My 12 year old daughter chose to buy this book and, having read it, pleaded and begged me to read it too. I am SO GLAD I did! It is the most moving, touching, powerful children's book that I have ever read. But much more than that, it's a really big warning for the world to change it's ways before it's too late - YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!! Get yourself a copy and read it - NOW.

See what reviewers on Amazon thought: Amazon "Exodus" Reviews

The following people have shown interest in an International bookring for Exodus:

loopy1
chinasourcer
Lucycat
talkland
YowlYY
Weebly
torialouise
chelseagirl
skribble
Brujula - France (ship within Europe)
Mytilusgirl - UK (ship anywhere)
grover3d - WV, USA (ship anywhere) - Stalled Here! (see final journal entry)
lauraloo29 - Canada (ship anywhere)
mystic-nz - New Zealand (ship only NZ, AUS)
FutureCat - New Zealand (ship only NZ, AUS)
Mundoo - Australia (ship AUS)
tqd - Australia (ship AUS)
gypsyrose02 - Australia (ship AUS)
celestewa - Australia (ship anywhere)
Winterson - UK (ship UK only)
??? Could Be You !!
Back home to KathyS

This book arrived safely in Kent this morning, and I'm looking forward to reading it :-)

I can't believe I didn't journal this one!
I've just been entertaining myself looking through my bookshelf, and discovered quite by chance that I haven't journalled this book beyond saying it had arrived.
Well, I loved this book. It was so thought provoking, and I really followed Mara's story as she travelled. I couldn't believe the attitude of the city people, and really felt for the refugee camp. Then it was really moving when Mara was on the ship and she faced the same situation as those in the city...
Thanks so much for this book, I really enjoyed it. I'm sure I have posted it on, but didn't put this one on my tracking sheet, so have no record. I'll be checking with thechinaSourcer that I have posted the book on to her. Sorry again and thanks for sharing :-)

Well that gave me a worrying hour or so :-(
Thechinasourcer hadn't received it, so I had a frantic time searching the house - if I hadn't journalled it, it was unlikely I'd posted it on anyway.
Then I remembered finishing it in the car waiting for a son to finish rugby practice, after a visit to the library. A quick check found the book sitting innocently in the library bag...
Many apologies for letting this book slip through the net for a few days - that will teach me to record all the books on my tracking sheet!
It will be posted on tomorrow :-)

Received in the post, many thanks.

I haven't been able to get into this book, having read about a third+. It seemed very slow and never really 'grabbed' me. I haven't rated it as I haven't finished it.
It doesn't seem fair to hold on to it any longer so I'm sending it to Lucycat today as she is next in the bookring.

Well, I've finally pulled my finger out and gone and collected a *stack* of parcels from the sorting office, and the TFF Bookbox was among them...yay! Thanks so much to Bren for adding this bookring to it - I have to say I'd forgotten I'd signed up for it, so it's been a very pleasant surprise to have it arrive. As is Murphy's law, I have two ray books here with me at the moment, but I've already finished one and am just waiting for an addy, so hopefully this one will be back on the road again by the end of next week.

Many thanks again for passing this on.

Update 3/2/04

A really peculiar book...the premise on the back cover sounded intriguing in a 'Coraline' kind of a way, but when I started to read I was put off by the very SF-sounding names and began to think it perhaps wasn't going to be my cup of tea after all.

And then I got completely and utterly sucked in and read the rest of it in one sitting. :O)

It's certainly not the best written children's book I've ever come across, but some of the imagery is just incredible, from the drowning island of Wing itself to the boat-camp and within the walls of the sky city to the Treenesters home and the wizard's hat. The sci-fi Sky City and the Weave itself just didn't do anything for me - but then I'm not really a SF kind of a gal.

I really enjoyed this though - and to return the favour, I should recommend my absolute favourite children's book. It's by Terry Nation and is called 'Rebecca's World'...when I was about eight I read it through the night as a wildly exciting adventure story, only when I found a copy of it years later did I realise that it's also an environmental allegory. It's sadly out-of-print at the moment, but if you do ever spot a copy, grab it - it's such a great read.

Heading off today to Sarah...enjoy!

I dived into to this straightaway and it was excellent. It was a very thought-provoking book that addressed serious issues. I also like the fact that the ending wasn't cut and dried. The end was a new beginning! I would certainly recommend this for teenagers. I am think of buying it for my eldest nephew as I am sure he will appreciate this.

Released on Monday, February 09, 2004 at the post office in Eastbourne, East Sussex, England, in Controlled Releases.

Off to London and YowlYY.

Received today in the belief that it was part of the 2nd UK readers' chain (see http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/1163504 for the Navigation book!) but now that I have read the reviews here I know better!!
I won't wait long to start it, but I have 3 more bookrays to go so if someone think I should pass it on and go down the list I will do so.

For a childrens book, it is certainly one of the best ones I've read so far. I enjoyed especially the two last thirds of the book, when the story gets moving and when the weirdness of the inhabitants of the model city is exposed... I got into the book during my train trip to Edinburgh, and lucky me the journey is 5 hrs long, because I could finish it in one go and even have time to start a new one...
Good thing no-one was sitting next to me, as some of the passages are quite moving. (No, I didn't really cry...but well...you know the gut feeling...knot in the throat type thingy... sniff ...sniff... LOL)
I bought a new copy of this to pass on to a fellow bookcrosser in Italy, who is not so up to scratch with the English language. I think the novel is written in a simple enough way for her to understand and appreciate the story.

The book should be now due to visit Weebly, but she's weebling away on holiday (LOL) and asked me to pass it on to Chelseagirl for the time being... she will then have a go at it when she's back, suntan and all :-)

Thanks again to KathyS for starting the bookring!

The Glasgow Cathedral Quire (East) in the picture!

This arrived today, many thanks. I am half way through Interview with the Vampire, then have a Sue Grafton (F I think) then I will get right into this one. Looking forward to it having seen all the rave reviews.

ANd I had a lovely holiday, but spent last night with my daughter in hospital with following her tummy bug lasting all week, checking for dehydration, only to spend a sleepless night there with her bouncing arund feeling much better !! lol

I really enjoyed this book. SO much so I took it to London to a concert in the Royal Albert Hall and read it on the coach, in a London coffee shop, in Pizza Hut on the strand, and before and during the interval of the concert!

I got home at 1am - and didn't go to bed until I had read the last chapter. I enjoyed it, but would like to know what happens next. Is there a sequel ?

I will post to Toria this week to keep it moving. Many thanks for this Ring.

Recieved today and making a start right away as just finished my other ring!! Looks good!!

I really enjoyed this book. It took me a little while to settle in to the story but once i did I was gripped. The book was thought provoking and really made me stop and think about the world around me and how much we take things for granted.

I loved the concept of people being days old rather than years. The Treenesters counted in days with the explaination that " a year is too long to hold in your mond but you can hold a day easily enough. At the end of each day you can look at how you lived it. You could never do that with a year, it's too big."

I'll be working out my days age soon!!

A brilliant read and one i would highly recommend.

Passing on to Chelseagirl now.

Book arrived while I was away last week, apologies for not registering sooner. I'm halfway through one book and have another to read but will hopefully get on to this one by the weekend. Thank you :0)

Do you ever have a book sent to you that you just don't feel like reading? That's how I felt about this - I've had it sitting on the shelf for the last month, and I've kept avoiding it for some reason, I just haven't fancied reading it. Until this week, when I decided that I'd start it, at least, just so I could get it out of the way and off on its journey.

What a fool I have been. This is one of the most thought provoking books I've read in a long time. The basic story - of a young girl's survival against the odds in a world full of disaster, of the coming together of past and present, is enthralling, but the whole overtone of impending doom is what really hit me about this book. We are ruining our planet and we all know that the seas are rising year on year - is our future set to be like the one Mara lives in?

This is one book that I didn't want to get to the end of - I've become so fond of all the characters and it's a wrench to pull myself away from their world. I just know that I'm going to spend the next few days thinking over the issues Exodus has raised and wondering what happened to Mara, Gorbals, Wing and Fox.

Thankyou so much for sharing this book.

I'll be posting this on to skribble in the next day or two.

Book arrived with a thump this morning. Thanks Chelseagirl. I should make a start on it later this week.

Well this book sucked up a massive chunk of my Bank Holiday Monday. I couldn't put it down. It's a really engaging story and I thought Mara was a great heroine (she kind of remind's me of Lyra from His Dark Materials).

Like Lucycat I really liked some of the imagery, I could almost see so many of the scenes on a cinematic scale, which is quite unusual as usually I get a picture of characters but the scenery is undefined. There were thoughts and ideas that were reminiscent of other 'end of the world' stuff I've read (and watching The Day after Tomorrow, the same weekend gave me a global warming-consequences overload) . plus I found some of the more sci-fi bits quite like William Gibson's stuff. All taken together, however, it was original.

At the end I was willing Mara to save heself and her friends, and was called up short when it was pointed out that she was facing exactly the same choice as the inhabitants of the new cities!

Is now making it's way on it's journey to France

Received yesterday in the mail.
I'll read it as soon as I've finished the book I'm reading now!

Thank you skribble and KathyS!

When I browsed through this book I wasn't sure I would finish it... The names, the story didn't inspire me really. But once I got into it, I couldn't let it go! It's a nice tale of loyalty and hope.

thank you, KathyS for this book I wouldn't have read otherwise!

I'll be mailing it to Mytilusgirl tomorrow! (Friday, that is)

I did mail it on friday june 18th... Hope it doesn't take it much longer to get across the channel!

Somewhere along the line "Exodus" was lost in the post between Brujula in France and Mytilusgirl in the UK.

But Mytilusgirl has kindly purchased another copy and will be sending this on once she's read it - isn't she a star!!

Thanks for everyone's kind comments on the book. I'm glad so many of you have enjoyed it - even if it did take some of you a while to be gripped. This is a book that deserves more recognition and I see it as my purpose in life to spread the word :o)

Sorry folks. What with one thing and another, it's taken me quite some time to purchase another copy of this, read it and pass it on, for which, my apologies. I can only say (in my defense) that my usual turnaround time with rings and rays is *far* quicker!

I thought the book was good, but not great. Mara struck me as a great heroine however I found the ease with which she dealt with certain situations, and I'm primarily thinking of her integration into the city, implausible.

Overall, the premise of the book is a good one, and, rather depressinly, one that our children, or children's children may face themselves. But that's enough doom and gloom for one afternoon.

The boook's travelling onwards, as of today.

Thank you KathyS, especially for your patience!

It's here, thanks!

Very interesting and well-written...GREAT for kids, especially those who loved A WRINKLE IN TIME. The end seemed a bit rushed to me, but the descriptions of Wing and the Treenesters...perfection! Great book - thanks so much for sharing it!

After various PMs and a journal entry (now deleted!) I am pleased to say that grover3d has been in touch *happy dance*

Once she gets home from her travels in a couple of days, she is going to check to see if Exodus is still on her shelves. She thinks that she posted it on but the next reader, lauraloo29, doesn't remember receiving a PM requesting her address. I'm hoping that grover's PM to lauraloo went AWOL and the book is safe. So fingers crossed that this wonderful book will be continuing it's journey in the very near future.

Do you want the good news or the bad news first? Me, I like the bad news so I've got something to look forward to!!

Bad News: My "Exodus" bookring has stalled in the USA with grover3d. I guess RL took over for her. I PMed her last year and know how things stood with her then. I haven't PMed her again as I know she will get the book moving again, or will return it to me, when she's able.

Good News: I've got another copy *yippee* so I'm planning to get this to the next reader, lauraloo29 (if she's still interested!), as soon as possible. Anyone keen to still receive journal entries for this bookring can catch the replacement copy to their bookshelf by using BCID 846-3371929 or by checking entries here.

I've had so many positive responses to this lovely book that it seems a pity not to keep it moving.

As I still haven't heard news of this copy of Exodus, I've decided to send it to the Lost Book Island for rest and recuperation. Who knows, maybe a spell under a sun umbrella on the beach might renew it's spirit and it might feel ready to come home.

This book seems to have taken a long side trip while with a bookcrosser. It seems so tragic when a bookring gets halfway through its long list and then doesn't get the chance to finish its journey.

It is hoped that after some time on the Lost Book Island this book will gather the strength it needs to continue on. At least here the book will be given many opportunities for relaxation under palm trees with cool fruity drinks and the chance to take some map-reading classes that may help it with future travels.

The first thing that this book wants is a new journal entry that will help to tell its fate and jump start it on to new readers.