Overall I enjoyed the story, but I felt like Bertagna tried to cram too much and too many characters in the story, and it didn't hang together as well as Exodus. Which is too bad, because I loved Exodus and was looking forward to reading this one. ( )

Didn't hold my interest the way the first one did. This sort of plods along without any big surprises or reveals along that way (and things that are supposed to be big surprises are telegraphed long in advance). There's very little sense that anyone's situation is as bad as it is--the words say it but the tone is ho-hum. In several places there are too-clever elements thrown in, like the discovery of a Tupperware box ("my great-grandmother used to have one of these; it keeps things fresh"), which pulled me out of the story due to my eyes rolling pretty far from the page.

There's a third book coming. I'll probably read it because I'm a completest that way, but I don't really care that much what happens to any of these characters. (Note: if you're going to read this anyway, try to keep details from the first fresh in your brain, because there's not a lot of recap here.) ( )

I really enjoyed Exodus, the first book in this series about a world where the ice caps have melted, much of the world has been flooded, and refugees seek safety and shelter as best that they can, while the wealthy live in amazing ‘sky cities’. I was more disappointed by this second book in which Mara leads a band of refugees north; Fox stays behind under the sky city, hoping to change the world in which he once lived; and we encounter Tuck, who lives in a flotilla of boats and has rarely if ever set foot on land. Some of the details are interesting, but I wasn’t captivated by the plot to anywhere near the same extent as I was with the first book. I suppose like any trilogy judgment needs to wait until after the third and final book, but I thought it didn't have the depth (or novelty) of the first book and wasn't as gripping plot-wise. ( )

Sequel to Exodus. Mara has left the floating city of New Mungo with a cargo ship full of refugees, and Fox has stayed behind to try to change his grandfather's government. Mara believes in the idea that there is land in the far north, and the ship is pointed in that direction. On the way, the ship accidentally destroys part of another floating city, Pomperoy, and the people there sail north, tracking the ship and plotting revenge. Tuck is a boy in Pomperoy whose mother was killed in the accident, and though he has much reason for revenge, he is more interested in the land -- something he has never seen before. Can those who have only known water make a life on the land, and will the violent people of Greenland allow them to stay and live in peace? The first book is stronger in plot and depth, but I have a feeling the events of the second are setting up an amazing conclusion to this trilogy. Good apocalyptic flooded world sci-fi: some battle scenes and more mature themes. For 7th grade and up, ( )

Reviewed by JodiG. for TeensReadToo.com

Once again, Mara is setting sail, fleeing from one unstable place to the promise of others. Again she is headed north and again she is bringing bedraggled and hopeful survivors with her. Everyone is searching for the same thing. A safe place. A home. Land.

In a world where global warming has melted all of the polar ice caps and the world has been flooded, there doesn't seem to be much to hope for anymore. Mara led her family and friends north only to find that the New World city of New Mungo wasn't the salvation they had hoped for. Mara's cyberworld friend, Fox, has stayed behind to battle the corruption, while she sails north with Rowan, the Treenesters, the Urchins, and other escapees from New Mungo in search of the land Mara is sure exists.

Along the way, Mara will meet Tuck, a boy who has only ever lived on the sea. He lives on a floating "city" of connected boats, barges, and bridges, among people with a history of piracy. The navigational course that Fox programmed for Mara's ship didn't include such a civilization - and the ship causes damage to Tuck's people. He joins his people in pursuing the great ship with vengeance in his mind.

But, Tuck's people aren't the biggest threat facing Mara and the refugees of New Mungo. The safety of a distant land may also offer more danger than they ever imagined. And the very act of living is a hard-earned accomplishment as lives are won and lost in this inhospitable new world.

ZENITH is an exciting sequel to EXODUS; I found it to be even more intense and thrilling than the first novel. Julie Bertagna continues to describe a world that could be all too real if threats of global warming aren't taken to heart. ( )