Seems that all my Friday Reads so far are the second book in either a series or a trilogy! Luckily this one also did a good job on following up a great first book!
Earth Star by Janet Edwards
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Earth Star is the sequel to Earth Girl and it starts right where Earth Girl left us: Jarra has received the Earth Star & the Artemis medals from the military, everyone knows she's a Handicapped (or an "ape" to use the pejorative term) and she has to face her classmates after lying to them. She's got Fian supporting her even without the approval of his family and she's got her love for History and archeology.
Once they're trying to get back to the routine of classes after moving to a different site dig called Eden in Africa, for Jarra with some unpleasant surprises in the shape of bullying from some of her classmates, there are some news that throw everything they think they know for a loop! Jarra and Fian are called up by the military under the utmost secrecy to be part of the Alien Contact program that has been activated.
What does that mean? Well, it's a military protocol established for the moment when humanity in their reach for the stars happen onto intelligent & civilized alien life... except that they haven't found it out there... alien civilization has come to Earth in the shape of an unmanned sphere!
This is at the same time thrilling and scary and Jarra once again finds herself in the thick of it! She's even made part of the military along with Fian and she finds herself providing key information and getting thrown into a command position in the madness of it all.
Jarra is still adjusting to being ok with who she is and appreciating the fact that she's good at what she does and that her being an "ape" still doesn't give others the right to judge her. She's gone from being angry at the world to not wanting to make a fuss about other people's disrespect and clear hatred of her just for having a different immune system.
Earth Star continues to show us how close minded humans can be and how easily we make divisions between the "us" and the "others" for the silliest of reasons. If you find it difficult to believe the fact that a deficient immune system would turn those humans into pariahs and having so many other consider them subhumans, just look back and look now and see how there are still people that think a different skin tone makes someone less than them. Now, take this one stage further and think, if we can do that to fellow humans with a difference, what would we not to do really different beings, like aliens?
I love how this book manages to present us with some serious issues and questions and at the same time add some realistic and well needed levity, like having your prudish Deltan lecturer be a rock'n'roll drum player!
Jarra is doing so much growing up in this book, on dealing with who she is, finding out more about her family, her relationship with Fian... She is still learning to trust Fian and to not expect him to run when things get complicated, and she's quite lucky to have such a stubborn and loyal guy that won't let her throw away their relationship for fear of making things difficult for him. Fian also has to deal with some issues himself, but he's an all around solid character.
The plot progresses without major twists but instead keeps on building up the the climax of a cliffhanger ending and leaves us hanging till the next book is released!
Earth Star doesn't suffer from the middle book syndrome, instead it gives the overall plot of the series a new twist and rises the stakes up a notch! Very well deserved 4 stars!
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Earth Star by Janet EdwardsMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Earth Star is the sequel to Earth Girl and it starts right where Earth Girl left us: Jarra has received the Earth Star & the Artemis medals from the military, everyone knows she's a Handicapped (or an "ape" to use the pejorative term) and she has to face her classmates after lying to them. She's got Fian supporting her even without the approval of his family and she's got her love for History and archeology.
Once they're trying to get back to the routine of classes after moving to a different site dig called Eden in Africa, for Jarra with some unpleasant surprises in the shape of bullying from some of her classmates, there are some news that throw everything they think they know for a loop! Jarra and Fian are called up by the military under the utmost secrecy to be part of the Alien Contact program that has been activated.
What does that mean? Well, it's a military protocol established for the moment when humanity in their reach for the stars happen onto intelligent & civilized alien life... except that they haven't found it out there... alien civilization has come to Earth in the shape of an unmanned sphere!
This is at the same time thrilling and scary and Jarra once again finds herself in the thick of it! She's even made part of the military along with Fian and she finds herself providing key information and getting thrown into a command position in the madness of it all.
Jarra is still adjusting to being ok with who she is and appreciating the fact that she's good at what she does and that her being an "ape" still doesn't give others the right to judge her. She's gone from being angry at the world to not wanting to make a fuss about other people's disrespect and clear hatred of her just for having a different immune system.
Earth Star continues to show us how close minded humans can be and how easily we make divisions between the "us" and the "others" for the silliest of reasons. If you find it difficult to believe the fact that a deficient immune system would turn those humans into pariahs and having so many other consider them subhumans, just look back and look now and see how there are still people that think a different skin tone makes someone less than them. Now, take this one stage further and think, if we can do that to fellow humans with a difference, what would we not to do really different beings, like aliens?
I love how this book manages to present us with some serious issues and questions and at the same time add some realistic and well needed levity, like having your prudish Deltan lecturer be a rock'n'roll drum player!
Jarra is doing so much growing up in this book, on dealing with who she is, finding out more about her family, her relationship with Fian... She is still learning to trust Fian and to not expect him to run when things get complicated, and she's quite lucky to have such a stubborn and loyal guy that won't let her throw away their relationship for fear of making things difficult for him. Fian also has to deal with some issues himself, but he's an all around solid character.
The plot progresses without major twists but instead keeps on building up the the climax of a cliffhanger ending and leaves us hanging till the next book is released!
Earth Star doesn't suffer from the middle book syndrome, instead it gives the overall plot of the series a new twist and rises the stakes up a notch! Very well deserved 4 stars!
View all my reviews
So I skimmed over your review a bit because I've got Earth Girl waiting for me on my shelf and I don't want to ruin any surprises before I read it! ;) It's super encouraging that the sequel rose to your expectations and didn't fall into the second-book syndrome. I just have to say, though: I LOVE the titles for this series. How they fit together and still sound so intriguing. Janet Edwards has creativity, that's for sure.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I do skim over reviews when I'm still pending to read the start of the series just in case!
DeleteI can't wait to see what the final book will bring, but all the build up done on this book points to something different and good!
Thanks Megan!