I read In Search of Wondla by Tony DiTerlizzi while backpacking through the dramatic fjord region of Norway this summer. While our heroine, Eva Nine, is thrust into the foreign and fantastical world above her underground sanctuary, I was wandering around lands strange and unusual to me, too. I didn't come across four winged birds or ambulatory trees, but there were reindeer and vikings. I think we were equally awed by the expansive sky though, as only a girl living underground and a New Yorker could have been.
DiTerlizzi has built a world both replete with unknown natural organisms and technology we still only dream about. Take Eva's omnipod- dangerously close to resembling an iPod, this device can scan living organisms, project holographic displays, x-ray, and is accessed exclusively through voice control. It syncs with the sanctuary, a non-evil version of Ray Bradbury's mechanized house in "The Veldt," and Eva's maternal robot, MUTHR. DiTerlizzi also feeds our techno-obsessed imaginations with Wondla vision, periodic icons that interact with a computer plug-in to generate a map of the region: http://wondla.com/wondla-vision.html While it serves as a great hook for reluctant readers, this add-on is not a necessary component for reading the book.
How capable our technological devices will become is a different question from how much they will feel. MUTHR`s Artificial Intelligence is logical for most of the book- displays of affection explained by her programming. However, near the end of the book MUTHR expresses both despondency and pleasure. She describes enjoying experiences. While this further develops her relationship with Eva, it also blurs the line between living creatures and machines. The plausibility is questionable but makes for great discussion questions!
Wondla is a homage to Frank L. Baum's The Wizard of Oz. Both books feature a lost heroine searching for her physical home who discovers that home is just another word for family. Both girls are orphans being raised by well-intentioned surrogates. Both are flat in their goodness but rounded out by their longing for meaningful relationships. Even Toto is present albeit much, much larger in his Wondla incarnation. Wondla can be read with no prior knowledge of Dorothy's adventures in Oz, but readers of the Oz books will enjoy parallel after parallel.
It doesn't take long for the reader to realize that Eva's story is much larger than the book at hand. This is essentially a set-up novel introducing us to the world of Orbona. Frustrating, if you expect every conflict to be resolved, but exciting if you are a series addict like me.
