I was impressed with Ian McDonald’s Luna series, which brought a struggle between warring mercantile clans to the high-tech environment of domed cities on the Moon. In Planesrunner, the first installment of the Everness series, McDonald is equally adept at young adult fiction. Everett Singh, a teenage math prodigy, witnesses his father being kidnapped by proverbial men in black. Everett uses his insight into quantum physics to decode a software upgrade his father sends to his tablet computer. And we are off on a romp through the multiverse.
The chase leads Everett to a version of England in which the energy economy is based on electricity rather than oil. McDonald has called the genre “Teslapunk.” Everett joins the crew of a giant airship, the Everness, whose captain is wowed by his engineering skills.
The novel provides a compelling father-son relationship tied to puzzles and adventures involving several levels of technology. ( )

All in all, I enjoyed the book and am likely to take up the sequel. My main quibble is that geniuses capable of solving the sort of mathematical knots with which Everett is presented are usually not as normal as Everett. But to make him fit into such a personality would decrease his likableness as a character. But I particularly liked the steampunky idea of Henry Cavendish creating the first electric motor in 1790, sparking (sorry!) an Industrial Revolution that completely bypassed steam and internal combustion. ( )

Everett Singh sees his father kidnapped before his eyes and now the kidnappers are after him believing his father has given him the secret to travelling between parallel universes. Can he find the secret and rescue his father?

Rollicking YA adventure. After all who wouldn't want to join a Polari-speaking airship crew? ( )

It's more like 3.5 stars, but I round up. I enjoyed the world that was created and I look forward to continuing the series. ( )

Come credibilità fantascientifica è accettabile.
Purtroppo è un libro per ragazzi. ( )