A review by xan_van_rooyen
The Light at the Bottom of the World by London Shah

3.0

I really love that the main character is Afghan and Muslim. It's rare to find a religious MC in sci-fi so this was pretty awesome! I particularly appreciated all the cultural references the author gave us throughout the novel. I also quite liked the concept of a drowned world, but unfortunately, I struggled to suspend my disbelief or really understand how this world works. It seems the flooded world was the result of a sudden disaster, rather than gradual, environmental change, so I was left wondering how humanity managed to adapt and develop their underground living system so quickly, which was never really addressed in the book.

Also, by now, I've read quite a lot of YA so I saw the 'plot twists' coming a mile away. The story was fairly quick paced but I didn't love the writing style and found a few other aspects of the story a little difficult to believe too, so, overall, I can see this appealing to younger readers of sci-fi looking for an adventurous novel with a dash of romance, but it wasn't quite my cup of tea.