Sometimes I am just in the mood to browse the lists of available ebooks from my library. It’s a fun way to find books that I might otherwise miss out on. Which is how I found The Final Six, the first in a YA series that I really enjoyed. So I eagerly awaited the release of the second novel, The Life Below. I purchased a copy of this one a while back but I didn’t get around to reading it until just now. Where The Final Six focused on the selection of a group of teen geniuses to lead us into new frontiers of space, The Life Below focuses on their journey towards Europa, a large moon of Jupiter that residents of Earth hope to inhabit due to the climate being out of control here on Earth.
I probably should have made an effort to reread The Final Six before I picked this one up, but I didn’t, so there’s that. I felt that this book kind of is suffering by being a book in the middle. Naomi and Leo have been separated but not for long, as Leo has been specially selected to join the crew that’s headed towards Europa, but he’s flying solo as he wasn’t selected to be a part of the original team. I found much of this novel to be pretty boring if I’m being honest. I’m not sure what I expected but it was not nearly as good or readable as the first one. I can’t find evidence that this is supposed to be a trilogy (although I’ll assume since so many YA novels are.) There’s enough peeks at the action to come in the next installment so I’ll look forward to the third book. All in all, this book was merely ok. It’s kind of like the actual traveling part of a trip. The preparation is exciting and of course you look forward to reaching your destination. But the trip itself could at least be mildly entertaining. 3/5 stars.
Will Read for Food 