From the publisher:
When seventeen-year-old Ishmael wakes up from stasis aboard the Pequod, he is amazed by how different this planet is from the dirty, dying, Shroud-covered Earth he left behind. But Ishmael isn’t on Cretacea to marvel at the fresh air, sunshine, and endless blue ocean. He’s here to work, risking his life to hunt down great ocean-dwelling beasts to harvest and send back to the resource-depleted Earth.
Even though easy prey abounds, time and again the chase boat crews are ordered to ignore it in order to pursue an elusive monster so enormous and so deadly that few who've seen it have lived to tell the tale.
One who has seen it is the ship's captain, Ahab. It’s rumored that he lost his leg to the beast years ago, and that he’s now consumed by revenge. But there may be more to Captain Ahab’s obsession than a desire for revenge. Dark secrets and dangerous exploits swirl around the pursuit of the beast, and Ishmael must do his best to survive—if he can.
For those who love adventure (no romance included here) Great world building
978-0763669010 Ages 12 and up 414 pages ****** From Kirkus:
Moby-Dick on an alien planet. Having left the arid, chemical-laden, dying Earth for a yearlong assignment, Ishmael awakens from stasis already on the Pequod, a ship in the middle of the ocean on a planet called Cretacea. He's never seen an ocean before—nor rain, nor plants, nor solid food, nor nonhuman animals like the sea creatures this ship is hunting. He needs money to buy his foster parents passage off of Earth, but Capt. Ahab's singular, manic focus on killing the Great Terrafin (think: white whale) prevents the crew from harvesting other sea animals, despite the profit they offer. Strasser crams in a lot: post-apocalyptic Earth, ship life, enthusiastic and bloody sea hunting, time travel, naturally occurring opioids, pirates, stereotypically simple-hearted islanders, inexplicable and pointless dialects, and a blind man who smells information. The rusty, old Pequod is powered by nuclear reactor, and technological gadgets—tablets, magnetic levitation, drones that track sea life—make strange bedfellows for harpoons and people unaware of the concept of reading. Despite the science-fiction premise—including a surprise late reveal—this has a pure adventure core; Ishmael undergoes no emotional growth arc whatsoever, and his characterization comes straight from lost-heir fantasy. An odd combination of genres and tropes for fans of old-fashioned adventure. (author's note, glossary) (Science fiction/adventure. 12 & up)(Kirkus Reviews, August 1, 2015)
