A Series Review: "The Search for WondLa" by Tony DiTerlizzi

                 

The Search for WondLa is a three-book middle grade series set in a distant future. We follow the girl named Eva Nine who is born in a high tech underground sanctuary and is raised by a Multi-Utility Task Help Robot (Muthr). It took me a while to get into the first book simply because for most of it, the reader (along with Eva Nine) have no idea where she is and what is going on in the world. Basically, while she is a child, Muthr prepares Eva Nine for the day when she will leave the sanctuary and integrate into the life on the surface. However, their life is completely turned upside down when one day a terrible beast breaks into their sanctuary and Eva Nine has to flee and fend for herself in the wild. What she finds above ground is totally different from the instructional videos she had watched her entire life. The world is populated with strange plants, animals and even aliens who act like Eva Nine is the one out of place. For most of book 1, I honestly had no idea whether Eva Nine was on earth or on some other planet. Everything becomes clarified in the last third of the book, and then the series really take off at a nice pace. Books 2 and 3 are simply amazing. There is a lot of action, mystery, and political intrigue. I also thought that for a children's book, the series have some profound spiritual messages that I really appreciated. For example, here is one quote from Book 3 that I really liked:

We are born, we live, and we perish, perhaps to be born again in some other form... Galaxies are but one living entity burning with the energy from all of us. Life and death are but siblings who turn the universe continually. Endlessly.

Another aspect of these books that has to be mentioned is the fact that the author is also the illustrator for the series. The books have beautiful illustrations throughout. Tony DiTerlizzi has created an unbelievable world with completely new creatures, animals and plants, and all of them are not just described in his books, there are also full page illustrations that bring his imagination to life.

I highly recommend this series not just for children but also for adults. I rated book 1 at 4 stars and books 2 and 3 were both 5-star reads.