Review of The Fog Diver by Joel Ross

Advance Review of Joel Ross' The Fog Diver

Release Date: May 26th, 2015

Synopsis as found on GoodReads.com:

A deadly white mist has cloaked the earth for hundreds of years. Humanity clings to the highest mountain peaks, where the wealthy Five Families rule over the teeming lower slopes and rambling junkyards. As the ruthless Lord Kodoc patrols the skies to enforce order, thirteen-year-old Chess and his crew scavenge in the Fog-shrouded ruins for anything they can sell to survive.

Hazel is the captain of their salvage raft: bold and daring. Swedish is the pilot: suspicious and strong. Bea is the mechanic: cheerful and brilliant. And Chess is the tetherboy: quiet and quick…and tougher than he looks. But Chess has a secret, one he’s kept hidden his whole life. One that Lord Kodoc is desperate to exploit for his own evil plans. And even as Chess unearths the crew’s biggest treasure ever, they are running out of time...  

Synopsis as found on Amazon.com:

Joel Ross debuts a thrilling adventure series in which living in the sky is the new reality and a few determined slum kids just might become heroes. Perfect for fans of Rick Riordan and Brandon Mull, this fantasy is filled with daring and hope and a wonderfully imaginative world.

Once the Fog started rising, the earth was covered with a deadly white mist until nothing remained but the mountaintops. Now humanity clings to its highest peaks, called the Rooftop, where the wealthy Five Families rule over the lower slopes and floating junkyards.

Thirteen-year-old Chess and his friends Hazel, Bea, and Swedish sail their rickety air raft over the deadly Fog, scavenging the ruins for anything they can sell to survive. But now survival isn't enough. They must risk everything to get to the miraculous city of Port Oro, the only place where their beloved Mrs. E can be cured of fogsickness. Yet the ruthless Lord Kodoc is hot on their trail, for Chess has a precious secret, one that Kodoc is desperate to use against him. Now Chess will face any danger to protect his friends, even if it means confronting what he fears the most.

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A dystopian tale in which the entire earth has been covered in a deadly fog. Most of the human race has died and man is slowly going extinct. If you ingest the poisonous mist, you will die. It may be tomorrow, it may be a year from now, it may be 20... the length it takes for the poison to take effect varies, but it always ends the same way, in your death. What is left of humanity clings to life, living on the highest points in the world.

The protagonist of the story is Chess. He is one of multiple children adopted by a kind woman named Ekaterina, or Mrs. E to the kids. His mother was killed in an awful experiment done by Kodoc, the head of the 5 families who founded their home on the mountaintop called the Rooftop. Mrs. E actually saved baby Chess from the cage he was being kept in, dangling in the fog, but was unable to save his mother. Now, 13 years later, she is dying from fog sickness.

Kodoc was trying to create a child that was immune to the fog so that he could find a legendary device that is supposed to be able to control the fog. The fog is the result of an experiment gone wrong hundreds of years ago. Scientists had been trying to destroy a smog that had covered the earth and was killing not only humans, but also plant life, vegetation, animals... everything. In their search to solve one problem, they released tiny nanites into atmosphere. These nanites were made to destroy every pollution and they did, but then they started destroying the things that created the pollution... humans.

In the experiment that killed his mother, Chess was born inside the fog. Not only is he immune to the poisonous nanites, but they are actually a part of him. He has grown his hair out to cover his left eye, because when you look into it, you can see a swirling fog of grey. When Chess is at home living in the slums, he is a regular boy... but when he dives into the fog, he can do amazing things. He becomes faster, stronger, can jump to incredible heights, and many things he doesn't yet know he can do.

Kodoc does not know that Chess is alive. He believes all the children from the experiment died. But when a rumor that a child with a swirling eye of fog is spotted in the slums of the Rooftop, he builds an army to look for and capture Chess.

The entire book is about trying to find a cure for Mrs. E so that she doesn't die and also keeping Chess out of the hands of Kodoc. It is a well thought out plot with many highs and lows, a lot of character development, and is definitely opened up for sequels. I didn't talk about the rest of the characters, because it is worth picking up and reading for yourself. It goes on sale on Tuesday!!