, pleasant narrative with a sense of humour. The plot becomes quite involved as we have Ty and Gemma searching for the Outlaws, the Outlaws running amok with the pioneers and the government eventually gets involved leaving the colonists in a worse situation than before. Be prepared as the secrets are revealed make this a compelling read.
    • 5/5
      Enthralling,original pageturner by Author made complete by truly incredible narration
    • 5/5
      Very fun read. Kept you wanting more. Wish there were more than 2 books in the series
    • 5/5
      This book was hands down amazing!!
    • 3/5
      Dark Life (Dark Life #1) by Kat Falls is a futuristic book in which the world is so crowded that some folks live in the sea. They have settlements there complete with crops and everything. Weird but cool but not very believable. This story is about an orphan that runs away from a cruel orphanage and ends up meeting a guy who lives in the sea. He takes her down to show her his home. There is corrupt government, gang of trouble makers, and people after the girl. I liked the idea and the plot was good. Characters and dialogue was also well developed and seemed appropriate. The corrupt government seemed forced. The settlement didn't have enough science behind it to make it seem possible. Overall a fair read for teens. Didn't make me want to follow up on this series if there were more.
    • 4/5
      When 15 yr old Ty, who has always lived on the ocean floor, helps topside girl Gemma in her quest to find her brother, they come up against outlaws who threaten their underworld existence, but also learn that the government may be an even greater threat. Futuristic dystopia with a well-developed setting, fast moving plot, and lots of action. "Dark gifts" that the kids have developed as a result of living underground come slowly to light and become a strong subplot. Government interference has a Revoluntionary War feel, a "taxation without representation".
    • 3/5
      Ty lives in an underwater colony that was formed after the earth started to fall apart. He meets a Gemma, a topsider searching for her brother and decided to help her. Ty is also dealing with his life and trying to be normal struggling against problems with the government and dealing with his own self.

      I typed out this whole review and lost now I am retyping and I just know this one wont be as good, so I apologize in advance. Ty is an incredible character and was extremely likable and easy to relate too. His sister Zoe is also a great character and I kind of wish we saw more of her in the book. The way people live in the colony makes people grow up very quickly so Ty is extremely mature but like most teenagers still a little bit lost when it comes to figuring himself out, although his situation is probably a little bit stranger then most.

      We don't get a lot of information about what living up above is like. Just little scraps here and there and most of it is extremely negative, but the descriptions of sea life, both animal and how the people in the colony live are just incredible. They sound amazing and gorgeous.

      Although this is not exactly the kind of dystopia we are used to seeing, mainly because the people from the colony live so separate from the colony that the day to day life seems quite normal. It is only the large deprivations that the government infringes on the colony that are seen. This definitely could has strong themes and ideas of how much power a government should have both over it's people and it's colonies.

    • 3/5
      3.5 stars Interesting concept.
    • 3/5
      This book was very intriguing! The setting was well-described, the plot fast-paced, and the action and mystery always present.

      Author Kat Falls describes a fantastic undersea world! The description she puts into how daily life "flows" undersea is phenomenal and so imaginative. I felt like I was living in the ocean with Ty and Gemma! Bravo to Kat Falls on that!

      Dark Life starts off with a bang and doesn't ever stop! I appreciate the series of actions strung throughout the novel. There was never a dull moment; and I loved that. Once you think you've figured out the plot, you're wrong because Falls then "hurls" another one of her brilliant plot twists right at you! The mystery, suspense, and action was well-played in Dark Life.

      The one critique I have is that I just wish that the characters were a bit more well-developed. At the end of the book, I felt like I still didn't know much about the main characters, Ty and Gemma, except for superficial facts about them. Additionally, I felt like the other suppoting characters were also kind of one-dimensional, just there to move the plot along. If Falls touched-up her characterization, I think Dark Life would most definitely be a 5-star worthy book (and more)!

      All in all, I loved Dark Life and I recommend it to anyone who is looking for an excellent (quick) read!
    • 4/5
      A great blend of science fiction and Wild West, although in this case the taming of new territories takes place on the ocean floor, since global warming has shrunk the continents down to the point that there is not enough "topside" land. The action is fast and furious, and while it stretches credulity at times, the plot twists will keep adventure-lovers on the edge of their seats.
    • 4/5
      Engaging underwater adventure set in Earth's future.
    • 5/5
      It often amazes me how an author can pull in a reader with just a handful of words in an opening paragraph, making that reader want to continue reading more than anything else at that moment in time. Kat Falls pulls this off with remarkable ease, especially considering this is her debut novel:

      "I peered into the deep-sea canyon, hoping to spot a toppled skyscraper. Maybe even the Statue of Liberty. But there was no sign of the old East Coast, just a sheer drop into darkness."

      And she has not been let down by the designer of the book's cover. If any book was going to shout "Buy me!" from a book store shelf this summer it is going to be this one.

      Dark Life is set in the future, when the oceans have risen due to global warming. Land is now at a premium with the majority of the world's population living in tightly packed high rise towers, and people only venture out smothered in super-high factor sunblock in order to stop their skin from being stripped away by the extremely high levels of UV radiation that now bombard the planet. In an attempt to forge a better life a small number of brave individuals and fmailies have set up homesteads on the sea beds, staking claims to land just as the pioneers of the Old West did one hundred and fifty years ago. In fact, the parallels with the Old West do not stop there. Imagine all those classic Westerns that are repeated on TV ad infinitum, but in a future setting, where the farms are underwater, the crops farmed include plankton and kelp, and outlaws travel in submarines instead of on horseback. Ms Falls has taken a period in american history that we all know so well from decades of Hollywood movies, and has used this as the basis for her creation of a fully realised and fascinating future world.

      The story is told through the voice of Ty, a teenage boy whose mother and father own 200 acres of ocean floor. Right from the start we discover how different Ty's life is from your average modern day teenager when he has to evade a green lantern shark - only twelve inches long but able to "rip apart something twenty times their size". On balance I generally prefer third person narration, but the telling of this story in the first person really worked for me - Ty's life is so alien to anything that a young reader has ever experienced the first person narration really helps us get inside his head and understand his hopes and dreams, and his fears and frustrations. Ty can come across as a little too goody-goody at times, and yet he is also a rule breaker as he bravely takes risks and ignores the boundaries set by his parents as he seeks to explore his fascinating world. With so few teenagers to socialise with who can blame him for wanting a little excitement?

      Excitement suddenly comes along by the truckload when he meets Gemma, a Topsider who has run away from her boarding house and is searching the subsea area for her long lost brother. From the moment the two meet Ty's life seems to go into overdrive as he races from one near-death experience straight into another, facing deadly creatures and bloodthirsty outlaws, whilst also trying to hide a dark secret about himself and his sister. Rumours abound amongst Topiders that children born beneath the waves have special mutant powers resulting from the 'unnatural environment' in which they live. Ty, his sister and his friend Hewitt have spent their lives hiding their powers from everyone, including their parents, as they worry that their parents will worry about any potential long-term damage and move the families back to dry land. Gemma has her suspicions right from the start, although some of this is prompted by Ty's physical appearance - his skin shimmers, a product of eating bioluminescent fish.

      I think boys will love this book. The action is non-stop throughout - there is certainly no chance to get bored. The subsea world is truly fascinating, and although the concept of people dwelling beneath the waves has been around for centuries, in Dark Life it is explored in a fresh and original way. Most of all I think boys will love the villains of the story - the ruthless Shade and his Seablite Gang, the most feared outlaws beneath the waves. These guys are nasty, seemingly happy to kill anyone if it suits their cause.

      Unlike many books being released these days this book doesn't end on a cliffhanger, and all the loose ends and various little mysteries created by the author are brought to a satisfying conclusion. I would be very disappointed however if this isn't the first in a series as I very much want to see what happens next in the lives of Ty and Gemma in their underwater world.
    • 4/5
      Listened to audio edition from Scholastic narrated by Keith Nobbs. Sadly, the narration/audio production was mediocre; I couldn't always tell when a character was thinking vs. speaking and the characters weren't always well differentiated either.

      I thought the story was quite good - fast-paced with lots of action, but strong relationships between the characters as well. The world-building was fascinating and believable to me. I could tell I was invested in the story when the government's unfair decisions started making me really mad. There were some twists that I figured out, a few that were fairly obviously telegraphed (Hey, turns out, dark gifts are real!), and some that took me completely by surprise, but made sense. Another review mentioned that the story comes off as being very cinematic and I'd agree strongly with that. The setting was unusual, but the story beats were of the tried and true variety with the final scenes in particular feeling very familiar from family matinee style movies.

      While this doesn't break any new literary ground, it's a rip-roaring good adventure story that I'd recommend anytime.
    • 4/5
      There is some seriously cool world-building going on up in here. I'm glad I squeezed finishing off this book in between watching Easy A with my family (pretty awesome) and trying NOT to watch Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (all music by Burt Bacharach...nuff said). Kat Falls' first novel is set underwater in a future where most of our land is under the ocean and the majority of people live in crowded tenement blocks. Ty, the teenage protagonist, is the first child born in the underwater colony and its only male teenager. (though there ARE other kids) Most of the action surrounds a "Topsider" girl, Gemma, who appears at the ocean trading post looking for her lost brother and the outlaw gang that is harassing the supply lines to the settlement.

      Here is an equation to sum up this book: Underwater awesomness Outlaws a la Firefly fun (if a little juvenile) writing style quasi super powers = This book. The climax was a little anticlimactic, but not in terms of action--it just seemed too hurried. Overall, though, the world was really interesting and I'd definitely (will definitely? I don't know if there is a series in the works) read more books set in Kat Falls' underwater world.
    • 4/5
      Ty is the first human born and raised sub-sea. He and his parents are part of an experimental territory of farmers set up underwater after the sea-level has risen so high "topsiders" are forced to live in stack cities or on townships floating on the ocean. When Ty meets Gemma, a topsider searching for her brother, they team up to not only find him but also figure out who is trying to put the territory out of commision by shutting down their electricity and stealing their oxygen. I enjoyed this book immensly and loved the idea of colonies of people living below the sea. The "dark gifts" of Ty and his sister make this a less believable future, but still one that kids will enjoy reading about.
    • 3/5
      When fifteen-year-old Ty, who has always lived on the ocean floor, joins Topside girl Gemma in the frontier's underworld to seek and stop outlaws who threaten his home, they learn that the government may pose an even greater threat.
    • 5/5
      This book is complete with suspense, romance, mystery and science fiction. You can't put it down because each chapter leaves you hanging for what is to come. You meet Ty, who was born under water and Gemma who is a ward of the 'commonwealth' and is a topsider. This unlikely duo are on a mission to catch outlaws who are putting Ty's world of living underwater at risk.
    • 4/5
      In this dystopia for the younger set, a settlement is started under to farm on the ocean floor. Ty and his family are among the founders of the community, which is living in fear of the Seablite Gang. When Gemma shows up from topside looking for her missing brother, Ty and Gemma become partners in adventure. While it was a bit slow at the start, the book picked up the past and included many twists and turns. There are undersea pirates, rumors of dark gifts, and lots of action. The doctor's character surprised me. I think this will prove a popular Caudill choice.
    • 5/5
      I found this book at my school's book fair this year. The cover alone grabbed my attention. I read about the book and it sounded really interesting so I bought it. After that I couldn't put it down! This is one of the best science fiction books I have read in years. The world created by Kat Falls is very vivid and fascinating! The story was fast paced and the characters were interesting. I highly recommend this book and I am anticipating the sequel which will be released in August!
    • 5/5
      I really enjoyed this book. I fell in love with the world that Falls created--I've always wondered what it would be like to live under the sea. Her descriptions of subsea life were very detailed. I loved reading about the jellyfish-shaped homes and the various underwater activities/hobbies that the settlers did. It sounded like a place I would love to live at.Ty was a great narrator. For some reason, I had been under the impression that he was twelve (maybe from reading a typo in a review?), and I was a little apprehensive about that because I don't usually read books narrated by someone that young. Needless to say, I was relieved to learn that he was actually a quite mature fifteen-year-old. Right away he meets up with a fifteen-year-old girl named Gemma who came from the Topside (what they call the tiny space of land left after much of earth fell into the sea) who was searching a deserted sub for her brother. A friendship immediately grew between them and they went through a number of adventures while searching for her brother and avoiding the Seablite gang (a group of outlaws that rob government ships, and lately, subsea settlers' homes). The novel was very action-packed and I loved every minute of it. Also, there was a surprising twist at the end that blew me away. I especially liked learning about the Dark Gifts. I won't spoil that part for you, but I'll just say that this first book is a very promising start to an interesting series. I'm really looking forward to the second book.*Recieved my copy for review
    • 4/5
      Summary:Dark Life takes place in an apocalyptic future time, when the ozone layer has been depleted and a large portion of the Earth is underwater. With space being limited, people resort to living either in crowded "stack cities", slathering their skin with zinc oil to protect them from the sun's harmful rays or going sub-sea.Ty, a fifteen year old boy, lives underwater in a settlement called Benthic Territory. A place where underwater pioneers farm the sea floor in exchange for a land deed. His parents, the scientists responsible for designing the territory were among the first settlers of the territory. Ty was the first child ever born sub-sea. He dreams of someday farming his own plot of land, which he can purchase on his eighteen birthday.Recently, however, the homesteaders have come under attack by the outlaws in the Sea Blithe Gang. A malicious gang attacking government supply ships who have now started invading homesteads. Ty's parents are becoming concerned living sub-sea may no longer by a safe place to raise a family. Plus, the government threatens to shutdown Benthic Territory, forcing the sea dwellers "topside" unless the gang is captured - dead or alive.Ty absolutely refuses to let a gang of outlaws step in the way of his dreams, he vows to bring these lawbreakers to justice, even if he has to do it alone or if it means risking his life. But then he meets Gemma, a beautiful young "topsider" on sort of a quest of her own. She is searching for her long lost brother. Together they embark on an undersea adventure which involves, mystery, outlaws, government cover-ups and unexpected discoveries you wont want to miss!Ramblings:BACKGROUNDThis is the debut novel for author Kat Falls, she came up with the idea by combining three things that her son loved to read about into one story – the ocean, Old West pioneers, and the X-Men. This is the first book in a series, of unknown length. The next book Rip Tide is due to be released in August 2011.SETTING, PACE AND & STYLEDark Life takes place in the future, in an underwater settlement called Benthic Territory. This book is action packed. In the first scene of the book the reader is already on the edge, as Ty enters a deserted submarine in order to escape a shark attack. Kat Falls has a light and easy to read writing style. She's very imaginative using fresh idioms, a sort of underwater "slang" throughout the book. Some examples are: whenever something is monumental, the character's use the phrase, "That's Glacial" or if someone is in trouble one may say, "What in the great ocean..." replacing, "What the heck..." A derogatory name calling might contain "chum sucking" as in "chum sucking outlaws." It was a very cute aspect of the story, something which really stood out.CHARACTERS AND PLOTTy, a fifteen year old male, born and raised sub-sea is the narrator and main character of this book. (Its rare to have a male narrator in a middle grade book.) His parents are scientists responsible for designing the underwater structures and homesteads. Ty is an adventurous, brave explorer who always seems to have trouble nipping at his heels.Gemma is a fifteen year old, orphaned at a young age. She is now a ward of the state, hopelessly looking for her brother so he can sign her emancipation order. Ty relents to helping her on this quest, even though it leads him into trouble more times than not. There are outlaws, a Sea Blithe Gang and a unfair government to contend with, making life sub-sea an extreme challenge for anyone. Especially when the leader of the gang, Shade possesses so many secrets of his own. Dark Life contains many twists and turns throughout the book, keeping any young reader interested and engaged. Recommendation: ON A PERSONAL NOTEI recommend this book to both adults and children over the age of 10 years old. It would be a great one to read aloud. I listened to this one as an audio book, myself. This story has a boy narrator so it would be the perfect book for boys to read as well as girls, especially since its chock full of adventure, mystery, suspense and action.RATING I am a scuba diver, so I could really both appreciate and visualize this world. Quite a lot of detailed research must have went into putting this book, especially on underwater fish and fauna. Adult readers will surely notice its written for a middle grade audience, but that doesn't mean it can't still be enjoyable. I love the way Kat Falls breathed life into the underwater community of Benthic Territory. The hero's were chivalrous, the story exciting, I enjoyed it from start to finish and was sad to see it end. My favorite character, hands down, was Ty's spunky younger sister Zoe. I hope to see more of her in the next book, Rip Tide due out in August.
    • 4/5
      I had been wanting to read this book forever. When I saw that the 2nd book in the series, Rip Tide, was due out soon I decided to pick this book up at my local library. It was a great read. It wasn't as complex of a story as I was hoping for but the characters were engaging and the world absolutely fascinating.Ty lives in an undersea colony. After earthquakes shattered continents and toppled them into the oceans humans have two choice: live on an overcrowded landmass or live in an experimental ocean colony. Ty is the first kid to be born and raised undersea; it seems that growing up under that much pressure does something to children's brains giving them strange powers called Dark Gifts. When Ty's home is threatened by the Seablight gang; the Commonwealth abandons the underwater colonies telling them to deal with the gang problem themselves. Then a girl shows up named Gemma; she is a Topsider searching for her brother. There is a lot more going on with the Seablight gang than anyone initially knows and Gemma may be tied to it all.This was a very good read. The writing style was a bit simpler than I was hoping for and definitely targets a Middle grade age group. Still, it was easy to read and engaging. I absolutely love the idea of humans trying to survive under the ocean. Falls put a lot of thought into how humans would survive under the ocean and came up with some great ideas. I also loved the idea behind the Dark Gifts and really hope we get to read more about that in future books.The book is done from Ty's point of view; as a reader we spend most of our time with Ty and Gemma. Both were very likable characters. It took me a bit to really get engaged with them though. Ty comes off as very stand-offish early on, Gemma as kind of a brat....but by the end of the book I really liked them and enjoyed reading about them. The characters around them aren't filled out very well. We do get to learn a lot about Ty's sister Zoe and she was also an intriguing character.I was kind of hoping that the main conflict in this book was over something really central to the dystopian set up; I was a bit disappointed that it ended up being a gang they were trying to track down. I guess I was hoping for something more far-reaching. As I reached the end of the book though I was happy to see that future books in this series promise to introduce more far-reaching issues and conflicts. This book was more like an introduction to this world than anything.The book wraps up neatly but it is clear that there will be future stories involving Ty and Gemma and the Seablight gang.While the book mainly focuses on building up this really cool undersea world for the readers there are some serious issues touched on. Overcrowding is discussed as is "racial" discrimination (the kids with the Dark Life are feared, and there is a lot of tension between the Dark Life dwellers and the Topsiders). You don't get to learn a lot about the broader world; the focus is kept pretty tight and just deals with the immediate area the characters live in.Overall I really enjoyed the world that is set up here and ended enjoying the characters too by the end of the book. I am eager to read about future undersea adventures and learn more about this world as a whole. I was hoping for a story that was a bit more complex and for something a bit more far-reaching; this book is mainly introducing the reader to this world and doesn't delve very deeply into how the world got that way or the deeper consequences of what is happening to the world as a whole. Still those were just my expectations coming in.The writing style is pretty simple and easy to read; it's appropriate for younger kids as well as older. Readers who love dystopians and are intrigued by the idea of humans living in the ocean should find this book an excellent read.
    • 5/5
      Much of the world has crumbled into the ocean and a small group of people have taken up residence there. Strange things are said to happen to those that spend too much time under the sea. They call this phenomenon "Dark Life".While the focus of the book isn't so much the Dark Life itself as an action-packed search for a gang of submarine riding outlaws; it definitely has potential. Some of our characters happen to be Dark Life. (I don't want to spoil it for you about which ones.) They use their earned traits to help solve the mystery.I'm hoping for a sequel.
    • 3/5
      Global warming has caused sea levels to rise causing crowded living conditions. Some pioneers have moved to the ocean bottom to live and raise crops of seaweed and fish to feed the surface population. Ty lives in one such settlement with his parents and younger sister. It is an interesting life style to say the least. Intriguing scientific advances such as Liquigen to breathe underwater make it possible to work in this environment. The comparison of their living quarters with the ones topside make this life seem preferable even though highly risky and dangerous.Reading this book made me think of the movie The Abyss with the moon pools and propulsion gadgets. I also had a bit of the feeling one might have of the darkness and pressure always present, not entirely comfortable for me. A very good science fiction adventure.
    • 5/5
      Due to global warming causing the land to flood and the eastern seaboard to sink into the ocean, there's not enough land for people to live on and barely enough to grow food. In an attempt to solve the food and energy shortages, the Commonwealth government allowed settlers to move under the ocean, to own their own land, as long as they harvested kelp and fish and maintained the energy resources for those who live topside. Engineers and scientist jumped on the chance to create underwater homesteads and develop farming practices that would help feed people. Many of these scientists also became some of the first underwater settlers of the Benthic Territory. The promise of having your own home and a hundred acres after two years of working the land draws many more people looking to make a new life. Despite the fact that many of the settlers are some of the best minds in their fields and provide them with food, Topsiders believe it unnatural not to live on land. They call the Benthic Territory settlers "Dark Life" a reference to bacteria that the settlers find insulting. Then throw in the fact that lack of sun exposure makes them very pale and eating lots of bioluminescent fish give them a slight glow, and the settlers seem even less than a part of Commonwealth society.Ty was the first child born under the sea, and of the 22 children in the territory, he's the only teenager. His discovery of Gemma (a teenage topsider) gives him the first opportunity to socialize with someone his own age. Gemma is looking for her brother who is living in the territory, but nobody seems to know him. Gemma is amazed by life under the ocean, all of the space available, and the fact that settlers actually know who each other are. She's also quite intrigued by the stories of Dark Gifts. According to some doctors, a child born in the territory had his brain altered by the constant pressure and he developed sonar (like a dolphin). Ty is very uncomfortable with Gemma's constant questions about Dark Gifts, mostly because it's used as an excuse by Topsiders to ostracize settlers' children.While helping Gemma find her brother, problems with the local Seablite Gang. Instead of sticking to raiding government supply ships, they've started attacking homesteads, cutting off power causing the homes to sink and valuable livestock to be lost. The local ranger hates being stationed in the territory and all the people that live there, and never leaves the docking ring above the ocean. The Commonwealth decides that the settlers must bring in the outlaws, dead or alive. If they don't, the government will cut all supplies to the territory: no liquagen, no medical, farm, or mechanical supplies. The settlers are desperate to save their homes, Ty is hates the idea of living topside and doesn't want to lose his chance to homestead, and Gemma's search starts to reveal some terrible secrets the government wants hidden.There was a lot of world building and explanations required to describe the life of an underwater homesteader, and Falls' wove this seamlessly into her story. The book had a nice pace, no clunky explanations, and some great characters. Ty is such a sweet character. He's the only boy his age and doesn't realize that Topsiders stare at him because he's apparently very handsome, he thinks it's just one more example of them not liking homesteaders. Gemma confuses him, a brash girl who's life has been a polar opposite of Ty's, she's the only girl his age and very pretty. Ty has the emotions that he can't even identify because they're so new, but he handles them, and the dangers they face because of the outlaws, with a level head, bravery, and a bit of grace. Underwater life, from how the homes are built, to how the livestock of fish are cared for are wonderfully explained in an easy to follow manner. What really stuck out was the fact that Ty would use underwater references to describe a smile, butterflies in his stomach, or the color of someone's eyes. At first a stomach full f comb jellyfish or seaweed green eyes doesn't sound very attractive, but they are representative of his life underwater and add a neat element to the story. I also really liked one of the younger boys, Hewitt. He hated living underwater and had this idealized version of life topside, he was a nice contrast to Gemma who had been equally ignorant of life underwater.I really don't want to get too much more into the story because they're are some nice little surprises and I'd hate to ruin them. Suffice it to say that there's action, mysteries, daring does, villains, strange abilities, crooked politicians, secret prisons, and budding relationship - this book pretty much had it all.Verdict:This book was a lot like Little House on the Prairie under the sea, but it was fun. The descriptions were fantastic and Falls had created such a great world that I was sad that it was a stand alone book. Luckily I was wrong and Rip Tide is due out May 2, 2011. This seems to be the start of an imaginative new series and I highly recommend you pick it up. I give it 5 stars, it's so different and I really enjoyed it.
    • 4/5
      In a future world where space on land is at a premium, Ty has lived all his life on the bottom of the sea. His family are pioneers who farm the sea floor but the Sea Blight gang are making life difficult and people who live ‘topside’ are suspicious of those they call ‘Dark Life’. Ty meets up with Gemma, a girl from topside who is looking for her brother and they soon find themselves in trouble.There is plenty of adventure in this book and the background details of the underwater life are fascinating. It would suit readers 12 and up.
    • 4/5
      This is obviously Firefly UNDERWATER, like some sort of deranged cross between SeaQuest DSV crossed with Little House on the Prairie. (Or maybe that one Disney Channel show with the whales? Whatever, I clearly watch too much old TV or something, and it's all beside the point.)The sea levels have risen, the ozone layer is gone, and some enterprising people have decided to just set up shop underwater. Some of them are good, solid, homesteading types. Others are rough, tough, miners - same old, same old. Oh, and there's underwater raiders, a Topside girl looking for her brother, possible secret powers among the kids, and plot twists! And without help from the government, EVERYBODY WILL DIE. (No, seriously - they can't even go outside without government help. NO. SERIOUSLY. They live underwater, don't forget!)On the plus side, the book was fairly exciting and easy to get through... especially at the end. It's like for the last two thirds of the book the author decided she'd spent too much time on world-building (and it's an exciting and fascinating world, no complaints here!) and decided to throw all her loose plot threads together in one massive explosion of STORY!!! So, yeah, the pacing could've been better. Just a bit. Unfortunately, that last third of the book, where everything gets resolved at triplespeed? Yeah... about that. There were a lot of shocks and surprises, but if you're in your double digits and/or have ever read a book or watched a TV show or movie, you won't be shocked OR surprised. Most of them I saw a mile away.I'll give this author her credit, she didn't over-hint. She just didn't pick very surprising plot twists. However, for a first-time author (I think?), that's fine. It's not that big a deal, and I liked the story enough to overlook how obvious a lot of it was.
    • 4/5
      The cover sucked me into this one, that and the whole dystopian idea of people living under the water. Falls' novel is intriguing, though she doesn't quite go as deep (no pun intended) as I'd hoped. I did enjoy it and hope that she writes more dystopia novels, because the atmosphere of Dark Life, and the world, were pretty awesome.
    • 5/5
      Ty Townson, the first child born underwater meets a "topsider", a girl from the surface. Ty lives in a settlement under the water, his parents helped engineer the city, and as a result, he's the oldest child in the settlement. Unfortunately, his settlement is now under attack from outlaws, and the Commonwealth has washed it's hands of the settlement. It's up to Ty, Gemma the topsider, and the other pioneers to save the day.