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Reviewed by Lex Allen for Readers' Favorite
The world as we know it no longer exists. The failure to take positive action against climate change has led to the inevitable result. Fortunately for humankind, scientists developed a plan to keep a portion of the human race alive. Through a years-long selection process of an equal number of men and women and advanced cryonics, the human race returns to life two thousand years after the world as we knew it died. Oxygen, the first book in The Elemental Series, shines with verisimilitude (a sense of reality) through Shannon Hildebrandt's first-person narrative. The story, told by the female lead character Skylar (Sky), reveals abundant research and personal experiences that combine elements of science, human nature, and a deep imagination to create a mind-blowing novel as real as our current world realities and personal experiences.
Oxygen is Shannon Hildebrandt's first novel, and I've seldom read a first novel as well done as this. The story hits all three parts of story-telling -- true-to-life characters, realistic conflict, and satisfactory resolution -- with apparent ease. After Sky, the most exciting and impactful character is her brother Kyle, a genius of many talents, particularly in biology, chemistry, and physics, but especially in his ability to "think outside the box," a term often used to describe ultra-genius. And finally, even after two thousand years of sleep… romance awakens, alive and well. The story isn't technically a thriller but incorporates thriller aspects throughout and concludes with what is usually anathema for me—a cliffhanger ending. However, although steep, this cliffhanger is also a fitting end to a fascinating story, and, despite my thoughts on cliffhangers, it's this fascinating story that counts the most.
