Seven Miles Deep: Chantrea
By Valorie Lord
Hi! Have you ever met someone who’s really different from you and they became a good friend? Well, Cori and Jake are from two different worlds where everyday life is very different. However, they both love adventures and that similarity is what brings them together!
This story was told in two parts: Jake and Cori. Since that’s how the story was told, that’s how I’m going to do the review. In the end, I’ll have a section that says “together,” because this is the point where Jake’s and Cori’s stories intertwine.
Cori
Cori lives in the underwater city of Chantrea (hence the title). Cori lives a normal life. He goes to school, races with seahorses, and plays Triball with his friends. Triball is a game that consists of three teams: red, gold and green. The red team tries to shoot their balls in to the gold team’s goal; the gold team tries to shoot their balls into the green team’s goal; and the green team tries to shoot their balls into the red team’s goal. At the same time, they have to intercept balls from the other teams and shoot them back at their goals. And the game keeps going until every ball is in the net.
This morning is Cori’s first day of school. He wakes up and eats breakfast before his physical. Then, he goes to class. After that, he tries out for the Triball team. The results of his physical are astounding. Cori has “Ascencia.” You see, the people of Chantrea can’t go up very high, just like we can’t go down too low below sea level; they’re accustomed to the pressure and can’t live without it. Having Ascencia means that Cori can live deep in the ocean or on land with humans. He’s the first one to have it in a long time! So, when Roosa gets sick with a disease that can only be cured with a plant from the outside, Cori is sent into the great unknown to find and bring back the Silverleaf. On his search, he encounters many dangerous creatures, one who kills his loyal companion, a packfish.
Cori continues up and discovers the alien world. This is where he meets Jake!
Jake
Jake’s dad is a marine biologist that lives on an island while Jake lives in the States. He’s really excited about going to see his dad because he hasn’t seen him for a long time. When he arrives, he sees so many fun things to do. He can’t wait to do them all with his dad! However, his dad is going to be working the whole time.
Since Jake can’t go out with his dad, he goes exploring in the woods by himself. There, he meets Nico who saves him from a snake. Nico takes Jake to his house. There, Jake discovers that Nico (aka Nicola) is actually a girl. Jake gets mad at Nico, for some reason, and then runs away, embarrassed. They eventually make up and become friends.
Over time, Jake begins to grow interested in his dad’s profession. He reads tons of books on submarines and underwater creatures and plants. THEN, Jake sees the sub. He loves it! And he wants to take it into the water really badly. However, his dad won’t let him because he’s scared that Jake will damage the sub.
Finally, Jake gets the chance to go into the sub. He gets in the sub and goes exploring. There, he sees a whole underwater world. Confused about what he’s seeing, he goes back up to the surface to discover that he has very little battery left. Will it be enough to get Jake to shore?
It isn’t! Jake makes it to the shore, but he can’t get the sub out of the water. Jake’s running out of air, and he won’t last long! Jake slowly passes out from lack of oxygen. Then, Nico comes to the rescue. She saves Jake and helps pull the sub to shore. Jake is then afraid to go in it again and he’s scared about what his dad will say if he finds out.
Together
Cori meets Jake and recognizes his sub as the thing that they saw near Chantrea. Jake and Cori get to know each other and discover many things about each other. For example, Cori asks, “Why can’t you swim up in this world?” Jake tells him about gravity and that it’s a little too complicated to understand. Cori continues to ask Jake questions about his world and he discovers many things about the food, the water, etc. And then Nico hears Jake talking to Cori. She comes down to investigate, but Jake tells her that he was just talking to himself.
Jake and Cori go and explore a nearby cave. There, Cori finds the Silverleaf plant! Cori gathers up the plants and heads back. While Cori is discovering the Silverleaf plants, Jake receives some bad news – Nico’s grandmother has just died of a heart attack! This is when Jake realizes that he must tell Nico about Cori because it has been ruining their friendship – Nico has been staying away from Jake and Jake has been staying away from Nico. Eventually, Jake introduces Nico to Cori. Then, Jake makes the suggestion that he and Nico accompany Cori back home.
Will they make it safely into the depths of the sea, or will the journey to Chantrea be as dangerous as Cori’s journey from it? As I always say, read the book to find out!
A few helpful things I like to say about the books I read:
“Run and Get Mom” (how I describe the scariness factor – zero being not scary at all and five being majorly scary): 3
“Yucky-Lovey Stuff” (how I describe the romance factor – zero having no yucky-lovey parts in it and five having major yucky-lovey parts): 2
I give this book 5 wands.
This was a really good book! I loved the way the author split it up into two parts.
Cori’s story really intrigued me with his ordinary life!
Source: Review Copy
