Kaimira

"Kaimira" is a series of novels by the fantasy fiction authors Monk Ashland and Nigel Ashland, beginning with "The Sky Village" and published in 2008) by Candlewick Press in the United States and Walker Books in the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand.

The series is set in a post-apocalyptic world in which humans, animals, and intelligent machines battle endlessly for supremacy. Mei and Rom are two extraordinary kids who have inherited the Kaimira gene, which allows them a variety of beast- and machine-related powers. Though the series is written as fantasy, it is set in the future and involves elements of biotechnology and nanotechnology.

etting

The series takes place in a variety of settings, including the Sky Village, a vast network of connected hot air balloons with its own culture and customs that travels the skies over China and rarely lands, and the Demon Caves, a network of caves beneath Las Vegas in which humans hide from the beasts that control the city and where gamblers bet on matches between machine-beast hybrid creatures called battle demons.

Plot summary

"The Sky Village"

High above a troubled China, where animals battle machines for control, floats an intricate web of hot air balloons – the Sky Village. When twelve-year-old Mei Long's mother is kidnapped, her father sends Mei to live in the sky, surrounded by strangers, amid a growing threat.

Half a world away, thirteen-year-old Rom Saint-Pierre struggles to survive in beast-controlled Las Vegas. When his young sister is stolen away by a pair of demonic creatures, Rom has no choice but to follow them into a shadowy underground world. He becomes enmeshed in gladiator-style arena fighting, in which battles between mechanical-beast demons entertain a chaotic community of gamblers.

Mei and Rom have never met, but they share connected journals, books that mysteriously allow them to communicate. The journals also reveal that each of them carries the strange and terrifying Kaimira gene, entwining beast and mek qualities in their very DNA.

In this intricately plotted novel, the first in a five-book series, Mei and Rom must overcome those forces that seek to destroy them, and find the courage to balance the powers that clash within. It is their only hope for survival, and for saving the ones they love.

Character histories

: "See Characters of Kaimira"
*Mei Long was born in the Sky Village, but her parents took her to the surface when she was an infant. Now, at the age of twelve, she rejoins the Sky Village.

*Rom Saint-Pierre lives with his younger sister Riley on the top floor of an abandoned skyscraper in what's left of Las Vegas. A lifetime of scrapping has made Rom a skilled survivor with enormous confidence in his own abilities and a preference for action over thought.

Other Media

BBC Worldwide has struck a deal with Star Farm Productions to invest in the development of Kaimira into a multimedia property, including TV, web, gaming and feature film. [ [http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/bbcworldwide/worldwidestories/pressreleases/2008/04_april/kaimira.shtml BBC - Press Office - Investment in new epic fantasy Kaimira confirmed ] ]

ee also

The Sky Village

References

External links

* [http://www.kaimiracode.com Kaimira official website]
* [http://www.starfarmproductions.com/ Star Farm Productions]
* [http://rettstatt.wordpress.com/ Blog of Kaimira creator and author Chris Rettstatt]
* [http://www.amazon.com/Kaimira-Sky-Village-Monk-Ashland/dp/0763635243 Amazon.com link]
* [http://www.bookishruth.com/2008/07/review-kaimira-sky-village-by-monk-and.html Review of Kaimira at BookishRuth.com]