The Shroud of Ætheria

Vertical World #1

by Brian Crawford

On his sixteenth birthday, the Ætherian Rex Himmel learns that he is special--but no one will tell him why. Ordered by Ætheria's leader to join the militaristic Ætherian Cover Force, Rex soon finds himself involved in an investigation of several mysterious, frozen Cthonian bodies that have been discovered in Ætheria. Just as his team finds a reason for the bodies' appearance, Ætheria's power plant is destroyed in a violent attack from below. "The Shroud of Ætheria" is book #1 from "Vertical World," an EPIC Press series, a division of ABDO.

191 pages, Library Binding

Published August 1, 2018

Reviews

[Tom Malinowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aetheria, a city miles above the planet Cthonia's surface consisting of interconnected tubes to each other and even bigger tubes draw upon the planet's resources below. For hundreds of years no Aetherian has set foot down on the planet as the toxicity of the ground and air is lethal and everyone believes there is no existing life. However, when a small group of Cthonians make their way up to Aetheria in one of the tubes, the city is thrown into turmoil. Teen Rex Himmel is coerced into the Aetherian Cover Force, with the mission to get the bottom of a possible invading force.

The pacing of the story clipped along fairly well. I wanted a bit more description here and there instead of matter of fact. Beginning starts out strong with Rex 's world catapulted into chaos and the ending definitely has me looking forward to book two.