Waterfall [electronic resource] : a Teardrop novel / Lauren Kate.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the FALLEN series comes WATERFALL, a novel about love, betrayal, and epic consequences--a world-altering tale told by a girl whose tears have the power to raise the lost continent of Atlantis. This second novel in the Teardrop series is intensely romantic, with strong, hot main characters caught up in a thrilling fantastical love triangle. For readers who love Lauren Kate and the worlds of Alyson Noël, P. C. Cast, Maggie Stiefvater, and Veronica Rossi.

Eureka's tears have flooded the earth, and now Atlantis is rising, bringing with it its evil king, Atlas. Eureka is the only one who can stop him, but first she must learn how to fight. She travels across the ocean with Cat, her family, and Ander, the gorgeous and mysterious Seedbearer who promises to help her find Solon, an enigmatic lost Seedbearer who knows how to defeat Atlas.

Once on land, Eureka is taunted by gossipwitches, a group of displaced Atlantean sorceresses, and ambushed by locals struggling to survive amid the destruction her tears have wrought. And she feels no closer to facing Atlas or saving the world when Solon lets slip that love is Ander's weakness, and that any affection he feels toward her makes him age faster.

Trying to make sense of the dark world her sorrow has created, Eureka receives startling insight from an enchanted pond. Her bewildering reflection reveals a soul-crushing secret: if she's strong enough, Eureka can draw on this knowledge to defeat Atlas--unless her broken heart is just what he needs to fuel his rising kingdom. . . .

In Waterfall, Eureka has the chance to save the world. But she'll have to give up everything--even love.

Excerpt provided by Syndetics

The sky wept. Sorrow flooded the earth.   Starling opened her mouth to catch the raindrops falling through the hole in her cordon. The Seedbearer's transparent sanctuary was pitched over the bonfire like a camper's cozy tent. It sealed out the deluge, except for the small opening at the top meant to vent the fire's smoke and admit a sample of the rain.   Drops dampened Starling's tongue. They were salty.   She tasted ancient uprooted trees, oceans reclaiming land. She tasted black water on coastlines, gulfs engulfed. Withering wildflowers, parched highlands, everything salt--poisoned. A million rotting corpses.   Eureka's tears had done this---and more.   Starling smacked her lips, probing the rain for something else. She closed her eyes and rolled the rain over her tongue like a sommelier sampling wine. She could not yet taste Atlantean spires interrupting sky. She could not taste the edges of Atlas, the Evil One.   This was good but confusing. Tears shed by the Tearline girl were meant to bring Atlantis back. Preventing those tears' fall had been the Seedbearers' single objective.   They had failed.   And what had happened? The flood was here, but where was its ruler? Eureka had brought the horse but not its rider. Had the Tearline swerved? Had something gone wrong in the right way?   Starling hunched over the fire and studied her nautical charts. Teardrops streamed down the cordon walls in sheets, accentuating the warmth and brightness of the citronella--scented space inside. If Starling had been someone else, she might have curled up with a mug of cocoa and a novel, let the rain lull her into another world.   If Starling had been someone else, old age would have killed her millennia ago.   It was midnight in the Kisatchie National Forest in central Louisiana. Starling had been waiting for the others since midday. She knew they would come, though they had not discussed this location. The girl had wept so suddenly. Her flood dispersed the Seedbearers along this vile new marsh, and there had been no time to plan their regrouping. But here was where it would happen.   Yesterday, before Eureka cried, this site had sat a hundred and fifty miles from the Gulf. Now it was a shard of dis-appearing coastline. The bayou---its banks, dirt roads, dance halls, twisting live oak trees, antebellum mansions, and pickup trucks---lay entombed in a sea of selfish tears.   And somewhere out there swam Ander, in love with the girl who'd done this. Resentment brewed inside Starling when she thought of the boy's betrayal.   Beyond the flame's glow, against the sideways rain, a shape emerged from the forest. Critias wore his cordon like a slicker, indiscernible to any but Seedbearer eyes. Starling thought he looked smaller. She knew what he was thinking:   What went wrong? Where is Atlas? Why are we still alive?   When he reached the edge of Starling's cordon, Critias paused. Both of them braced for the rough blast that would signal their cordons joining.   The moment of their union struck like lightning. Starling crossed her arms to withstand the gale; Critias squeezed his eyes shut and struggled forward. Her hair waved like a cobweb against her scalp; his jowls flapped like flags.   Starling noted these unflattering aspects in Critias, saw him note the same in her. She reassured herself that Seed-bearers aged only when they felt affection.   "Venice is no more," Starling said as Critias warmed his hands before the fire. She had coordinated what her taste buds told her with her charts. "Most of Manhattan, all of  the Gulf---"   "Wait for the others." Critias nodded into the darkness. "They are here."   Chora staggered toward them from the east, Albion from the west, the storm glancing off their cordons. They approached Starling's cordon and stiffened, girding themselves for the unpleasant entry. When Starling's cordon had absorbed them, Chora looked away and Starling knew her cousin didn't want to risk feeling nostalgic or pathetic. She didn't want to risk feeling. It was how she had lived for thousands of years, never looking or feeling older than mortal  middle--aged.   "Starling is listing the fallen lands," Critias said.   "It doesn't matter." Albion sat down. His silver hair was soaked, his neat gray suit now mud--stained and torn.   "A million deaths don't matter?" Critias asked. "Didn't you see her tears' destruction on your journey here? You have always said we were the protectors of the Waking World."   "What matters now is Atlas!"   Starling looked away, embarrassed by Albion's outburst, though she shared his vexation. For thousands of years the Seedbearers had struggled to prevent the rise of an enemy they had never met in the flesh. Long had they suffered the projections of his terrible mind.   Imprisoned in the sunken realm of the Sleeping World, Atlas and his kingdom neither aged nor died. If Atlantis rose, its residents would be restored to life exactly as they had been when their island sank. Atlas would be a strapping man of twenty years, at the zenith of his youthful power. The Rising would make time begin again for him.   He would be free to pursue the Filling.     Excerpted from Waterfall by Lauren Kate All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Booklist Review

Eureka Boudreaux finds herself facing off with Atlas, the evil ruler of newly risen Atlantis, in this sequel to Teardrop (2013). Legend has it that a strange, unique Seedbearer named Solon can help her learn to defeat Atlas, but there are many barriers in her way. Eureka's hopes to locate Solon depend on Ander, a Seedbearer with amazing allure who continues to pose a threat to Eureka's bond with Brooks. This has a less satisfying love story than the first volume, and readers new to the series may be confused by plot twists and the massive cast of characters. Still, avid fans will appreciate the story's oceanic, surging highs and debilitating lows, and Kate's legions of fans will dive in eagerly.--Howerton, Erin Downey Copyright 2014 Booklist

Kirkus Book Review

Seventeen-year-old Eureka Boudreaux's tears have unleashed a flood of biblical proportions, threatening to drown the whole of the Waking World and paving the way for the rise of Atlantis and its evil ruler, Atlas (Teardrop, 2013). If only it were that simple. Eureka, her close friend Cat, her family, and her magical sweetheart, Ander, leave behind their flooded Louisiana bayou and make their way to dry land in search of a reclusive Seedbearer who holds the secret to defeating Atlas. In Solon's subterranean grotto, Eureka comes closer to the truth of her identity and to an understanding of how she can undo the darkness she's unwittingly released on the world. She also continues to wrestle with her conflicting love for Ander and for her best friend, Brooks, who remains possessed by Atlas. Unfortunately, what was once a compelling love triangle feels much less so this time around, partially due to the fact that Eureka's encounters with Brooks are much fewer and farther between. This sequel as a whole is waterlogged, sodden with new characters and choked with plotlines that dampen the tension, dilute the romance and threaten to leave readers scratching their heads instead of turning the pages. While some of the previous book's fans will appreciate knowing what happens next, many will wish they'd left it up to their own imaginations. (Paranormal romance. 14 up) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Lauren Kate was born in Ohio, raised in Dallas, Texas, and attended college in Atlanta, Georgia. Kate has stated that her experience of the "Old South" in the Atlanta area inspired her to write Fallen in a Civil War. She writes young adult fiction. Her books include The Betrayal of Natalie Hargrove, Fallen series, and the Teardrop Trilogy. Her title, Rapture (Book 4 in the Fallen Series), made The New York Times Best Seller List in 2012. The first book of her new series, Teardrop, made The New York Times Best Seller List in 2013.

(Bowker Author Biography)