Deepwater Landing
- Ken Catran
Publisher: Hodder Children’s Books
First Published in New Zealand 1993, published in Great Britain in 1995
Yoona’s spaceship is out of control. The enemy is back – and it wants to wreck the mission. But first it wants Denie Miles. Why does it hate Denie? What makes her different from the rest of the crew? Denie must find the unknown heart of Deepwater. Only then will the enemy be destroyed. Only then can Yoona and her crew reach their final destination. But what will they find there?
I’m finding it hard to objectively review these YA of the 80s and 90s books – as soon as I pick them up I’m filled with nostalgia for my teenage years again – the look, feel and even the smell of these older stories just brings back so many summer holidays and weekends spent reading on my bed. Especially so on these Deepwater books which I’ve kept since those days when I used to re-read them all the time. So forgive me if it’s a little hard to be objective!
Picking up more or less were Deepwater Black finished, this second book has Denie Miles, a secondary character in the first book as the narrator. Like Robbie in Deepwater Black, she’s a normal school girl who suddenly finds herself part of a crew in colour space a million years in the future. As if that wasn’t difficult to get her head around, someone or something isn’t keen on having an Earth girl as part of the crew and is determined to get rid of her.
There is action as Denie is one of these characters who is determined to stand up for herself both on Earth and on Deepwater and gets into trouble quickly. But she also has a brain and uses it to think her way out of trouble. I especially liked the way Denie listens to her intuition as well. The story builds on what happened previously and moves it forward with some very emotional scenes. More happens here at a faster pace and my only quibble is that apart from Denie and Yoona the rest of the Deepwater Crew are not given as much time as previously. Ken Catran has constructed a tense, taught story which moves at a fast pace but doesn’t lack for intelligence and imagination. Highly recommended!
Recommended for fans of Michael Grant. 8 out of 10
The Book Vixen's YA of the 80s and 90s Reading Challenge Book 2/12
I really need to check these out. I'm not a huge Michael Grant fan, but your review makes me curious. Thanks for bringing these to my attention. I'll have to see if the library has these books.
ReplyDelete