By Andy See

I haven’t read a book in a while, but I have this book that I thoroughly enjoyed. The book is called ‘Omega City’, written by American author Diana Peterfreund in 2015. The ‘Omega City’ book is part of a series; the first book of the trilogy. The list of the book series in order are: ‘Omega City’, ‘Omega City: The Forbidden Fortress’, and ‘Omega City: Infinity Base.’ 

Diana Peterfreund is also known for works such as ‘Hall with the Knife’, ‘Killer Unicorns’, ‘For Darkness Shows the Stars’, and many more.  

Peterfreunds’ book ‘Omega City’ is around three hundred pages and twenty-six chapters. The book is not lengthy at all, so I was able to finish the book in a week. Those seven days of my life were exciting and incredible. 

Long story short, there is a group of kids who venture out into a secret underground base called Omega City, to discover some of Dr. Underberg’s brilliant inventions. The group of kids consists of the main protagonist Gillian, little brother Eric, best friend Savannah, nerd Howard, and Nate, a pizza boy. 

I love the diversity of the group. You would never find this kind of friend group in real life. In real life, you would see a distinct friend group and how similar they are from each other. This was a nice change. 

Diving further into the plot, Gillian’s dad is a big follower of Dr. Underberg, a great and forgotten scientist of his time. On their journey, they are hunted down by the dad’s new love interest, Fiona, and a few government patrols.

Gillian’s dad is called names by their neighbors as a ticking time bomb on a daily basis but in reality, he is a genius. He is the biggest fan of Dr. Underberg and looks up to his way of thinking and inventions. His main goal and work is to revive Dr. Underberg’s unnoticed brilliance. 

‘Omega City’ has the fundamentals of a good book. The two main things that every book needs to be considered a good book are: good characters and character relationships. This book checks both of the boxes. 

My favorite characters in this book are best friends Gillian and Savannah. I loved Gillian because she is determined on what she puts her mind to. Even when the odds are against her favor, she always finds a way to overcome complications. She was able to solve Dr. Underberg’s puzzle with her friends, but her dad couldn’t. 

Savannah was another favorite of mine because she’s not a quitter. There was this one scene where they approached an elevator underwater, and Savannah swam to see if it could possibly work. She ended up getting stuck in the elevator and almost cut in half. There was a point when the group believed that she drowned, but she was able to swim out. I was astonished. 

I cherished the brother relationship between Howard and Nate the Pizza boy. The two are polar opposites, but they know each other very well and care a lot for each other. Howard is a bookworm, and Nate is a cool teen. The age difference really sells the brotherly love. I can always admire a loving sibling relationship.

 I also found joy in the contrasting relationship between Savannah and Howard. In the beginning of the book when we are first introduced to Howard, Savannah would call him a dweeb. By the end of the story, Savannah’s perspective on Howard completely switches. Savannah has respect towards Howard. Reading the shift in their relationship was an interesting experience. 

When I was done with the book, I was left wanting more. I never knew there was an Omega City series, so when I found out that there were two more books after, I was really considering reading the whole series and you should too.

Andy See
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