The Lake at the End of the World

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Summary: A wonderful story full of suspense!
Review: If you love suspense, you'll certainly love this book! MacDonald does a wonderful job of portraying the future. It's the kind of story you can read again and again.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent and moving book
Review: The Lake at the End of the World by Caroline MacDonald is fantastic and dramatic tale of what life would be like because of the hazards to the environment.

The novel is set in the year 2025. In the past, because of a worldwide plague, a group of people: musicians, engineers, plumbers, carpenters, scientists, etc. escape down to the underground for safety. Under the guidance of a man called the Counsellor, the people down there are relatively safe from the death and turmoil on the surface, with chemical disasters and environmental dangers occuring every day. Fast forward to the present.

The book is told through the perspective of Hector and Diana. Hector is a boy from the underground. He and his trusty dog Stewart venture through the mazes and tunnels of the underground to the surface, where they discover surprising sights and sounds. Diana is the headstrong girl living in a house near the underground community. Both of them meet and soon get to know each other "well."

However, because of an injury and a ban, Hector is forced to escape the underground and go back to the outside world, where Diana and her parents Evan and Beth take him in. There he discovers the story of the outside: the real events and all the wonders of the lake near them. However, a problem arises with the underground and both Hector and Diana are forced to go underground again to save the entire underground group from a deep, dark fate and conspiracy.

The book is very well written and is excellent for secondary students. It proves to have depth and many themes with an excellent plot. It shows us the speculated consequences of chemical failures, nuclear disasters, oil leaks, etc. Remember everybody, you only have one earth to live on and you must protect it well!

Rating:
Summary: Couldn't put it down
Review: This is an excellent book. Set in the year 2025, it follows two main characters, Hector and Diana, and what they experience as two teenagers in a world that is so no longer "normal". The story is told from both perspectives - Hector's story and Diana's story. It is about strangers who learn to trust each other in a world where a disaster has wiped out all but a few of the world's population. Keeping in mind that this is a book written for young adults, it is well written and easy to follow - complex enough to be interesting to adults and simple enough to keep the attention of a young reader. My only complaint is that it left me wanting more - it really needs a sequel. My husband and 11 year old daughter give it 4 stars as well and also believe there should have been a sequel.