Review for Fireseed One

Blurb:

The year is 2089. Temperate climate has replaced Arctic ice, and much of what is now the United States is a lethal Hotzone, cut off by an insurmountable border from its northern, luckier neighbors, Ocean and Land Dominion. It is rumored that roving Hotzone nomads will kill for a water pellet or a slice of insect loaf, and that the ZWC, a dangerous Hotzone activist group, has infiltrated the border to the northern Dominions. 

Up in Ocean Dominion, all eighteen year-old Varik Teitur wants is to party on SnowAngel Island with his friend Audun and flirt with college girls he dreams of joining next year in his quest to become a doctor. Instead, he inherits a vast sea farm, following the death of his father, famous marine biologist Professor Teitur. 

Five weeks later, ZWC member Marisa Baron breaks into the farm's secret seed vault and a fellow activist poisons the farm's agar crops, the world's food source. In order to save the last agar seedlings Varik is forced to journey to the Hotzone in search of Fireseed, a plant his father supposedly developed with magical hybridization properties. 

Varik takes Marisa along. Aside from being a terrorist, she's the beautiful daughter of Melvyn Baron, the biggest real estate mogul in Land Dominion, and the professor's old rival. Oddly, she knows lots about Fireseed, and what Hotzone land Professor Teitur bought to test the crop, before becoming embittered and trashing the project. No one except Varik knows whether Fireseed once existed off the drawing board. Might the refugees in Vegas-by-the-Sea have answers, or the bizarre Fireseed cult in the Chihuahua desert? Varik, the reluctant hero, must risk burning in the Hotzone, as his mother did, to save the ailing agar, and the world.

My review:

Varik Teitur has always wanted to study medicine, but when his father dies, he's left to run their sea farm. Food is scarce as the global temperatures rise and the arctic ice has melted. The agar Varik's farms grow feed many. When Marisa Baron breaks into his sea vault, Varik must get back the valuable seeds that were stolen by an activist group. Even as he deals with the infuriating girl, he learns his father had a secret project: a plant called Fireseed that could withstand the cruel sun's rays and feed the world. Varik and Marisa dare the desert oven that is a Hotzone to find Fireseed and save mankind from starvation.

An incredibly unique and fun YA futuristic thriller. It takes place in the not so distant future and makes you wonder if this is what could happen if the polar ice melts. I could definitely see the big corporations taking over, and farming the seas makes a lot of sense. I loved the strange hybrids they grew, and I can only wonder what other wonders man has created. The world in this book seems alien, but it's a great prediction of what might be.

There's also a fantastic cast of characters. Varik is an admirable young man. Though he's only 18, he has a lot of responsibility on his shoulders. I didn't feel he acted too old for his age. He just wants to hang out with his friend and have some fun. Marisa is a daring and compassionate girl. She's a great complement to Varik's steadfast personality.

I was quickly caught up in the world and Varik's story. The plot moves along quickly with several surprises along the way. I didn't want to put my Kindle down!

I can't wait for the next book in the series.

 

 

About the author: I write young adult and middle grade novels as Catherine Stine, and romance as Kitsy Clare. More and more, I enjoy writing page-turning suspense and speculative tales. I’m also an illustrator, and I’ve done work for Penguin-Perigee, Learning Strategies and Lantern Books. I illustrated my YA futuristic thrillers, Fireseed One and Ruby’s Fire. I teach classes in crafting the novel and in writing for teens.

You can find Catherine here:

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