The Lost Compass by Joel Ross (review)

In this sequel to The Fog Diver (BCCB 7/15), readers are instantly thrown back into a post-apocalyptic world where predatory fog (programmed nanites meant to clean up pollution that eventually determined, appropriately enough, that humans were also expendable) shrouds all of what humanity used to be, and the remaining population is now stuck up in the sky. Chess and his scrappy band of scavengers have a bad guy on their tail who knows that Chess is more than just a rare fog diver who can survive the nanites—he may be a key element in actually clearing the fog. Ross makes clear from the start that humanity has learned little from this longstanding state of emergency, as greed, desperation, manipulation, and cruelty still rule the day. In contrast, Chess’ group of misfits can sometimes seem a bit too noble, but that’s a minor quibble. The world building itself is strong, both humorous and poignant as conversations range from the kids trying to figure out the meaning of the pop culture references they encounter to being stunned by glimpses of how glorious the world was before. Readers who haven’t read the first book will miss a significant amount of character development, but the core story of a dystopian world in the skies while the markings of our own civilization decay below works just as well here, without a bit of background from the previous novel.