The Thousand Steps

by Helen Brain

Overview

On the brink of execution, 16 year old Ebba den Eeden is unexpectedly elevated from the bunker deep in South Africa's Table Mountain where she has lived all her life, believing—as do all the other teenagers who toil daily to make their food and power the bunker—that the world "Above" is uninhabitable due to a nuclear holocaust. Instead, she is heiress to a massive fortune—one that everyone wants to control. While dealing with the machinations of the High Priest, his handsome son Hal, and the rules and regulations of a society and religion she doesn't understand, she must also try to save her three friends, still stuck in the bunker and facing execution any day.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781946395245
Publisher:	Catalyst Press
Publication date:	01/07/2020
Series:	The Fiery Spiral
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 8.10(h) x 0.90(d)
Lexile:	710L (what's this?)
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

Helen Brain was born in Australia in 1960 and raised in Durban, South Africa. After school, she studied music at the University of Cape Town. Before settling to a life writing and teaching writing online, she was a freelance journalist and editor, a screenprinter and crafter, and taught English, music, and Ancient Greek. A mother to three sons and grandmother to one grandson, Brain lives in Muizenberg, South Africa with her husband.

Editorial Reviews

"This novel will draw readers in with its high stakes and well-developed characters. [...] A strong, character-driven work recommended for readers looking for dystopian fantasy with a social justice bent." —School Library Journal

"Mixing mythology with real historical atrocities like apartheid, this is a solid tale featuring diverse characters who reflect the real-world communities of South Africa" — Kirkus Reviews

"A deftly crafted, impressively original, and inherently entertaining novel [...]. The Thousand Steps will prove to be an enduringly popular addition to any high school or community library YA Fiction collection." —Midwest Book Review

From the Publisher

08/01/2019

Gr 6–8—This first book in the series sets the stage for a dystopian fantasy based in South Africa in the year 2055. Sixteen-year-old Ebba grows up in an underground bunker, believing that the world outside has been rendered uninhabitable by a cataclysm that destroyed human civilization. When she suddenly reenters the world above, she learns that she is actually an heiress to a great fortune and the subject of interest for a feud between gods. In this new world, Ebba must decide what she values most and who to trust along the way. This novel will draw readers in with its high stakes and well-developed characters. Ebba is an interesting, if frustratingly naive, protagonist who confronts challenging issues—particularly a legacy of apartheid. At times, it may prove difficult for readers to suspend disbelief while following Ebba's journey, as she and others rapidly shift their perspectives and attitudes. Although this book references a deep history of racism, that theme could have been further explored, especially for younger readers who may not grasp the story's full context. VERDICT A strong, character-driven work recommended for readers looking for dystopian fantasy with a social justice bent.—Talea Anderson, Washington State University

School Library Journal

2019-10-25
A story of love and sacrifice mixed with politics and magic in an alternate Cape Town.

Sixteen-year-old orphan Ebba has only known life in an underground bunker where she and other young people work 12 hours a day. This is life after the Calamity that caused the deaths of all except those in the bunker. Or so Ebba believes. One fateful day she not only escapes death, but is brought aboveground to Table Island, the world she thought was uninhabitable. Ebba learns she is the wealthiest of the Citizens—those chosen by the god Prospiroh, spared from misfortune and blessed with abundance. A caretaker on the vast farm she now owns tells her of her lineage as a descendant of the goddess Theia and her destiny: to save the world from a second Calamity. Ebba struggles to come to terms with her new reality. Thrust from slavery into luxury, she barely has time to adjust before her world is rocked even more and she has to make hard decisions and be braver than she thinks she can be, even with the help of her closest friends, ancestors, and some surprising allies. Mixing mythology with real historical atrocities like apartheid, this is a solid tale featuring diverse characters who reflect the real-world communities of South Africa; race and ethnicity are, however, treated as incidental to the narrative.

A dystopian fantasy with all the expected elements of the genre. (map) (Fantasy. 12-adult)

Kirkus Reviews