REVIEW: The Search for Wondla by Tony DiTerlizzi

Guest review by Jenni from Juniper's Jungle

I'd never read anything by Tony DiTerlizzi, but I loved the premise for The Search for Wondla so I thought I’d give it a go. The story is about Eva Nine who has been raised solely by robots and artifical lifeforms. She’s dreamt about what’s outside her very small world, but when she’s forced out into it by an attack on her sanctuary she finds that the outside world is a scary place when you’re all alone. Enter Rovender and Otto, two very different beings who join her on her search for the mythical Wondla.

Eva Nine is an amazing character, she’s determined and focused yet vulnerable. She has to cope with so much happening to her, she’s only 12, and yet she just keeps going. I loved the way she and Rovender related to each other, they’re both new to each other’s world which allowed for wonderful world building that never felt clunky or like it was too much exposition.

And what a world it is that DiTerlizzi creates, by the end of the book I was completely in awe of it. In addition to the physical world that the book is set in I loved all of the other features. The technology that Eva Nine has is amazing, as a geeky reader I found it really exciting reading about all of the different things she had. I found that I could easily imagine how a lot of the technology could come to exist in the future.

The further I got into the book the more I became completely caught up in what I was reading. I found that I became completely attached to the characters, as they were put through so much upheaval I found myself really worrying about them. At one point I even had a little cry despite the fact I was reading the book on the train.

The last few chapters of the book are really exciting, and then there’s a great big cliffhanger to finish. I know I’m going to be eagerly awaiting the next book, and in the meantime I’m going to be catching up with The Spiderwick Chronicles.

Great review, thank you Jenni!