The Lost Compass by Joel Ross: I needed a break Y'all

The Lost Compass 

by 

Joel Ross

Full confession I picked this book up to give my poor brain a rest after reading the Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson. That book is like eight hundred pages guys! I needed a breather.

In all honesty, the world is rather like the world of Mistborn. The world has been covered in a man-made fog that kills anyone who steps into it. The last dregs of humanity have moved to the highest mountains they can find in hopes of outlasting the fog. So of course, there’s a booming market for the brave few who will dive into the fog and salvage supplies from the covered land. 

              Our heroes of course are the brave few (spelled S-T-U-P-I-D) who pilot a steampunk air ship (more like an air dingy) over the expanse of fog looking for places to dive. Basically these books are unique, interesting, and rather sweet which makes them the most interesting middle grade books I’ve read in a while.  

              Yes I said ‘books’ as in plural. Lost Compass is a sequel and I’ve got a bit of the sequel blues. Fog Diver, the first book, was surprisingly adorable and unique! not to mention the cover was beautiful. look at it.

The second one on the other hand didn’t have much to add in character development, worldbuilding, or anything aside from plot resolution.  Which isn’t bad, in fact it’s pretty good for a kid’s book! But I’d be lying if I didn’t say I wasn’t a bit sad.

Characters

Chess: oh, you are so cute! I love reluctant little heroes who would be ‘quite alright with a square meal occasionally, please’.  Sure, there was a bit of a chosen one vibe around Chess but this was different! It was a Science Chosen One! 

 Chess’s mother was arrested when she was pregnant and placed into a cage that was lowered into the fog. (yep that was pretty dark I have to say). When Chess was born he was then part of the fog. As in the fog has taken up residence in his eye (affectionately referred to as his freak eye). As such he can see much farther, jump much higher, and generally function better in the fog than any other human being. See Science Chosen One!

Hazel: The most adorable captain to ever captain. She’s a teeny tiny African girl (who rocks the braid game by the way) who will give orders to men twice her size without flinching. All while wearing flouncy preferably pink skirts.

 Life goals my friends, life goals.

Bea: Basically, take Kaylee from firefly (good with ships, mention them talking with her, can fix anything . . .) and make her a heck of a lot younger. So of course, I liked Bea. Everybody liked Bea. Even the bad guys would have liked Bea if they’d had the chance to meet her.

Swedish: okay so he’s kind of a cliché ‘big guy who’s a lot nicer than he seem’ kind of thing. But he was still adorable.

Loretta: I love characters who start out bad then switch sides. Oh, spoilers for the first book I guess. But it’s not like you can’t see it coming from a mile away. Loretta was a very stabtastic (to quote Cate Grace from Paperfury) character and I liked her.

Likes

Let me explain you a thing: you know that thing in chosen one stories where the chosen one is all ‘let’s go save the world!’ while the adults stand around worriedly saying ‘but they haven’t even eaten yet!’ and it’s basically the most boring thing ever. 

Well it was kind of in reverse for this books. The adults were all ‘save the world right now!’ while the kids really just wanted to understand what exactly they were getting into and to eat three square meals a day, please and thank you. It was hilarious.

They were so adorably distrustful: I don’t think I’ll ever get over characters who can’t understand when somebody is being nice to them. They were adorably confused by people just saying hi on the street.

Dislikes

Okay so after some of the more intense books I’ve read lately it seemed a little . . . tame? But that’s totally a me not you thing. I mean it is a kidlet book for a reason guys.

Ultimately, I would say that I liked the first book better. But that’s because (for once) I read the book because of the world. The second book added a little too said world but nothing to drastic. Still it was a cutesy little story that I probably would have adored if I’d read it sooner.