Emily Janice Card

This story starts on Earth, where children are competing to earn a spot in an academy that trains them to work on one of four laddertops. The ladders were provided by aliens called “the Givers,” who disappeared twenty-five years ago. They are 36,000 miles high and only children can service them. Eleven-year-old Robbi and especially her best friend Azure are interested in the academy. They have opposite personality types – one reserved and the other vivacious. The storyline covers show more family lives, selection, education, training, and transportation to the ladder tops.

This is volume one of a series targeted at a middle grade audience. It sets the stage well and contains a mystery that is at least partially solved at the end but leaves the reader wondering what happens next. The artwork is unusual. I liked this more than expected. I doubt manga or graphic novels will become a large percentage of my reading, but I am more open to reading them in the future. show less

LADDERTOP starts off on Earth with an application competition to an elite academy which trains children for working 36,000 miles up at the top of a tower. This first volume goes through the competition, election, training, and transportation through the tower of the chosen children. The Earth scenes look modern day but the story takes place 25 years after aliens visited Earth, built the towers, and then disappeared.
Robbi and Azure are best friends who are both in the competition. Robbi is show more the quieter one who has problems at home but feels she is the only one who can solve them, while Azure is a little spitfire who will take on any challenges but often gets in a jam because of it.
The plot answers some questions 11-yr-olds might ask when reading this (like how do you go to the bathroom when you’re strapped in a chair on an 18 hour journey?) but also leaves several unanswered, building the complexity for later volumes.
I was surprised at how much the book held my interest. The drawings conveying emotions are spot-on and there is continuing action throughout the book. I liked how so many intriguing things were going on. What does the scanner really scan the children for? What are the drawings on Robbi’s arm? What is the real work being done at the top of Laddertop? I would have to recommend LADDERTOP to middle readers because I for one really want to find out what happens in the next volume!

I received this through goodreads' First Reads giveaways. show less

If Ender's Game didn't exist this maybe would have merited a third star, but it's shallow and derivative and not all that realistic. There is a bunch of foreshadowing that I assume will be followed up in subsequent volumes, but as a stand-alone experience it's not very good.

Laddertop Vol. 1 is as the title suggests the first book in the Laddertop series and I hope not the last. This is a young adult graphic novel and I was a little leery at first partly because I was afraid it was really going to be focused on young girls since the that is who the main characters are. I’m happy to say that while it’s about these young kids it’s not a just a story about being a young girl.

While reading Laddertip I felt echoes of Ender’s game; there was the brush with a show more mostly unknown extra-terrestial culture; military personnel training children for a job; most people unaware of what is really going on. There was also the feel of Gunnerkrigg Court, another graphic novel about a girl going to school away from friends and family where mysteries abound.

About 25 years previously the ‘givers’ came and shared with us their technology, including for towers or elevators that extend 36,000 miles into space. They provide power to Earth as well as making it easier to put things into orbit and bring materials back to earth from asteroids. The ladders were designed in such a way that the using children for the repair work was found to be the most efficient way and so a culture has grown up around the ladders for children competing to be chosen.

This first book is primarily about Robbi and her trials on her way to Laddertop, and it stops shortly after. This book is really just to prime the pump if you will, all setup and a lot of explanation is still left to do. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would and I hope the next one will be out soon. show less