Aqueous

May 15, 2023
Climate disasters amplified by greed have rendered Earth's surface uninhabitable and space travel impossible; now just three deep-ocean merstations stand between humankind and extinction. Desperate to ensure her last child's safety, Sunniva's mother surrendered her to Adm. Blaise and his wife, who name her Marisol. They're Aqueous' power couple, living in the merstation off the California coast (the other two are located in the Marianas and Kuril-Kamchatka trenches). A decade later, though grateful for the opportunities her loving adoptive parents provide, Marisol privately grieves her lost family. A top student and fierce competitor, she longs to become Aqueous' first woman cuvier, navigating the ocean beyond the merstation. Earth's surface needs time to become habitable, so Aqueous' inhabitants must pass on the scientific and technical skills that sustain their complex, vulnerable facility to future generations. Specialization is a must, innovative problem-solving, essential. Naviah, Marisol's ingenious friend, creates fashion from what fabric is available on Aqueous, where everyone receives Standard-Issue Dress clothes. In grueling trials that determine career placements, Marisol will need to beat her crush, Creighton, and her vulnerable friend, Felix. Ingeniously configured and persuasively detailed, this biosphere has heft. Pop culture is largely history, and race, nationality, and other cultural identifiers of the dying world have disappeared; social class, privilege, and binary gender norms have not. The cliffhanger ending guarantees sequels. Main characters read White. Refreshingly original, this dystopia delivers more than a dash of hope. (Dystopian. 14-18)

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