Aqueous

by Jade Shyback

Overview

From debut young adult novelist Jade Shyback comes the first in the Aqueous series. On the eve of Earth’s collapse, young Marisol Blaise is taken to live on an underwater mersation known as Aqueous with parents not her own. There, she must compete in the trials, grueling tests designed to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each trainee, hoping to be assigned to the all-male elite diving team known as the Cuviers. Desperate to prove to herself, the residents, and all of her parents, dead and alive, that she is worthy of this prestigious placement, she works tirelessly to shatter misogynistic beliefs, only to discover that it was not only the men who constrained her. A much uglier untruth exists.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781939096098
Publisher:	Red Hen Press
Publication date:	05/02/2023
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range:	14 - 18 Years

About the Author

An outdoor enthusiast and avid beekeeper, Jade Shyback left a financial services career in the Middle East to return to Canada and pursue endless hobbies, including writing, by which she finally utilized her English Literature degree to create her debut fictional novel, Aqueous.

Editorial Reviews

"Shyback has created an all-too-believable future with a consummate eye for detail and realism in this, her debut novel." — Cindy Matthews, Authorlink

"Ingeniously configured and persuasively detailed, this biosphere has heft... Refreshingly original, this dystopia delivers more than a dash of hope." —Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

2023-04-24
Climate disasters amplified by greed have rendered Earth’s surface uninhabitable and space travel impossible; now just three deep-ocean merstations stand between humankind and extinction.

Desperate to ensure her last child’s safety, Sunniva’s mother surrendered her to Adm. Blaise and his wife, who name her Marisol. They’re Aqueous’ power couple, living in the merstation off the California coast (the other two are located in the Marianas and Kuril-Kamchatka trenches). A decade later, though grateful for the opportunities her loving adoptive parents provide, Marisol privately grieves her lost family. A top student and fierce competitor, she longs to become Aqueous’ first woman cuvier, navigating the ocean beyond the merstation. Earth’s surface needs time to become habitable, so Aqueous’ inhabitants must pass on the scientific and technical skills that sustain their complex, vulnerable facility to future generations. Specialization is a must, innovative problem-solving, essential. Naviah, Marisol’s ingenious friend, creates fashion from what fabric is available on Aqueous, where everyone receives Standard-Issue Dress clothes. In grueling trials that determine career placements, Marisol will need to beat her crush, Creighton, and her vulnerable friend, Felix. Ingeniously configured and persuasively detailed, this biosphere has heft. Pop culture is largely history, and race, nationality, and other cultural identifiers of the dying world have disappeared; social class, privilege, and binary gender norms have not. The cliffhanger ending guarantees sequels. Main characters read White.

Refreshingly original, this dystopia delivers more than a dash of hope. (Dystopian. 14-18)

Kirkus Reviews