Title: Uncrashable Dakota
Author: Andy Marino
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Shelves: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Steampunk
Recommended for Fans Of: Titanic
Source: MacMillan Kids Publishing Co.
Format: Physical copy
Publication Date: 11/12/13
Synopsis: It's the new golden age of sky travel, and Hollis Dakota is lucky enough to be the heir to the largest air travel company in the sky, Dakota Aeronautics. Aboard the legendary new Dakota airship, deemed "uncrashable" by all, Hollis is about to encounter something his privileged life has never seen before. When the airship is hijacked by none other than his own stepfather, as revenge for an old family feud, Hollis teams up with old and new friends to stop Jefferson Castor from taking over the ship and proving that the Uncrashable Dakota, is in fact, devastatingly crashable.
Review: First, a HUGE thank you to Andy Marino and MacMillan Kids for sending me this ARC copy of Uncrashable Dakota! If you're like me, and you're dying for a nice and clean YA book that stands out from others, then you should definitely read this book. Lately all I've been reading is dystopia and it got to the point of being repetitive and boring. When I picked up Uncrashable Dakota, I was instantly sucked into this new and exciting world where BEETLES were combined with moonshine to make the world's greatest invention of airship traveling. I loved the originality and creativity behind the setting and theme of this novel. It's very easy to tell that the entire concept behind Uncrashable Dakota was well thought out and planned.
There were so many amazing elements to this story! First we have the use of the Civil War in Hollis's family history, travel by way of airship, the "invention" of a new communication device, and much more. "...try to remember that you're on an airship that's scientifically uncrashable." That sounds a little familiar, doesn't it? I'm guessing the Titanic played a huge part of the plot, especially towards the end. I liked this idea of a steampunk, airship version of the Titanic. Sometimes readers won't like books that are written off another idea, but Uncrashable Dakota wasn't so insanely similar to the Titanic that it would ruin the story completely. Not at all.
My only problem with Uncrashable Dakota was that it was a little bit confusing to keep up with; only because the writing didn't fit in with this older middle-grade/young adult style. Andy Marino is definitely an amazing writer, and I would love to see him write more for the older young adults, which would make for an amazing book. I really do have to commend Andy for such a lyrical, bold way of writing. It's been a while since I've read a book with such great use of vocabulary and sentence structure.
Conclusion: Today marks the launch day of Uncrashable Dakota; which also means that it hit the shelves today! (see what I did there? "launch" as in, BOAT launch? haha) Anyone looking for an original and humorous read for a lighter and cleaner mood should definitely read Uncrashable Dakota.
Format: Physical copy
Publication Date: 11/12/13
Synopsis: It's the new golden age of sky travel, and Hollis Dakota is lucky enough to be the heir to the largest air travel company in the sky, Dakota Aeronautics. Aboard the legendary new Dakota airship, deemed "uncrashable" by all, Hollis is about to encounter something his privileged life has never seen before. When the airship is hijacked by none other than his own stepfather, as revenge for an old family feud, Hollis teams up with old and new friends to stop Jefferson Castor from taking over the ship and proving that the Uncrashable Dakota, is in fact, devastatingly crashable.
Review: First, a HUGE thank you to Andy Marino and MacMillan Kids for sending me this ARC copy of Uncrashable Dakota! If you're like me, and you're dying for a nice and clean YA book that stands out from others, then you should definitely read this book. Lately all I've been reading is dystopia and it got to the point of being repetitive and boring. When I picked up Uncrashable Dakota, I was instantly sucked into this new and exciting world where BEETLES were combined with moonshine to make the world's greatest invention of airship traveling. I loved the originality and creativity behind the setting and theme of this novel. It's very easy to tell that the entire concept behind Uncrashable Dakota was well thought out and planned.
There were so many amazing elements to this story! First we have the use of the Civil War in Hollis's family history, travel by way of airship, the "invention" of a new communication device, and much more. "...try to remember that you're on an airship that's scientifically uncrashable." That sounds a little familiar, doesn't it? I'm guessing the Titanic played a huge part of the plot, especially towards the end. I liked this idea of a steampunk, airship version of the Titanic. Sometimes readers won't like books that are written off another idea, but Uncrashable Dakota wasn't so insanely similar to the Titanic that it would ruin the story completely. Not at all.
My only problem with Uncrashable Dakota was that it was a little bit confusing to keep up with; only because the writing didn't fit in with this older middle-grade/young adult style. Andy Marino is definitely an amazing writer, and I would love to see him write more for the older young adults, which would make for an amazing book. I really do have to commend Andy for such a lyrical, bold way of writing. It's been a while since I've read a book with such great use of vocabulary and sentence structure.
Conclusion: Today marks the launch day of Uncrashable Dakota; which also means that it hit the shelves today! (see what I did there? "launch" as in, BOAT launch? haha) Anyone looking for an original and humorous read for a lighter and cleaner mood should definitely read Uncrashable Dakota.
xoxo,
Fiction_TheNewReality
Jayne your button is too cute! Uncrashable Dakota sounds like a fun, suspenseful steampunk. Your review has me curious, and the cover looks good as well.
ReplyDeleteThanks Kim! <3 Hope you enjoy this book if you do read it!
DeleteAirship? :-D That looks like something I would like to add to my tbr-list. Thanks for the review:-)
Delete