Grady is a super-smart botany genius who uses his summer break after junior high school to take part in an important scientific study of the Amazon rainforest. When Grady arrives in Brazil, he quickly learns that all is not as it was promised.

I snagged this book at a used book sale solely based on the fact that it was written by Rob Thomas, author and creator of Veronica Mars, one of my all-time favorite TV shows. Beyond that, I didn't really care what the book was about and figured that the YA genre would make it a relatively quick read that would be good for the beach.

Well, I did enjoy the book and it read fairly quickly, but it was actually quite a bit meaty. It had some interesting science fiction components and a main character that you could root for, even if he wasn't the most exciting fictional character ever created. The writing style itself was difficult to characterize - parts of the plot were rather action packed, yet Thomas is so descriptive about the step by step of things that it didn't seem to jump with suspense. (Probably the best way I could describe it is probably somewhere half between the incredibly lengthy descriptions of The Lord of the Rings and the edge-of-your-seat thrills of The Hunger Games.)

There were some troubling tropes (e.g., white savior amongst the Amazonian tribes, overweight kid becoming fit solving a lot of his problems miraculously) that gave the reader something more to think about it, although not necessarily in a good way. I would feel a little hesitant recommending this book to an older child or tween without also being able to sit down and discuss some of these issues with them.

This book was written in the 1990s, and its age shows some. For instance, Thomas has Grady mention specific technological components frequently, especially regarding computers. Much of this is already heavily dated, although I suppose at the time it seemed rather fitting with the scientific aspect of the book, as many of the readers might be equally as interested in technology as in biology.

As I said earlier, I did enjoy this book overall despite its problematic parts. But as I read it, I struggled with thinking about who the target audience would be. The book seemed for the most part on the young-ish side for teenagers, but other parts did not seem appropriate and/or of interest to children even a couple of years younger than the protagonist. It also seems to speak to a very specific subset of children - those who are most likely male and very interested in science. I can see why this book wasn't a runaway bestseller and has instead remained mostly under the radar. ( )