The first one, 6001: Ice World Invasion of the Torterats kept my attention throughout and drew me a scary yet innovative picture of the future. It's set in a world of ice - with a small band of humans who have survived what we might call the end of the world. We don't hear about the end of the world much, and I liked that. We hear, instead, about a clan - people held together not so much by blood, as by their humanity. We hear (read) about the death of their Queen and the annointing of a new Queen - a 15 year old girl who is at time reckless, daring, and yet...vulnerable. 

On their quest to survive the hard cruelty of the ice world they exist in, they are tormented by Torterats... yes, huge creatures much like rats but...intelligent. And deadly.

I loved this book because it had a level of realism other books of its kind do not. It wasn't full of other-wordly experiences or vampires or ghosts. It didn't ask the characters to battle magic or mystic beings. Everything was based on the human desire to be free and to live within a select community. The trials and tribulations were real enough to have you rooting for the humans and scared to death of the torterats. The land was intolerable at times, but it was home...and to be driven from it could mean certain death to the clan...yet, that was a decision their new Queen was going to have to make.

I loved this book. I love the entire series, including the next book, 6001: Land of Fire and 6001: Sleepers, which has a startling twist to it.

Put down the other books you're reading. Pick up W. R. Widerberg's trilogy of the future - and write to Speilberg and tell him this series should be next summer's blockbuster movie. Please! Before some inferior books are chosen as the next big story in movies. 

p.s. yes, a second p.s. - the cover model is the author's granddaughter - she influenced some of the book's content, and, I think, some of the personality of the new Queen - who never fails to surprise, throughout the three books