THE DARK DEEPS

Volume two of Slade’s steampunk series starts with a shipwreck, the lone survivor of which is raised by the evil Clockwork Guild and transformed into Modo’s perfect nemesis: The one doesn’t dare show his true face, and the other has been rendered invisible and has no face to show. But the meditation on how appearance and personality intersect is secondary to the fabulous Jules Verne–inspired underseas adventure. Ships are vanishing, and Modo and the beautiful Octavia’s investigation results in Modo and rival French agent Colette (another stunning teen) landing aboard the Ictinéo, a submarine whose crew come from an astounding underwater Utopia (geothermal springs, massive amounts of rivets and metal plates feature prominently; citizens are comrades, and even the disabled and old are considered valuable members of society). Even as Modo seeks his freedom and races Colette to tell his supervisors of the submarine, the Clockwork Guild seeks the Ictinéo, and in the end a battle is inevitable. Slade’s dialogue continues to be clunky, but the adventure continues to soar—anyone who hasn’t started the series yet should grab both volumes right now. (Steampunk. 10 & up)