Product Description

Edgar, a gifted climber, secretly scales the treacherous walls separating the three worlds of Atherton: the humble grove that is his home...a mysterious highland realm of untold beauty and sinister secrets ...and a vast wasteland below, where a monstrous danger lurks that could destroy them all.



While searching the forbidden cliffs for a treasure lost in his faded memory, Edgar discovers the first of many startling revelations to come: the three realms are beginning to collapse, turning his entire world inside out. Atherton is not what it seems, but something far more dangerous, with a history locked inside the mind of a madman and a future beyond Edgar's wildest imagining.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #112115 in Books
• Published on: 2008-04-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780316166713
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
The world of Atherton consists of three distinct, interconnected lands stacked atop each other like a layer cake. At the top are the Highlands, home to Atherton's rich and oppressive ruling class; the middle layer is the Flatlands, populated by Atherton's subservient working class; the bottom layer is The Wastelands where none dare venture, for the few that have done so have never been heard from again. When the three worlds inexplicably begin to collapse into each other, and the Highlands and Flatlands prepare for war, it may well be young, insatiably curious Edgar who holds the key to Atherton's survival. With soft, well-articulated vocalizations, Davis portrays a wide range of characters here, and his intimate delivery proves perfect for pulling the listener into the heart of this complex fantasy. The augmentation of his performance with strategically placed music and sound effects only serves to enhance his storytelling. Ages 8-up. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From School Library Journal
Grade 7–10—This first book in the series starts out reading like a pastoral fantasy set on a fig farm where children and adults labor side by side to handle the trees and reap the harvest. The farm is on Tabletop, which is bordered by a rising cliff on one side and a drop-off on the other. Edgar vaguely remembers his deceased father telling him that he had placed something in the cliffs for his son. The boy teaches himself to climb up there even though it is forbidden. When he finds the book his father left him on the cliff face, he knows that he must travel all the way to the Highlands above to have someone read it to him. But the world is getting more treacherous as the ground itself begins to rumble, shift, and change. The book that Edgar has holds the secrets of their entire world and its changing future. Despite the setting, this novel is actually not a fantasy but rather pure science fiction where a manufactured world created by a madman is throwing the inhabitants' lives into turmoil. It is a fast-paced novel with a unique setting, fascinating plot, and cliff-hanger ending. It shines because of the author's imagination and skill. The characterizations of even the secondary figures are skillfully done, which makes the world all the more vivid and believable.—Tasha Saecker, Menasha Public Library, WI
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
The social structure of Atherton perfectly matches its geography: the powerful live in the uppermost Highlands, source of the world's water supply; the middle tier, Tabletop, is occupied by serflike laborers. Then, a strange, seismic disturbance sends the Highlands collapsing into its lower neighbor, erasing the physical boundaries between the two communities. At the same time, a 12-year-old Tabletop boy named Edgar undertakes a quest centering on a forbidden book. Among other things (like the nasty monsters prowling the planet's lowest tier), he discovers that Atherton is a colony of a used-up Earth—and a vast social experiment. From good, courageous Edgar to the planet's mad-scientist creator, the characterizations remain rather simplistic, but readers may object more to the deliberate manner in which clued-in adult characters dodge Edgar's many questions, leaving numerous story threads dangling. Presumably this will stretch the puzzles across sequels, but in advance of that, readers will be caught up in the accessible, sf premise, extended with evocative illustrations. Meaty points about the arbitrary nature of privilege and ecological responsibility will provoke thought. A Web site and a huge print run indicate the publisher's high hopes for Carman's latest, which follows his New York Times best-selling Land of Elyon series. Mattson, Jennifer
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

Rockin' read!
Meet Edgar, a mischievous boy who likes to climb (which in a land of fig trees is a pretty good thing). Enter Isabella, who spies on Edgar as he climbs where he is not allowed (ie sister-like pest who turns out not to be so bad). One night Edgar finds a book, a glimpse of a memory from his past, hidden in the cliffs. But alas, poor Edgar cannot read. Nor can anyone that he knows, but he does know where people CAN read... in the Highlands of Atherton. Beyond where he is allowed to climb but he goes regardless meeting a young boy, Samuel. Samuel uncovers the truth to the earthquakes plaguing Atherton but before he reveals it to Edgar, Samuel is stolen away by some bad men. Ah yes, a story of secrets, adventure, soldiers, villians, action-packed war, and heroic deeds in an ever-fast changing world... you can't go wrong by reading "Atherton: House of Power." Atherton holds the same spirit of adventure that the "Chronicles of Narnia" and complexity of the "Ender" series. All ages will enjoy this story.

Wonderful story for all ages
Atherton is a world of four pieces. It includes a southern hemisphere and three flat planes above it: the poorest Flatlands, the peasant Tabletop, and the rich Highlands. The Highlanders are the leaders and readers of this world. They also control all of the water. If work crews in Tabletop send up enough figs, rabbits, wool, and mutton fast enough, then the Highland lords send down water in large baskets attached to ropes. If not, the control lords withhold the water. They also forbid Tabletoppers to learn to read or to have books and any they find must be sent up in the baskets immediately. Finally, the people of Tabletop are not allowed to climb up the cliff faces to the Highlands, under severe penalties. Nevertheless, young Edgar of Tabletop climbs the cliffs nightly, finds a book, and sets off to climb all the way up to Lord Phineas in the House of Power and ask Phineas to read it to him. An echoing voice remembered from Edgar's early childhood is spurring him on ("It [the book] will come to you.").

In reading The House of Power, Jonathan Davis does an admirable job of truly sounding like several different people of many ages. The echoing effect in parts of the CD audio provides an otherworldly flavor that helps one to suspend disbelief and enter Edgar's world of Atherton. Davis's reading voice is well modulated, easy to understand with excellent diction, and flowing with a moderate and enjoyable pace. The musical selections help to propel the story forward. By the end of the first disk, it is difficult not to continue the entire 8 hours at once.

Patrick Carman's story continues with Edgar finding codes to solve puzzles in his book, while earthquakes cause the Highlands to sink. Perhaps this will being about a class war as the fig grove peasants meet the controlling water lords face to face. As the Highlands lower, Edgar accompanies Dr. Luther Kincaid to the Flatlands to learn what kind of total world Atherton really is. The adventure is an enjoyable journey of discovery about a dying Dark Planet and its computers that helped to create Atherton as a refuge that is now collapsing. The sequel should be very good as well.

Armchair Interviews says: This selection is recommended for ages 8-12, but adults will also enjoy it.

They called me MAD at the university! But who's mad now???
Poor, Atherton. Poor, baby. If it's not one thing with you then it's another. If the CD-ROM included with your book doesn't have a glitch in it then you're berated in Publisher's Weekly for carrying half a cover. And on top of all that, your publisher's marketing department created an ad for you on the School Library Journal website that drew ire, fire, and fury for its insidious nature. Poor, Atherton. It's okay, honey, I still love you. The fact of the matter is, no matter what the flaws with your packaging and advertising may be, your book is incredibly fun. An exciting adventure with enough sci-fi drippings and fabulous plotting to overcome whatever string of bad luck you may collect later. So while I may have suffered personally from the crazy ad campaign of "Atherton", I'll tell you here and now that I liked liked liked this book. It's going to be hugely popular with any kid who reads it and you can bet that I'll be recommending it every chance that I get.

As far as Edgar is concerned, the world of Atherton has always been as it is now. On his level, people tend to the fig trees and raise sheep and rabbits. One a level above his (in the "Highlands" as they're called) are people there live a life of ease and luxury and control the flow of water that trickles down the sheer cliffs that separate his world from theirs. And on the lowest level, far below another cliff, is a barren wasteland where no one has ever gone and where no one even lives. This is the world as the boy, Edgar, has always known it and he doesn't think to question his existence until the day he climbs a cliff, finds a book, and discovers that there are secrets to this world that he never could have suspected. What's more, it looks like the different levels of Atherton are slowly sinking into one another. For good or for ill, Atherton is changing, and life is about to never be the same again.

I didn't actually intend to like this book. Patrick Carman's previous work on his Elyon series had potential but ended up a rather didactic fantasy series that never really distinguished itself from the pack. So for all that people told me that "Atherton" was a fun book, I could never really believe it. Let that be a lesson to you, my children. Whatever problems I might have had with the "Elyon" books, those foibles were completely and utterly absent from Carman's latest. The premise that there is a world that exists in layers with the rich at the top and the poor at the bottom crops up in children's literature from time to time (I'm thinking of Zilpha Keatley Snyder's, Below the Root series as one such example) and works particularly well here. And though he may not have realized it, Carman's book fits well into a variety of different literary tropes without really replicating a previous idea.

When I think of boys scaling rocky cliffs in children's literature, the first image that comes to mind is that old fairy tale about the princess at the top of a crystal mountain and the men who tried to reach her. Now the princess has been replaced by knowledge and the human desire to reach for it. The fact that his main character cannot read was a bit of a risk on the author's part. Normally a writer will somehow muck with his setting so that the protagonist is the ONLY person who is able to read. You know what I'm talking about. I'm sure you've all read stories where a kindly grandmotherly/grandfatherly character teaches a kid to read and that kid, in turn, has an advantage over their fellows. So for Carman to make Edgar illiterate, that's huge. It also gives the boy just the incentive he needs to scale the massive cliffs of his world.

The pacing of this book is also consistently impressive. It doles out information and action in equal amounts, never giving too much time to one aspect or another. Nine times out of ten, when a kid is in a children's book looking for answers only to be put off and told just a little information at a time, that bugs me. It didn't bug me with "Atherton" though. Carman knows just how to consistently satisfy a child reader's need for both story and suspense without ever giving too much away or frustrating the reader in the process. Secrets abound here, but there are enough left over at the story's end to make you want to read the sequel pronto. If I'm going to be honest with you, I'm a little miffed that I have to wait a year or two for Book Two to come out. I wish I could write the last sentence of the book here, as I think it's one of the cleverest endings I've seen in a series book in a while, but I won't spoil it for you.

Also, I love a book that takes place in the future that doesn't happen a measly 10 or 15 years from now. There's nothing that gets my goat more than the words 2015 and a view of Earth decayed and crumbling. This story takes place inn 2105. Thumbs up all around on that choice of date. And I liked some of the precautions Carman took in terms of time and memory. Stop reading here if you don't want to know a couple spoilers for the book. Now do you remember that horrible Kevin Costner vehicle, The Postman? The film takes place a mere fifty or so years in the future when no one can even remember anymore than there was ever a United States of America. Since time was of incredible importance in this novel and since there had to be characters that were around before the formation of Atherton (which is a floating planet above Earth) and during this actual story, there had to be a way to make the characters in this book unaware of where they'd come from. To this end, Dr. Kincaid, the creator of this world, makes a stipulation to anyone arriving on Atherton that they must have their memories wiped of their old life before arriving on this new planet. It makes sense in the context of the story and it allows the author a way in which to talk about a future that both makes sense and is seriously suspenseful.

It's not all sunshine and roses. For example, I'm not sure that I was a big fan of the narrative techniques used at times in this book. Sometimes Carman adopts a kind of "dear reader" voice that feels a touch at odds with the rest of the text. Sentences like, "It was midday when Edgar arrived at a place in which we are well suited to rejoin him...," and, "Before we discover what Edgar saw, it is worth noting that Edgar was usually a careful climber..." This sort of familiarity with the reader is meant to feel natural and easygoing. Unfortunately, I sometimes thought it a little affected. Fortunately it doesn't happen all that often, and when it does it mostly fails to distract. Another detail that chapped my hide was that there aren't many explanations regarding gravity and how the water in Atherton circles about. Hopefully these will be addressed in upcoming sequel.

In a way, the book this title reminded me the most of was Jeanne DuPrau's The City of Ember. In both cases a child discovers that the artificial world in which they live is a farce. They go up and down to find an escape with the help of a mysterious book. And in both books the adults are corrupt, there's food hoarding, and time is of the essence. Both books are also of the science fiction genre, which is important. Of course, while there might be cursory similarities, "Atherton" is an entire world unto itself. Exciting and painful and not like anything else you'll find aside from some surface details.

There are kids in this world who want exciting adventure novels that don't contain wizards and witches. Crazy, no? These kids are fans of the Suzanne Collins Gregor The Overlander series. They come to me, desperate for any kind of a recommendation I can give, and let me tell you that exciting sci-fi books of this nature are hard to find. Ask anyone in the publishing industry and they'll tell you that sci-fi doesn't sell. They tell you this because their definition of what constitutes sci-fi is limited (i.e. big scary aliens). A Wrinkle in Time is sci-fi. Tom's Midnight Garden is sci-fi. And "Atherton" is sci-fi too. Not only sci-fi, but also containing a message or two about the environment and what we're doing to our world. Rather than preach, though, the book just ends up displaying a future that almost no one else could have ever thought of. Like nothing you've read before, "Atherton" is definitely one of the most diverting adventures of the year. Thumbs up and then some.