First Descent

September 1, 2011

When a 17-year-old tackles the first-ever descent of a tumultuous Colombian river, he encounters both raging rapids and raging war.

Rex is the grandson of a world-class kayaker who inexplicably turned his back on El Furioso 60 years before. Armed with his grandfather's journal—but very little advice from the taciturn man—and plenty of kayaking ability but astonishingly little world experience, Rex travels to Colombia, where he meets Myriam, also 17. The tale shifts between his first-person narration and alternating chapters told from her third-person point of view. She's an indígena, one of a small group of locals caught in the brutal, cocaine-fueled war among guerrilla fighters, paramilitary groups and the ineffectual Colombian army. In spite of numerous warnings and the desertion of his team, Rex takes on El Furioso solo, with dire consequences. Kayaking action and encounters with the various military groups are vivid and thrilling. Less effective are some of the transitions between the two narratives, when showing periodically deteriorates to telling. Readers must suspend belief that Rex would travel alone to war-torn Colombia to take on a wild river with just a pair of ill-prepared teammates—without someone recognizing the foolhardy nature of the venture.

Those willing to accept the premise of this effort are in for an exhilarating if somewhat shallow ride. (Adventure. 12 & up)

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

January 1, 2012

Gr 9 Up-Rex, 17, has grown up kayaking the wild rivers of Montana in an attempt to escape the shadow of his famous grandfather. Myriam, a Colombian teenager, has grown up dodging land mines and bullets while trying to convince her parents to allow her to pursue her schooling. When Rex decides to attempt a first descent down a notoriously deadly South American river, their worlds collide in ways neither dreamed possible. In a country where humans prove more dangerous than animals, the teens' partnership quickly devolves into a struggle for survival. Though the precarious situations they each encounter in the first few chapters seem to exist solely to catch readers' attention, the overall story is interesting and the characters are likable. Reluctant readers will especially enjoy the adventure aspect, though they may find some of the vocabulary challenging.-Kelly McGorray, Glenbard South High School, Glen Ellyn, IL

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 15, 2011
Grades 8-12 Withers, a former whitewater kayak instructor and raft guide, brings her expertise to this knuckle-whitener of an outdoor adventure tale. The first descent of the title refers to making the first conquest of a series of heretofore unexplored rivers. Seventeen-year-old champion slalom kayaker Rex Scruggs is determined to kayak Colombia's Furioso River, when he meets a young woman, an Andean ind-gena, who both aids Rex in his quest and puts him in the crosshairs of Colombia's battling guerrillas and paramilitaries. Reading this is somewhat akin to the sport itself. From the first page, when Rex hears a crack of river ice, sees an eight-year-old in peril, and enacts a dramatic rescue in which he must out-paddle an advancing mountain of ice, Withers flings the reader from one perilous adventure to another. Fans of this should check out Withers' Raging River (2003), a whitewater rafting adventure.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)