A wild outer-space fantasy about fixing your mistakes and the friends you meet along the way.
When Jo, a headstrong maintenance technician, makes an error that destabilizes her planet's core, she only knows one way to fix things: leaving her underground home for a trip to the planet's dangerous, unruly surface. Soon she's wandering through deserts, riding on the backs of giant beasts, and cutting deals with con artists and bounty hunters. Meanwhile, agents of the core are in hot pursuit. J. N. Monk and Harry Bogosian (co-creators of the web-comic StarHammer) present a wild outer-space fantasy about fixing your mistakes and the friends you meet along the way.

A wild outer-space fantasy about fixing your mistakes and the friends you meet along the way.
When Jo, a headstrong maintenance technician, makes an error that destabilizes her planet's core, she only knows one way to fix things: leaving her underground home for a trip to the planet's dangerous, unruly surface. Soon she's wandering through deserts, riding on the backs of giant beasts, and cutting deals with con artists and bounty hunters. Meanwhile, agents of the core are in hot pursuit. J. N. Monk and Harry Bogosian (co-creators of the web-comic StarHammer) present a wild outer-space fantasy about fixing your mistakes and the friends you meet along the way.

Booklist Reviews

Josephine, born and raised in the Core, is now one of the employee-citizens responsible for keeping the Core running. It's not an easy task, thanks to a disintegrating infrastructure and a chronic lack of resources. When she makes a mistake on a job that causes a system failure, Josephine goes topside in an effort to obtain the material she needs to make the repair. Teaming up with a couple of con artists and bounty hunters, Josephine and her new compatriots race to find a hidden cache of supplies, with agents from the Core hot on their trails. Half the fun of this story is following the characters to their final destination. As quest stories go, the world building in this one is impressive. Both Topside and the Core feel fully realized, with wordless panels full of imaginative creatures, a diverse cast of expressive characters, and strong, evocative colors doing much of the storytelling. A dystopian sf graphic novel perfect for readers new to the genre. Grades 8-11. Copyright 2019 Booklist Reviews.