Qualify
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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Publisher Description
THE ATLANTIS GRAIL has been optioned for development as a feature film series and/or TV series.
You have two options. You die, or you Qualify.
The year is 2047. An extinction-level asteroid is hurtling toward Earth, and the descendants of ancient Atlantis have returned from the stars in their silver ships to offer humanity help.
But there's a catch.
They can only take a tiny percent of the Earth's population back to the colony planet Atlantis. And in order to be chosen, you must be a teen, you must be bright, talented, and athletic, and you must Qualify.
Sixteen-year-old Gwenevere Lark is determined not only to Qualify but to rescue her entire family.
Because there's a loophole.
If you are good enough to Qualify, you are eligible to compete in the brutal games of the Atlantis Grail, which grants all winners the laurels, high tech luxuries, and full privileges of Atlantis Citizenship. And if you are in the Top Ten, then all your wildest wishes are granted... Such as curing your mother's cancer.
There is only one problem.
Gwen Lark is known as a klutz and a nerd. While she's a hotshot in classics, history, science, and languages, the closest she's come to sports is a backyard pool and a skateboard.
This time she is in over her head, and in for a fight of her life, against impossible odds and world-class competition--including Logan Sangre, the most amazing guy in her school, the one she's been crushing on, and who doesn't seem to know she exists.
Because every other teen on Earth has the same idea.
You Qualify or you die.
Customer Reviews
Fabulous writing, a truly wonderful read.
Imagine the world 30 years from now were some things never change. Then imagine you are a 16 year old high school student and your mother is fighting for her life against cancer. You, your father and three siblings are all dealing with this nightmare when you learn that a huge, indestructible asteroid is hurtling towards earth and will create a E.L.E. in two years time. Just as this scary news is released, you all learn that there is intelligent life in the universe, and it has come to call with a flotilla of enormous silver space ships. And even more amazing is that these aliens are not really aliens but are the "Altanteans" from the fabled lost continent of Atlantis that disappeared into legend 12,000 years ago.
Well if you can't, don't worry because Vera Nazarian has. She starts her story with the impossible premise:- "Qualify or die."
Gwen Lark, her brothers George and Gordie and her little sister Gracie have been given a chance along with all of Earth's teenagers to escape the asteroid's impact and be safely transported by the Atlanteans to their colony planet, Atlantis.
The problem is they can only take 10,000,000, and the Atlanteans want the best.
The first day of the story, as told by Gwen, is the last day she and her siblings may ever see their parents again. That is if they pass the Preliminary Qualification tests to be held at their high school that same day.
"Qualify" has you hooked by the first page and totally enthralled by the end of the first chapter.
It has all the markings of classic literature because beside the labels of young adult, science fiction/ fantasy, it is really a story about the human condition. Covering: rivalry, jealousy, bullying, first love, self sacrifice and the complete range of emotions. It is full of interesting, three-dimensional characters you come to care about. The writing is excellent and keeps you turning the page even after several re-reads.
I can't say how many times I've re-read the two published books of the series (Qualify and Compete) and some of the preview chapters of the third book (Win) the publication of which I eagerly await.
I highly recommend this book and the whole Atlantis Grail series to young readers of all ages. I know of several seventy-year-old, young at hearts, who love the series as much if not more than the many teenagers it has captivated.