Undermountain by Eric Kent Edstrom

  Six teens from different backgrounds are on a wilderness experience trip in the Canadian Rockies.  They each have their reasons for being there and with their own goals for the trip. On the sixth day, a most unusual set of events occur, which causes their experience guide, Harbin, to make some drastic changes to their route.

From this point on, the story took twists and turns which I couldn't have imagined.  Each one of them pulled me further into their lives and I found that I couldn't put the book down, I had to keep reading to find out what could possibly happen next.  Yes, some fantastical things happened, but they were introduced with such skill that they seemed a natural progression of the story.

It was interesting to watch how these adventures forced the teens to work together if they wanted to survive.  Working together didn't mean that they amazingly became the best of friends and formed immediate deep and last trust in each other.  They still had to work at their relationships, but they learned quickly that you could work with someone even if you weren't entirely sure you could trust them.

The events of the last few days of their expedition have a profound impact on the teens and we clearly see that they are changed people as a result.  I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series, Afterlife, to see if they were short term changes or if they were more.

Thanks to author Eric Kent Edstrom for use of the cover image. 

note: I read and electronic version, though paper copies are also available.