Book Review: TESLA'S ATTIC

TESLA’S ATTIC is the first book in the planned “The Accelerati Trilogy” by authors Neal Shusterman and Eric Elfman.  The book revolves around middle school student Nick Slate and what happens to him when he moves into an old house in Colorado Springs with his dad and younger brother after their mother tragically dies in a house fire in Florida. The house they move to in Colorado Springs was given to them by their Great-aunt Greta and at one time belonged to the famed inventor and scientist Nikola Tesla.

After moving into the house, Nick discovers an attic full of what appears to be old household items. To raise some money and clean out the attic that he wants for his bedroom, he holds a garage sale and sells most of the items. However, some strange events happen at the garage sale which leads Nick on a quest where he discovers that the items he sold weren’t ordinary. Each of the seemingly ordinary objects contains strange and mysterious properties, such as a wet cell battery that brings dead creatures back to life, a Speak and Say that completes sentences and tells the truth, a baseball glove that attracts asteroids, and a camera that only takes pictures of the future. Nick and some of his new friends eventually realize that the objects once belonged to Nikola Tesla. Nick decides it would be better off if they collect the object and keep them safe. But Nick and his friends aren’t the only ones interested in tracking down the objects from Tesla’s Attic. There’s a secret organization called The Accelerati that is determined to find as many of the Attic objects as possible to use for their own nefarious purposes of molding the world and controlling people as they see fit. It’s an adventure Nick believes he was born to begin, but one that’s extremely dangerous.

TESLA’S ATTIC is a very enjoyable read. For children and young adults who might not be familiar with Tesla and his genius, TESLA’S ATTIC can work as a catalyst to learning more about him. The book is fairly easy to read, does a really good job of portraying realistic characters, and is full of exciting and unexpected turns (there are a couple towards the end that I did not expect at all).

The story is told from an omniscient point of view, which is a bit unusual in the current crop of young adult fiction. Personally, I usually enjoy omniscient point of view stories better than those told from the perspective of one character as it gives the story a deeper and richer texture.

Overall, TESLA’S ATTIC is a thoroughly enjoyable, thrilling, and fast-paced story that leaves the reader in eager anticipation of the next volume in the trilogy.