The Pearl Wars (Skyship Academy #1)
A devastated Earth’s last hope is found in Pearls: small, mysterious orbs that fall from space and are capable of supplying enough energy to power entire cities. Battling to control the Pearls are the Skyship dwellers—political dissidents who live in massive ships in the Earth’s stratosphere—and the corrupt Surface government.
Jesse Fisher, a Skyship slacker, and Cassius Stevenson, a young Surface operative, cross paths when they both venture into forbidden territory in pursuit of Pearls. Their chance encounter triggers an unexpected reaction, endowing each boy with remarkable—and dangerous—abilities that their respective governments would stop at nothing to possess.
Enemies thrust together with a common goal, Jesse and Cassius make their way to the ruins of Seattle to uncover the truth about their new powers, the past they didn’t know they shared, and a shocking secret about the Pearls.
Description From Goodreads
This book is mass* unpredictable. I absolutely love it when a book surprises me. With many young adult books, I can usually figure out what’s going to happen when I’m just a few chapters in. However, that was far from the case with The Pearl Wars. Every page I turned, something completely unexpected happened and throughout the entire book, I was repeatedly blown away by it’s originality.
The Pearl Wars is set in the future, towards the end of the 21st century. The world has been devastated by chemical warfare and increased global temperatures. People now either live in cities protected by a temperature controlled net, outside the cities suffering in the extreme heat, or in the sky on large air ships. However, these places do not live in harmony each other. In this grim environment, the only thing offering relief are the green orbs that fall from space, also known as pearls. The people of earth use the energy locked inside the pearls to power their world.
Stuck in this demanding world are two teenage boys, Jesse and Cassius. Jesse, Skyship screw up and pearl hunter in training, keeps the story light with his repeat offenses of always doing the wrong thing and his teenage boy perspective on life. Cassius is a surface kid working as agent for the surface government. He is skilled, successful, and the complete opposite of Jesse. When the two meet, something strange happens. The two walk away with powerful abilities and a million questions.
Nick James built a futuristic world that will easily please the SciFi fans while at the same time is believable and fun for the average reader. I know the SciFi nerd in me thinks it would be pretty cool to live on a Skyship. In addition to the solid world building, James delivers well developed and realistic charastics, a well written story, and unexpected twists and turns.
The Pearl Wars is worthy of a lot of attention and could easily rival some of the best selling young adult dystopian novels on the market today. Boys, girls, even adults will enjoy this refreshingly different, fun, and fast paced read. I’m really looking forward to the next book in the Skyship Academy series. I have no idea at all what’s going to happen but I know I can’t wait to be completely surprised all over again.
* Read the book to find out what this means.