The House of Power (Atherton, Book 1)

From the creator of the Land of Elyon comes a riveting adventure set in an extraordinary satellite world?created as a refuge from a dying Earth?that begins to collapse and forever change the lives of its inhabitants. Edgar, a gifted climber, is a lonely boy scaling the perilous cliffs that separate the three realms of Atherton: a humble fig grove; a mysterious highland world of untold beauty and sinister secrets; and a vast wasteland where he must confront an unspeakable danger that could destroy the people of Atherton. When Edgar discovers a book which contains the history of Atherton's origins and ultimate apocalypse, his world?quite literally?begins to turn inside out. Atherton is made of three concentric realms, with one land rising high above the next, separated by treacherous cliffs. Here, the source of life-three cascading waterfalls-is regulated by the privileged few living near the heavens, and rationed to the laborers living beneath them. Edgar, a gifted climber, is looking for a treasure hidden in the perilous cliffs, the key to which is lost in the faded memory of his mysterious past. Obsessively scaling the sheer rock wall above the humble fig grove--though it is forbidden--he finally reaches the Highlands, a sinister world of untold beauty. There he meets Samuel from the House of Power, and together they begin to unlock the mysteries of Atherton via a book which contains the history of the world's formation and ultimate apocalyptic destiny--until those who covet the Book of Secrets put the boys' lives at serious risk. Edgar soon learns that he must confront an unspeakable danger that could destroy the people of Atherton as its lands slide closer to one another. In the end, an even more startling revelation about the future surfaces: The world is about to be turned inside out--literally