Daughter of the deep by Rick Riordan

Ana Dakkar’s family are part of the fabric of the Harding-Pencraft Academy, an institution focused on training new generations of oceanographers and explorers, with additional defensive capabilities. Ana, as the youngest child in her family is still working out her place and purpose in this phenomenal school with its long history. She becomes a witness to a devastating attack on the school and then is thrust into the leadership of her fellow surviving classmates as they discover the long-lost vessel, the Nautilus, made famous in Jules Verne’s incredible tale of the 20000 Leagues under the sea. The rise to leadership comes with great responsibility and she must overcome her own insecurities and her own personal grief to work out what to do. The setting includes underwater action and creatures to love and fear. Ana also must rely on and encourage her classmates and friends as they reveal their talents in the technology and oceanography field. The growth in them all and the power of friendship over personal glory is revealed as the excitement and tension ramps up.

Rick Riordan really knows how to write a compelling adventure and woven within this amazing story are snippets and insights of the classic detail of Jules Verne’s original story. Even though I have not read the original (apologies to lovers of Verne’s writing), this reimagining in a modern and technology-rich world has all the right ingredients to be loved and cherished by a new generation of readers. There are moments of humour mingled amongst the high tension and action, and many characters to love. I can envisage that this book will not stay long on our library shelves and will be avidly peer-recommended amongst young readers.

Themes: Adventure, Jules Verne, Oceanography, Friendship.

Carolyn Hull