9/4/2015 The Neptune Challenge (The Neptune Project #2) by Polly Holyoke Review and GiveawayRead Now
Danger lurks beneath. . . .
Genetically engineered to survive in the ocean, Nere and her friends are recovering from their treacherous journey to Safety Harbor, an undersea refuge founded by the scientists of the Neptune Project. But plenty of enemies prowl just outside the colony's boundaries, and when two of the children are kidnapped, Nere, her loyal dolphins, and the other Neptune kids must set out on an expedition even more perilous than their first. Tasked with infiltrating the kidnapper's high-tech undersea base, Nere soon discovers that rescuing the missing Neptune kids isn't all there is to her mission: the secret to saving the world's oceans is hidden somewhere deep inside this vast fortress, and she and her friends will have to risk everything to find it. With bloodthirsty shark mutates and savage kids roaming the corridors, will Nere and her companions find a way to save their friends, themselves, and their underwater world? The stakes couldn't be higher in this thrilling sequel to the award-winning The Neptune Project. 352 pages Published May 19th 2015 by Disney-Hyperion Current GoodReads Rating: 4.69 Stars My Review: I was a little lost in the beginning trying to figure out the previous story, as it kept referencing back to events that had happened in the first book, thinking they would hold a large spot in the second book. It definitely would have been a better read if I would have read both, but I wanted to see if this would be a good standalone first. It seemed like they assumed you already knew everyone as they breezed through the introductions to about a dozen dolphin names and another dozen spliced together, mutant characters. It took me a few chapters to understand exactly what they were, if they were humans in scuba equipment, mermaids, or fish. After I got past the first few chapters and the adventure begins to Atlantea, I appreciated that the story focused in on just a few members of the large group of friends, in order to get to know them and their relationships with one another in more depth. The story held my interest and became more and more intriguing as the plot took shape. Then after arriving at Atlantea, I was hesitant that once again about another ten characters were being introduced and it acted as a speed bump as you had to learn what these characters had been spliced with and their relationships with one another as well. It took me another few chapters to understand clearly each of their roles in the story and get back to focusing on the plot. As the story developed I understood the purpose of each character, but the mass introductions to me seemed to break up the story line and make me lose interest for a bit. The second half of the book is where the action happened and it held my attention to the point I didn't want to put the book down. I enjoyed the development of the villain and getting to see all the tests he ran on the characters and then to see how his "lab experiments" really felt about each. The ending did seem extremely rushed, I know the “four day to attack” deadline was approaching fast and it was inevitable that they would have to try and escape soon, but I didn't like that two of the main characters were exiled and the story focusing on them locked in a dark room. When you realize what all went on outside of that room in that short time as the other characters put together a team and escape plan, I felt cheated to that part of the story. I think if this was a movie and I wasn't able to see the development of the escape plot I would be disappointed because that's one of the most exciting parts to the story, the other half being the actual escape. Even the actual escape was cut short as you only saw one side of the escape with the small team collecting the data they were sent to Atlantea for. You get to assume what happened in the epic fight with the sharkheads involving every other character in the book, with it mentioning scars and arms being bite off. I enjoyed the story and I would recommend this series to kids, but it ended with my wishing there was less in the front end of the story and more on the back end. I gave the book 3.5 stars out of 5. This book was so graciously given to me by the publisher for an unbiased, honest review. Thank you. Check out the Book Trailer and More Information about the book at: http://www.pollyholyoke.com/ |