Johan Harstad
Atom (Little, Brown)
26 April 2012 / ISBN 9781907411519SF
Teen
2018, The Moon
Amazon
US
- UK
Reviewed
by Rachel A Hyde
After many years of dormancy, there is suddenly a worldwide upsurge
of interest in the moon. NASA wants to send three teenagers up on
a week's trip where they will stay at moonbase DARLAH-2. This will
start a new phase of exploration and discovery as well as marking
the fortieth anniversary of that first landing, and to raise funds
for it all a lottery has been started. The three lucky winners are
Mia from Norway, Midori from Japan and Antoine from France. But
there was a reason why we had not gone back to the moon and the
latest batch of visitors are just going to find out all about it
Be afraid, be very afraid! This English version of the Norwegian
bestseller from 2008 does indeed send chills down the spine. It
is excellently paced as we get to learn all about the three teenagers
and their very different lives right through to their landing and
when it all starts to go wrong. Mr. Harstad has created very real-seeming
people. It is easy to care about with these three. The adult characters
are more shadowy and less three-dimensional. I guessed what was
going to happen (I would have put a different picture on the cover)
and there are certainly some discrepancies that don't quite add
up in those final thrilling chapters, but this manages to be one
roller coaster ride of a tale for all that. This is also a nicely
put together book with the chapters interspersed with plans of the
bases, images from the Moon landings, etc. all in monochrome. Perhaps
the most impressive feature of the book is the way the author manages
to build a sense of momentum, of things once set in motion not being
able to be changed and a sense of impending doom. If Mr. Harstad
writes another book I will be keen to read it.
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