The Secret Sea by Barry Lyga
| Ten years ago (Has it really been ten years?) I read The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl and knew that I had discovered an author who perfectly captured the angst of a geeky young comic book nerd. My heart still aches when I think of that painful moment at the comic book convention. I will never ever forget it. Then there was the smug and sarcastic voice of Kyle Camden, the boy with superpowers in the Archvillian series. Loved the voice. Loved the series. Lyga's I Hunt Killers series creeped me out. Totally. Creeped. Me. Out. The Secret Sea felt like a new direction for Lyga. Rather than focus on one main character who moves and interacts within his (most of his main characters are male) world, his latest book takes a different approach. Here three friends move beyond the constructs of "reality" and into a brave new world. The world-building is an essential story element and combines with the characters to give the story added dynamism. Thanks Barry for the a ride on the wave. |  |
 | How much can an author pack into one book? In the case of Barry Lyga's The Secret Sea it is a lot. A whole lot. Meet twelve-going-on-thirteen-year-old Zak Killian and his friends, Khalid Shamoon and Moira O'Grady. Three young kids living in New York, who in the space of a few short days encounter: voices from another world; the spirit of a deceased twin; a flooded subway station; an alternative universe "Universes in superposition...in a different dimensional space than ours, but otherwise.. nearly identical"; a boat chase scene that can compete with any James Bond movie; a gristly fight in a women's prison cell; the Secret Sea"...a sort of quantum foam, with our two universes bobbing in it..."; wild science "Any sufficiently advance technology ...indistinguishable from magic."; the destruction of the twin towers; and a gripping, pulsating fight with a ghost that will leave you gasping for air, |
Ultimately the book speaks to the power of friendship, the pain of grief, and a search of understanding and forgiveness.
Betty Davis warning holds true here. Every time I picked up The Secret Sea, I reminded myself to fasten my seatbelt. Reading this book is one wild ride.
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