Atherton #1: The House of Power by Patrick Carman

My name is Edgar, and the Highlands are sinking into the ground. The people up there control our food and water, but I've been and searching for a message hidden in the cliff. I finally find a leather-bound book, but I've got to find someone who can read it. It's forbidden for people in my lands to read. I scale the rocks up to the Highlands and find a boy to help. The book says Atherton was created by a young man, but he may have gone crazy while doing it. The book goes on to say changes are coming that may lead to destruction and war. What is war? I later discover Mr. Ratikan's experiments are hurting people in my lands, and I must search for answers by scaling down more cliffs to the Flatlands. Many of my questions are eased, but I may also have discovered an end to all of the inhabitants of Atherton.


Visualize the setting as a three-tiered cake. Each level was a different part of the Atherton society with the House of Power located at the top. The residents of each level did not interact, and the people knew little about each other. The author did a great job of describing Edgar's hardships. He was singled out for extra work, had no friends, and was beset by numerous injuries. The kid lost a finger! I was easily able to visualize Atherton, but I had trouble understanding its creation. It was created by this genius kid, but I couldn't figure out where in the world it might be found. Was it even on earth? It was finally explained late in the book, but it bugged me. The pages following the resolution provide more information about the creation of Atherton. Overall, this was a solid book.