Audio Book Review: Falling Up:Hours

I found this audiobook entertaining and very unusual.

Falling Up: Hours

I have looked but been unable to find a "blurb" or description for this.
It is a paranormal novella that brings the reader to a world of gifted orphans and focuses on 6th graders as they explore a mysterious gym.

Review:
This story follows a class of orphans where all of the children are extremely smart with Seth being the lead child prodigy. Seth’s class has reached 6th level and as their ‘leader’ he accepts the secret contract from the school administrators for his class to enter a mysterious gym for lunch hour each day during the year. Each year the sixth grade class has secretly been offered the same arrangement and during their unsupervised hour each class has developed their own often dangerous ‘game.’ Seth plans a dangerous, meticulous game that involves great technical details but offers a clear chance for disaster. There is also the confusion added by the spirit or ghost of a prior class mate who appears and causes mischief. Things go well for many months but there are issues that continue between the children outside of the gym.

Seth has realized for some time that many of his classmates experience “shimmerings”. He is upset that he has not been selected for that group and he struggles with his jealousy and determination to uncover the secret. Seth finds some pills he knows are taken by his classmates and is caught trying them. The administrators take him to be disciplined by an overseer aka ‘outsider’ who appears to be not all human.

The outsider tells Seth an alarming history of the orphans indicating that they are a group ‘at war’ with the human population due to their ‘different’ behaviors. Seth is initially alarmed and then confused when the administrators continue to tell him that what he has heard from the outsider “doesn’t matter”. Things spin out of control when Seth accuses the outsider of being an enemy and a spy. Next the game in the secret gym is sabotaged and his classmates begin to die. Finally Seth uncovers another secret that presents him with more decisions on how to proceed and how to fight the “enemy”.

The story is told by Seth, who shares his emotions of curiosity, joy, jealousy, excitement, fear and more. I found the plot concept to be very unique and there is a surprising element of intolerance revealed at the end that adds a whole new twist. I believe there were some inconsistencies in the world and presentation and there were some glaring grammatical errors that made me cringe. Still the story is engaging and I particularly liked Seth as a character with real emotions.

The author is part of the band Falling Up and apparently there is an album that accompanies the audiobook. I did enjoy the music that slips in at scene or chapter breaks which is very evocative and sometimes startling. The ending implies a continuation as Seth is to pursue and stop The Outsider. I would be curious where the story goes because, although this book was very entertaining, it left me hanging.

I received this book from my son who listens to the music of Falling Up. I am looking forward to discussing the story with him.