LitPick Review
The Search for WondLa by Tony DiTerlizzi is an adventure/fantasy story. Eva Nine has lived her whole life underground. When the evil huntsman Besteel ravages her underground Sanctuary, Eva's guardian, a robot named Muthr, tells her to go above ground. All that Eva takes with her is a strange item she found with the letters w-o-n-d-l-a on it. When Eva reaches the surface, everything she sees is strange to her. She meets a blue creature called Rovender and a giant water bear, which she names Otto. Eva knew the planet was called Earth, even though Rovender insisted that they were on planet Orbona. Riding on Otto, Eva and Rovender return to Eva's Sanctuary and rescue Muthr. They travel through many towns and Eva is captured by Besteel and is trapped in the queen's castle. With the help of Otto and a pillar guard, Eva uses her wits to escape the castle and find the rest of her friends. They finally arrive at the ruins they have been heading for, but Besteel has tracked them, and he brought some friends. Can they outwit Besteel a second time? What is WondLa? And will Eva ever find other humans like her?
Opinion:
The setting of this book is almost indescribable. The mood was very E.T. (extra terrestrial). It was different from other adventure or fantasy stories I've read because it had more of a mixed main point. There were always two or three main things happening at the same time. Eva was an amazing character. I liked the way she argued with the omnipod when she met Otto because it insisted that water bears were microscopic but she knew she was seeing a giant water bear big enough to ride on. I could hardly pull myself away from this book; it was too good to stop reading! I think it would nice if there was a sequel to this book. I would recommend this to anyone who likes aliens, long journeys, odd friends and mysteries. The webcam idea was cool because it unlocked a 3-D map of their journey.
