Sylvia Doe and the 100-Year Flood

 


Another great book by one of my favorite authors!

Did you know around the time this book was released (October 2024), an actual flood happened in Asheville, NC, which is where this book also happens to take place? It was also because of a hurricane: Hurricane Helene. Robert Beatty decided that a portion of his sales from this book will go to help victims of the floods. i bought a copy of this book to help out the cause. Thank you, Mr. Beatty!

Sylvia Doe and the 100-Year Flood is a middle grade urban fantasy novel about 13 year old Sylvia Doe, who has run away from another foster family back to Highground Home for Children, where she feels she truly belongs. This is quite a problem for her social worker and the state, since she can't permanently live in the place like an orphanage from the old days (the book takes place in modern times). But on top of that, Hurricane Jessamine has passed through the area and has flooded the area, destroying a lot of things and hurting a lot of people. But Sylvia discovers something strange: the floodwater has brought a lot of things that are extinct or ancient to the mountain region of North Carolina, and she tries to figure out where it is all coming from. The flood also brought her a mysterious boy named Jorna Grant to her, whom she saves. Jorna got whisked away from his town of Sapphire Cove, which Sylvia has never heard of, even though it is supposedly not far from where she lives. The two become very good friends and try to get Jorna back home, all while trying to solve the mystery of things that are washing up from different time periods. 

This book had me hooked from page 1! It had everything I love seeing in Robert Beatty's books: fantasy elements, an overarching mystery, great friendships, and great Cherokee representation. I also like how the author took into account how does the foster system actually work in real life. 

I gave it 4.5 stars, but that was just because of some of the descriptions of injuries and other icky things that I couldn't stomach. But other than that, this book was a masterpiece! 

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