Kingdom of Twilight by Tui Sutherland

Kingdom Twilight is the final installment in the Avatars trilogy and honestly it was a bit of a disappointment. The first book, So This Is How It Ends, immediately pulled me into the fantastic world it created kept me guessing what would happen until the very end. In the subsequent books, both the plot and the world seem to stagnate. More and more of the same is piled and on and the once exciting world Sutherland created begins to feel more and more two dimensional. The story often gets bogged down in pointless banter and one liners exchanged by the main characters and the story seems to drag on twice as long as necessary.

On the positive side this book explores the mythologies of cultures readers are likely to unfamiliar with, for example Sumeria, China, and various African and Polynesian cultures as well. The book also provided resolution and had a surprising twist at the end.

All in all Kingdom of Twilight was an okay book, but it really doesn't pass the first book test for me. And honestly, I recommend reading So This Is How It Ends, skipping the second book altogether and reading only bits and pieces of this book. Feel free to skim over the boring parts.
Recommend this book to children who have read the other two books in the Avatars series grades 5 to 8.

Exodus

2099- Earth's ice caps are melting. Can refuge be found?

For one hundred years earth's ice caps have been melting. Powerful storms that last for months scour the North Atlantic and the oceans are rising. The residents of the Island of Wing had thought they were safe. How much more could the oceans rise? Only the oldest residents still remember the tall sheer cliffs that held the island high above the ocean, now even at low tide the cliffs have disappeared beneath the waves. All of the surrounding islands have gone under and last summer the school house washed away. Now the residents of Wing have a terrible choice leave their homes or risk the wrath of the ocean.

I loved this book, it was like waterworld, but without Kevin Cosner and not nearly as ridiculous. Fans of the post-apocalyptic fiction genre will love this book as will eco-conscious teens, because the book ask the question what happens if we don't change our ways and the polar ice caps keep melting? For grades 8 and up.