Songs of Power

In her first novel, Bell creates an imaginative but flawed adventure set in an underwater habitat at an unspecified future time (one reference implies that the year 2020 was some time ago). The habitat is involved in a ""sea farming"" project; a terrorist group created a virus that is destroying the food supply on land, and soon the entire world will need to be fed from the sea. Imina, raised to be a shaman by her Inuit great-grandmother, is far outnumbered by ""technocrats,"" who only rely on science. When the habitat's equipment begins to fail, the leaders suspect the terrorists, but Imina is convinced magic is at work. Bell's depiction of life in the habitat and her feisty main character, Imina, make for a suspenseful read. However, the development of characters and their relationships to one another takes a backseat to the plotting here, and some readers may be dubious as to why two of Imina's ""technocrat"" classmates would come to her aid. Bell develops plot points that go nowhere, such as the description of a fish that inexplicably follows Imina everywhere she goes, and wraps up her story too neatly. Ages 10-up. (May)