If you enjoy books by JK Rowling, Terry Prachett, Dianna Wynn Jones and Tamora Pierce then this is a series that you will enoy. It is different and unique compared to the other authors and it captures the readers imagination of all ages! Buy all three in the series - well worth the time and cost..

i was just browsing coles when i found this intruiging book i couldnt put it down it rividing, page turning . I still have not read the second book because it has not been at the coles in my town but once it is im going to be the first one to get it.Just simply amazing

Reason for Reading: With the release of the last book in the trilogy this year, I decided to read the series. This is the second book. Comments: This book picks up right where book one left off and continues the story. I cannot tell you anything about the plot without spoiling details that happen in the first book and I like to keep my reviews spoiler free. So instead I'll focus on the characters. Edgar and Isabel are split up into different groups this time as they continue on important quests. They both join characters from book one whom we've only briefly met before; this time giving us greater insight into those characters. Doctor Kincaid, an aging scientist and Victor his attendant; Samuel, a boy from the upper class Highlands and Horace, the lead guard. We also become better acquainted with the villagers including Isabel's father and the owners of an Inn in The Village of Rabbits. The story of is full of adventure, plot twists, mad villains and believable heroes who risk and sometimes give their lives for the greater good. Many of the mainstream reviews call this book, and the series, a fantasy (and the publishers add to the confusion with the fantasy covers) but while the plot does follow your basic fantasy quest premise it is not fantasy at all but science fiction. Everything that happens, is used, or met along the way has a scientific foundation and reason to be, there are no magical or fantastical elements. I read this book through only stopping when life demanded I must. A real page-turner. I really love the world that Carman has created. It is very unique to say the least. This book ends with a finite ending, all threads are finished off and there is even a "One Year Later" epilogue. So the two book set does end very nicely here. There is a third book however, which goes in a completely different direction and I can't wait to read it; review to come soon. This is a great series, highly recommended for ages 9 and up!

Reason for Reading: It has been quite a while since I've read any science fiction and this series intrigued me very much. With the last book in the trilogy coming out this year (2009) I decided to start from the beginning. Comments: Edgar is an orphan who lives on the middle tier of a three tiered planet. His tier, Tabletop, is an agricultural world growing figs and producing rabbits and sheep. The top tier, The Highlands, is a powerful world full of the ruling class who have full control over the planet's water and they use this as punishment and incentive to keep production up. At the bottom is the Flatlands. No one knows anything about the Flatlands, they appear dusty, dry and full of rocks and whether anyone or anything could even live down there little speculation exists. Edgar in the meantime has an inborn need to climb. Even though climbing the cliff between tiers is forbidden upon bodily harm or even death he sneaks out each night climbing the cliff looking for something. He knows not what, just a feeling and a brief memory from his toddlerhood of a man telling him something special is hidden in the cliff for him and so he searches. Absolutely fabulous! I can't say how much I enjoyed this book. The premise is so unique and the directions the plot takes you are full of surprises. Edgar is 11 and he befriends a girl, Isabel, who is about 9. Both characters are strong and have a realistic relationship with each other; Isabel "bothering" Edgar to a certain degree yet a deep trustful friendship forms. Isabel is an independent girl who shows respect for her parents even when running off to join the adventures. An especially captivating story, one that makes you just need to read "one" more chapter and it kept an expectant smile on my face the whole way through. Only one little quibble and my regular readers will see this coming. The book ends in the middle of the story with a cliffhanger. This stops me from giving a full rating of 5 stars. I like each individual book in a trilogy to be a whole book in and of itself while being a part of a greater whole. No cliffhanger endings! Anyway fortunately this isn't 2007 and I don't have to wait another year for the next book. In fact I have the next book sitting on my bedside table and will be starting it probably tomorrow. I can't wait to see what happens next. Highly recommended but make sure you have book 2 waiting right beside you!

Patrick Carman is quick becoming one of my favorite contemporary children's authors. This is the second book of Atherton but the first book outside his Elyon series that I have read. In this book the Land of Atherton was once three levels - the highlands, home of the ruling class, the flatlands below where strange creatures called cleaners live, and the table top with the three villages that provide the food for both it and the highlands. These three have been collapsing in upon themselves. As this world reshapes itself, the social structure is changing and the threats are not just from the changing landscapes. New creatures have been unleashed from the flatlands unto the rest of Atherton. Edgar, Samuel and Isabel are three young people drawn into an adventure they never expected. Each feels they have a role to play in trying to save this world. Each must attempt tasks that they never imagined. Yet this world was also designed and built by man, by Dr. Maximus Harding to be precise, and it was designed to change. But will the transformation take place as planned? Will the wild creatures called the cleaners be defeated? Read the book to find out. This is another great book by Patrick Carman.

i wnt 2 chapters on the 26th fr a bk spree! whle thr, i found atherton rivers of fire! not on audio CD! No Joking! i ws so exited! i read it in a day (Warning: Atherton lovers im about to spoil the book fr u.) and fnd ot tht Dr. Harding is Lord Phineus . Edgar was made by Dr.Harding for Atherton and tht , in the end atherton is only the flatlands, exept with life on it and tht the highlands and the tabletop sunk and the cleaners turned to water creatures to capture and eat. everything is alright. my review is terrible compared to the book because they fce lots of traps and monsters. AWESOME!!! a must read. oh, yah Dr.Harding dies.

Welcome to Atherton . . . Once you’ve set foot on this treacherous landscape, your life will never be the same again! I should warn you now that you’ll never again return to the Dark Planet, or what our ancestors called planet Earth. In Atherton, nobody has ever died before. This means you’ll have to get accustomed to the multifarious landforms on Atherton because if you’re lucky, you’ll be here for a long time. The bottom of Atherton is made up of a wide, somewhat circular wasteland known as the Flatlands. Above that, you’ll find Tabletop, a little smaller than the Flatlands, but still nonetheless circular. Tabletop is where your journey will begin. At the highest level, the Highlands are situated, with more power, water, and resources than all those below them. As you can see, Atherton is built like a three-layered wedding cake, with the power reigning from the top to the bottom. Now that you’ve prepared, let’s embark on this journey together. In the rocky, desolate lands of Tabletop, eleven-year-old Edgar is living in a lonely grove when he unleashes his gift - the gift of climbing. He scales the highest cliffs in record time, and soon accomplishes what no other mortal from Tabletop has ever before. He succeeds in climbing to the Highlands. In a quest which began at the age of four, Edgar soon befriends a Highland boy who helps him uncover the secrets bestowed upon Edgar seven years ago. Such secrets are rarely ever pleasant, as Edgar soon discovers. He, and everyone else in Atherton are soon faced with a terrible fate: the island of Atherton is slowly sinking. Edgar soon embarks on yet another journey which takes him to the lowly territories of the Flatlands. It is here that you, and Edgar, learn the truth about Atherton. Created as an ancillary of planet Earth, or the Dark Planet, Atherton is a mad scientist’s dream of a world where people can breathe clean air and live without knowledge of war. The scientist, Dr. Harding, has devised a plan to keep Atherton free of uprisings by separating Atherton into three interdependent levels. But serious trouble strikes when Harding’s experiment with Atherton goes wrong; as the world of Atherton begins to meet its fate, there is no doubt that Dr. Harding is one mad scientist. Compelling, contemporary, and revealing, Atherton is nothing short of gorgeous! One might call it a fantasy novel, but the world of Atherton, when juxtaposed with our world today, bears a realistic resemblance. In one of the most powerful children’s books ever written, Patrick Carman explores the possibilities of a changing world and the implications that follow. Join us for this magnificent ride through Atherton. Put on your seatbelts because it’s going to be a bumpy one!