A plane traveling across the globe experiences a freak accident. The plane is torn apart and everyone on board disappears in a strange electrical storm. Everyone except eight kids. They survive the crash and find themselves in the middle of a tropical jungle. How can that be when they were flying across the arctic? Stranger than the disappearing passengers and the jungle is the fact that it is like nothing on earth. There are two moons in the sky. The animals and plant life are very dangerous and very different than normal. The kids also discover an anti-gravity machine in the plane. Where did that come from? As our young explorers figure out how to survive in this alien landscape they must also figure out where they are, what is going on and how to communicate with each other. 

Four of the survivors (Molly, Anna, Javier and Oliver) are members of a robot engineer group on their way to Japan for a competition. They have the smarts to figure out some of the technical difficulties and they are the first to experiment with the anti-gravity machine. Yoshi is traveling back to Japan after spending time with his mom in New York. He is carrying a priceless Japanese katana with him that he stole from his father. The sword definitely comes in handy in the jungle! Akiko and Kira are Japanese sister returning from boarding school. They do not speak English so it is a challenge. Fortunately, Yoshi speaks both English and Japanese and can translate for them. Caleb rounds out the group. He is a bit older than the others and thinks he should be in charge. 

This was fast-paced, exciting and pure Westerfeld. There are several mysteries to solve throughout the series and it will be interesting to see how they come out. What happened to the plane and what made it crash? Where are they? Who created this alien world? Why did the kids survive? What is the purpose of it all? I can't wait to see where this series goes.