Years ago, a benevolent alien race came to earth, bestowed technology on the people of the planet, and left. Most obvious and vital, they left four towers to space, called Ladders. However, there are some who doubt their good intentions. Whatever the case, there are parts of these Ladders that require maintenance that only children are small enough to perform, and the opportunity to go up and be a part of the work being done in the Ladders is something that the best and brightest students vie against each other for. Among those students, are two best friends–Robbi and Azure–whose destinies will take them to vastly disparate places yet will ultimately draw them to the same mysteries.

I enjoy Orson Scott Card’s writing in general, and I enjoyed Laddertop, but I should point out right from the start that this graphic novel is notably different from much of his writing. Namely, it’s actually appropriate for a middle-grade audience (although it would be enjoyable for older readers as well); I’m guessing that’s the influence of his daughter, Emily Janice Card. There are definitely themes that track with his other writing though–kids getting dragged into space and mixed into stuff way more dangerous than they should at that age, just for instance. The art is a cute, almost manga-like style that works well for the story. The plot of this graphic novel starts out fairly sedate, with fun friendships, school tests, and the typical jockeying for position between kids. But as things get going and we actually follow our characters into space, we begin to see all sorts of plots and mysteries developing, plus some fun and cute friendships (or maybe more?) between characters. It gets quite interesting, which leads to the major downside of this story . . . it’s incomplete. Just where the story is really getting intense, we get dropped at a cliffhanger ending, and it’s been long enough since the original publication (2013 for the omnibus) that I really don’t think we’re getting anymore, which is just sad. I would have enjoyed seeing where the rest of the story went. Still, if you don’t mind the cliffhanger, what we do get of Laddertop is cute, mysterious, and engaging science fiction.

Note: Also, the space robot monkeys are adorable. 🙂 ( )