Dray

Dark Life by Kat Falls

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I enjoyed this even though the science of it is admittedly not likely. It's a near future (I think) where a series of natural disasters have sunk much of the land mass under the sea and the people still living on land are living in huge condos with several people/families jammed into a single room. Alternatively there is now the Subsea which is a group (relatively small) living on the bottom of the ocean in a colony.

Ty, the first baby to be born under the ocean is now in his late teens, eager to turn eighteen and claim acreage of his own. He loves being underwater and has no idea how people could cram themselves into tiny spaces above water. And then Gemma, a Topsider, crashes into his world. An orphan basically on the run from the unfeeling child protection organization, Gemma has come subsea to look for her brother, Richard who promised to take her with him and barring that, at least to get him to sign her emancipation paperwork so the woman in charge of her group of orphans can be stopped from exploiting her for larger housing.

The story is from Ty's point of view and he is a bit naive when it comes to ladies (there aren't that many of them Subsea) and especially Topsiders. Gemma, like many, are taken with the fact Ty glows (from eating all those Bioluminescent fish and is convinced he has a 'dark gift.' There is a rumor that kids born under the ocean have adaptations for subsea life. Ty resents the idea of the ocean being 'dark' and doesn't want anyone to know it's true, he is gifted, fearing even more medical experimentation being done to him.

Their lives intertwine as he tries to help her and they're both caught up by Shade and his sub the Spectre. Shade is the leader of a gang of outlaws and the 'Wealth (commonwealth one assumes) which has been exploiting the underwater colony while providing nothing much other than a ranger who hates the ocean and a discredited doctor, wants the colonists to kill the outlaws or be cut off and everyone forcibly brought to the surface.

Fighting for the survival of his home, Ty and Gemma work together through multiple twists and turns. If I'm honest I figured out most of them but I'm not the teenaged target of this book. I've been around the block a few too many times. That said I really enjoyed this.

Sure, it's very light on science. There's not much in the way of explaining how life under the ocean is working and it's unlikely evolution would happen this fast but it's near future SF so most fans of the genre will roll with it. Ty is a well drawn character and Gemma is pretty good too, even filtered through Ty's eyes. Shade, as the layers are peeled back, becomes an interesting antagonist.

I'd like to get the next book and revisit Ty's home.



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