Rivers of Fire

By Patrick Carman

Rating: 4 stars

This finishes up the two book series about the planet of Atherton. The previous book is a must read if you want to follow this one and it is called Atherton: The House of Power. In this sequel, the three levels of Atherton have crashed into one another, creating a flat planet where once it was separated by tall cliffs. This merging of levels has created multiple problems, the biggest of which is the Cleaners--the gigantic monstrous creatures which used to eat all the debris on the bottom level but now will be looking for new sources of food--namely, all the people. So regardless of whether people lived in the privileged Highlands or in the villages, they must band together now to defeat the Cleaners or no one will live. Meanwhile, Edgar, Dr. Kincaid, Vincent, Samuel and Isabel are all traveling deep inside Atherton to the source of the water. There they find the evil Lord Phineus as well--but is he who he says he is? Secrets will be revealed, new alliances made, and an impossible trip through the depths of the planet are traveled urgently for the survival of all on the planet. And Atherton is not done moving yet....This book satisfyingly wraps up the cliffhangers from the previous story, although it isn't quite as compelling as the first book. Still, if you have read the first one, this is required reading! An interesting science fiction pair of books.