Ty was the first person born subsea. His family are settlers on the bottom of the ocean, a new venture after global warming caused the Rising of the seas. Ty loves his life subsea and hates Topside. One day while adventuring around in the dark level of subsea, he stumbles upon a submarine and a Topside girl looking for her long-lost older brother. Helping her challenges everything Ty believes in.

This is one of those rare YA books that gives me renewed hope for the genre. There are no stupid love triangles. The adults are intelligent and good parents. There are bigger worries than who you're taking to prom. There's adventure but no gratuitous violence. Romance but in a healthy way. Basically, it's everything you'd hope for in a YA book. I'd gladly hand this to any teen or preteen looking for a good read and feel happy in doing so too.

Suffice to say it is a richly complex world she has created, filled with characters that are worthy of being looked up to but with interesting scifi elements to keep the interest level high. I found myself never wanting to leave the subsea world and sort of wishing living subsea was an option in real life.

Overall, I recommend this to fans of YA scifi, but also to anyone with a curiosity about what it might be like to live on the bottom of the ocean as a new pioneer.

Check out my full review. (Link will be live on January 12, 2012).

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Reviewed by Cat for TeensReadToo.com

Life has become grim in the futuristic world of debut author Kat Falls' novel, DARK LIFE. Climatic and tectonic shifts have caused sea levels to rise and continents to fall, leaving humans fighting for precious space in "stacked cities" of the skies, or submerging themselves in "dark life" on the ocean floor.

Ty Townsend is one of those people.

As part of the first generation born and raised farming his family's underwater plot , he dreams of reaching his eighteenth birthday in order to claim and farm his own hundred acres. Trouble is afoot, though, as the Benthic Territory and their supply ships are being raided and the settlers terrorized by a ruthless group of bandits.

In response, the topside government, the Commonwealth of States, issues a "request" to the territory's inhabitants: help us capture the Seablite Gang and their mysterious leader, Shade. Just in case the threat posed by the bandits isn't enough, the Commonwealth provides three incentives: a halt on all supply shipments, reassignment of the territory's doctor, and no new homesteads until the gang is apprehended.

Ty is determined to ensure the realization of his dream, but his love for exploring vast underwater canyons has also thrown him another complication in the form of teenage Topsider runaway, Gemma. While searching the outpost for her missing brother, the Seablite Gang's attacks intensify and hit closer to home than either Ty or Gemma ever could have imagined. It's not long before they realize their best chance for survival and success resides in each other.

Despite a slow start, the characters soon plunge right into action. Ms. Falls has created an eerie, haunting world filled with mysterious creatures, nefarious villains, and two genuine protagonists, who are well-supported by a passel of quirky, intriguing secondary characters. Without a doubt, DARK FALLS will satisfy anyone with a dystopian future craving.

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