The Elephant Mountains

Adult author Ely (Dream Fishing) makes a mostly successful YA debut with this survival tale. In a dystopian near-future in which global warming and superhurricanes have sunk a good part of the southeastern U.S., 15-year-old Stephen is stranded in rural Louisiana. When raiders kill his survivalist father, Stephen heads for New Orleans, where his mother is living. En route, he encounters Angela, a recently orphaned college student, and the two of them meet a variety of fellow survivors on their travels, from an amoral bartender to a pair of repentant prisoners. Ely nicely conveys the mingled hope and despair that pervade the atmosphere, but Stephen comes across as disaffected, like a Faulknerian character out of place in too simple a narrative. Stephen’s lack of emotion from the outset masks any sense of growing unease at his increased exposure to violence and cynicism (and makes his emotional connections oddly unsatisfying). A general reliance on coincidence to move the plot along doesn’t help, but the large cast, well-crafted action, and strong sense of place carry the book far. Ages 12–up. (Oct.)