A Hero for WondLa (WondLa series Book 2)
“Tony DiTerlizzi has created a cast of fascinating characters engaged in epic adventures. How often must a 12-year-old child struggle against evil to save her world? Not only is the book filled with nonstop action from beginning to end, it also tackles the achingly familiar themes every young person must face, those of friendship and family, loyalty and love, the need to belong to someone, and the yearning to fit in somewhere. This is what happens when a talented illustrator with a keen eye for visual detail turns to authorship.”
Indiana Jones meets Hermione Granger!
In book one of this series, The Search for WondLa, we met Eva Nine, a cloned human girl raised in an underground sanctuary by Muthr, a loving robot who nurtured the first eight Eva clones from embryo to adolescence, for the world above lies in centuries-old ruins and humanity’s survival seemingly depends on a few precious sanctuaries such as Eva’s.
When a savage marauder destroyed her home and killed Muthr, Eva emerged to a land filled with malevolent wandering trees, vicious sand snipers, and a host of other bizarre creatures. Eva grew up believing her sanctuary was on Earth, but the alien races that colonized the land call the planet Orbona.
Is Eva actually still on Earth? Is she the only human left?
Book two, A Hero for WondLa opens with the answer to these questions. Eva meets Hailey, the first human she’s ever seen, when his airship, the Bijou, runs out of power and falls from the sky. Hailey offers to take Eva and her friend, the Cærulean called Rovender, to New Attica to live with the only colony of humans left on Earth. Eva’s life-long dream of being with other people seems about to come true.
New Attica’s leader, Cadmus Pryde warmly welcomes Eva to the colony—partly because she’s a new citizen and the first sanctuary-born seen in New Attica for many years. Cadmus guides Eva through the formality of becoming a resident of New Attica, and introduces her to other girls her age.
At first Eva likes having real friends of her own kind instead of the aliens she’s befriended on the outside. And when Eva Nine’s clone-mate, Eva Eight comes into the picture, Eva Nine has a family for the first time.
But things aren’t as wonderful in New Attica as Eva hoped they would be. First, Hailey didn’t bring Rovender to New Attica and Eva is lost without him. Then she learns Hailey has in effect, traded her to Cadmus for replacement parts for the Bijou.
And Eva’s new sibling shows her what’s really going on in New Attica. While Cadmus talks about peace and harmony, he maintains total control over his citizens’ every thought and deed. Even worse, he’s diverting power to his covert project: building warships to destroy the many alien species that took over Earth centuries ago and have lived on it ever since. War would mean the end of everything and everyone that Eva loves.
Eva Nine and sister Eva Eight find a secret lab where Cadmus and his scientists are experimenting on Hailey, Rovender, and a host of other aliens. Eva leads a daring escape from New Attica and heads off in Bijou with Eight and her friends to warn Earth’s alien inhabitants of Cadmus’ plan to destroy all life-forms except humans.
Eva has a mystic mind connection with most of the aliens, and calls upon some of the strange life-forms to assist in her quest. Especially entertaining is the traveling tree that carriers her across a deadly desert.
Tony DiTerlizzi has created a cast of fascinating characters engaged in epic adventures. How often must a 12-year-old child struggle against evil to save her world? Not only is the book filled with nonstop action from beginning to end, it also tackles the achingly familiar themes every young person must face, those of friendship and family, loyalty and love, the need to belong to someone, and the yearning to fit in somewhere. This is what happens when a talented illustrator with a keen eye for visual detail turns to authorship.
As if a great story isn’t enough, Mr. DiTerlizzi, a talented artist, fills the pages with intriguing drawings of Eva and her world. And as with his first book, Mr. DiTerlizzi also creates pages—that when used in concert with a home webcam and the book’s website—allow children to engage in an interactive “3-D Augmented Realty flying game” that follows the story. Readers can pilot the Bijou through the various terrains that Eva and her friends traverse.
This hefty book tops out at over 450 pages, but the story is so engaging and the characters so appealing that the reader flies through it as quickly as the Bijou escapes New Attica. Orbona time trumps Earth time every time.