Author: Iain Reading
Published: April 2013 by CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Category: Young Adult, Adventure

 

Following in the footsteps of her hero Amelia Earhart, Kitty Hawk sets off on an epic flight around the world and arrives in Iceland’s capital city of Reykjavik where she finds herself immersed in a beautiful alien world of volcanoes, Vikings, elves and trolls. Before she knows it Kitty is plunged head first into an amazing adventure that sweeps her across a rugged landscape where humans and nature exist in side-by-side in an uneasy truce and magical realms seem to lie just out of sight beneath the surface.

 

I received a free copy from Book Publicity Services in return for an honest review.

 

Kitty’s third stop on her round the world flight takes her to Iceland via short stopovers in a little town called Kitty Hawk (yes, really!) in North Carolina and Halifax, Nova Scotia with its very sad link to the Titanic. 

 

This girl is an adventure magnet and, being avidly curious and a keen amateur sleuth, finds herself caught up in an escalating and dangerous situation involving sabotaging environmentalists, corrupt officials and Russian criminals. Not to mention an erupting volcano and escaping a raging torrent.

 

As I passed over the Eastern coastline of Greenland, I was dazzled by the millions of white-blue icebergs littering the inlets and waters below me. In the bright sun, they sparkled like tiny diamonds and sapphires floating on the water. It was such an astonishingly beautiful sight that I couldn’t resist taking my trusty De Havilland Beaver down to a lower altitude for a closer look.

 

As with all of Kitty’s travels the description and sense of place is incredibly evocative. Iceland is an intriguing destination with it’s amazing surroundings and atmosphere. What I like so much about this series is that the actual places figure as much in the story as the characters. Especially with the wealth of knowledge that’s incorporated into the story, in a good way, as part of the whole. Who knew Iceland had a naming committee? Or that said (very long) names, and pronunciations in general, were so complicated and unlike anything you could imagine. Iceland is full of legend too, about elves, trolls and hidden people. Fascinating! I wasn’t so crazy about the Puffin hunting and the local delicacy of rotted shark meat though…ew.

 

Incorporating the Icelandic culture, environmental issues and history and weaving it into the story is extremely absorbing and entertaining. It’s a fun way to interest younger (and older) readers in the history of places in an anecdotal and less formal way. 

 

 

A great read for anyone concerned about the effects caused by the cell phone towers that are everywhere! While the government will deny that they are detrimental to the health of humans, animals and birds, average citizens have absolutely NO rights concerning the siting of these towers. All out rights were taken away by the 1996 Telecommunications Act. Lobbyists spent millions to get this bill passed. Whatever rights that act did not take away were taken away the following year by the Commerce Committee, chaired by Senator John McCain.

Lately, the industry has been changing the red lights on the towers, which attract birds, to white strobe lights. In those cases, at least you know where the towers are located. Now, we have towers that are made to look like part of the environment, so you don't even know they are there! If you are located close enough to these towers, you can be exposed to ionizing radiation, which heat human tissue, just like a microwave oven.

According to Bill P. Curry, Ph.D., onmidirectional antennas should NEVER be placed near residences and directional antennas should NEVER be at the same elevation as nearby residences.

Lots of technical stuff here, but the most important things for us to do as a society are:

Ammend the Telecommunications Act to strengthen the role of local government in tower siting and protect our First Ammandment rights of free speech at public forums, as people raising important issues are often shut down.

Encourage satellite cell phone systems. These will broadcast the signal up into the sky, instead of through your home.

Conservation! If people use their call phones less, there will be less need for towers.