Review: In Over Their Heads

In Over Their Heads by Margaret Peterson Haddix
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I didn't quite like this as much as the first book, but I think that's because I'm an adult, not the age it was intended for. I would probably give it a 3, but rated it 4 stars in looking at it from the perspective of its intended audience. And also because it takes place in Mammoth Cave, which is in my home state.

This continues the story of Under Their Skin, in which Eryn and Nick made the shocking discovery that all the adults and older children in the world are really sophisticated robots, including their parents. Not only that, but their step-siblings, Jackson and Ava, are robots as well, but built illegally by their parents and passed off as human. At the end of the first book, the extended family has taken refuge in Mammoth cave, where Nick makes a startling discovery. As the drama continues in the second book, the family is discovered by a local girl name Lida Mae who says her family has lived in and around the caves for generations. As the story continues, the children are constantly having to re-evaluate what the truth is and who they can trust, even within their own family.

I felt like this book dragged a little compared to the first and I got a little tired of the back-and-forth "robots are bad-robots are good" rhetoric, but overall I think there is enough action and suspense to hold a child's interest, especially someone who has a particular interest in robots. I would recommend this for ages 8-12, and for readers who like sci-fi, particularly those who are fans of Haddix's previous Shadow Children and Missing series.

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