Daughter of the Deep - Rick Riordan

Initial Draw: ☆☆☆☆☆
Character Development: ☆☆☆☆☆
Plot/Writing Style: ☆☆☆☆☆
Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Ana Dakkar is a freshman at Harding-Pencroft Academy, a five-year high school that graduates the best marine scientists, naval warriors, navigators, and underwater explorers in the world. Ana's parents died while on a scientific expedition two years ago, and the only family's she's got left is her older brother, Dev, also a student at HP. Ana's freshman year culminates with the class's weekend trial at sea, the details of which have been kept secret. She only hopes she has what it'll take to succeed. All her worries are blown out of the water when, on the bus ride to the ship, Ana and her schoolmates witness a terrible tragedy that will change the trajectory of their lives.

But wait, there's more. The professor accompanying them informs Ana that their rival school, Land Institute, and Harding-Pencroft have been fighting a cold war for a hundred and fifty years. Now that cold war has been turned up to a full broil, and the freshman are in danger of becoming fish food. In a race against deadly enemies, Ana will make amazing friends and astounding discoveries about her heritage as she puts her leadership skills to the test for the first time."

I've been waiting to read this standalone (for now, at least?) middle-ish grade fantasy/sci-fi novel inspired by 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea for a while, and I finally got to it. The synopsis is so vague while still being compelling and the reveals were so staggering as I read that I don't want to say a lot about what happens throughout the book and ruin anything...but I need people to know that it's a good read. The relationship between Ana and her friends was delightful, I loved seeing the freshman class work together, and even the twists that I guessed still knocked me on my ass. 

The only thing that made me scratch my head was the decision to make Gemini Twain Mormon. Probably just a blip on the radar for people who don't have any connection to or experience with Mormonism, but for someone who knows how problematic the corporation (sorry, I mean church) is, it seemed like quite a strange choice to make the only featured Black character LDS, given Mormonism's long and storied history of racism. My best guess, since Rick Riordan makes a concerted effort to write inclusive books, is that he wanted to feature a religious character...but I don't know that the best choice in the name of inclusion was to feature a religion that actively discriminates against multiple groups of actually marginalized and excluded people.

Questionable character detail aside, the story was solid - good pace, better characters, and Nautilus and Romeo were two of my favorites. Very interesting idea for a book, and excellent execution.

Futureland: Battle for the Park - H.D. Hunter

Initial Draw: ☆☆☆☆
Character Development: ☆☆☆☆
Plot/Writing Style: ☆☆☆
Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Rounding up from 3.75)

From the cover:

"Everyone wants a ticket to Futureland, the extraordinary flying park where you can literally live out your wildest dreams. Want to step inside your favorite video game? Go pro in a sports arena? Perform at a real live concert? Grab your ticket and come right in.

Yet with all its attractions, Futureland has always just been home to Cam Walker, the son of the park's famous creators. And when Futureland arrives at its latest stop, Atlanta, Cam is thrilled for what promises to be the biggest opening ever...

But things aren't quite right with the Atlanta opening. Park attractions are glitching. Kids start to go missing. And when his parents are blamed, Cam must find the missing kids and whoever's trying to take down his family...before it's too late."

This book had a lot of highs and lows for me. Overall, I found the premise and the actual adventure of it all very intriguing and engaging, and I really enjoyed the inclusion of comic panels and the interview transcripts. It gave me Illuminae vibes, and I almost wish those had been used a little bit more...not for storytelling purposes, just for my own enjoyment. I also thought some of the characters - Cam, Dooley, Angel, and Yusuf, primarily, were very vibrant and felt realistic. Other characters, particularly Cam's grandma and the bad guy, fell a little flat, especially in comparison to the three-dimensionality of most of the characters. 

With Cam's grandma, it seemed like even in situations where any rational person would have been concerned, her character fell back on "oh hell no, I'm not about that technology. Come on, I'm going to make you a home-cooked meal." It was fine when she was first introduced, but at a certain point it just stops making sense that she's so unwilling to engage with what Cam is saying when so much shady stuff is clearly going on. And the bad guy was just...so openly and obviously evil. I mean, fine, I guess, if that's what you're into, but given that this is meant to be a mystery, it made it a little hard to buy into everyone being unsure what was going on when there was no subtlety to the character at all. I know I'm an adult reading a middle grade book, but I kept thinking about how my students would engage with this, and from the moment the character was introduced there might as well have been a giant neon sign that said "NEMESIS" pointing to the antagonist. Isn't part of the fun in reading a mystery having to guess at who it might be?

My last gripe with the book was that the plot seemed so jumpy. The big reveals were solid, but it seemed like Hunter wasn't sure what to do with the in-between. It was like...gaaaaasp, this huge thing just happened! Oh my god, we need to get to the bottom of this, it is URGENT. Ah well, gotta go to school, I guess. <<fast forward>> gaaaaaasp, another huge thing! We all love big exciting moments, but I wish there had been more buildup and cohesion. Instead of the story beginning with Futureland's arrival in Atlanta and things immediately getting weird, we could have seen his family getting ready for the opening, and then as we started getting comfortable with the story, BAM, things start going wrong. Instead of BIG REVEAL - go to school/Grandma's house and get shut down - BIG REVEAL, a better flow with investigation and breaks in the case. 

All that said...it was a solid book, I think the different elements would be engaging for kids, and I give it points for not being super duper long. I think the one benefit to it jumping from action to action is that it grabs your interest and makes for a quick read. Plus, a mystery involving a futuristic amusement park featuring super advanced AI? Pretty cool.