Horizon by Scott Westerfield

My name is Javi, and our plane to Japan has crashed in... I'm not sure where. We were flying over the Arctic, the plane started falling apart, and now we're stranded in the middle of a tropical jungle. You don't find any jungles around the frigid Arctic Circle. Most of the passengers, including all the adults, disappeared before the crash, and this jungle is unnatural. Anna found a strange device that can turn off gravity, but it also seems to attract the shredder birds that attacked me. (I wish I'd come up with that cool name!) Yushi found a source of water, but there are deadly, bizarre creatures lurking in the trees. Where are we? Two of the girls were able to see above the mist blocking the sky and discovered a red moon and green moon among the stars. Are we still on Earth? Is there any way back to our homes, and will we live long enough to find it?

This book was okay. The beginning had a creative hook to pull me in, the middle presented interesting problems, but that's where it ended. It didn't build to a climax, and I felt like the end just stopped. I assume the next book in the series will pick up where this one left off, but this book didn't feel finished. Four of the main characters were members of a winning robot team, so the plot reflects a focus on science. I didn't mind it, but you should be aware. The book was easy to read, but I just felt like the plot wasn't going anywhere. The kids explored and faced some dangers, but they weren't able to figure out what was going on and didn't meet any other intelligent life. By the time they made any significant discoveries, the book was over. I'm sure this book will have an audience, but it didn't work for me.