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    Earth Girl
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    Earth Girl
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    Earth Girl
    Audiobook10 hours

    Earth Girl

    Written by Janet Edwards

    Narrated by Nura Nash

    4/5

    ()

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    About this audiobook

    A sensational YA science fiction debut. Jarra is stuck on Earth while the rest of humanity portals around the universe. But can she prove to the norms that she’s more than just an Earth Girl?

    2788. Only the handicapped live on Earth. While everyone else portals between worlds, 18-year-old Jarra is among the one in a thousand people born with an immune system that cannot survive on other planets. Sent to Earth at birth to save her life, she has been abandoned by her parents. She can’t travel to other worlds, but she can watch their vids, and she knows all the jokes they make. She’s an ‘ape’, a ‘throwback’, but this is one ape girl who won’t give in.

    Jarra invents a fake background for herself – as a normal child of Military parents – and joins a class of norms that is on Earth to excavate the ruins of the old cities. When an ancient skyscraper collapses, burying another research team, Jarra’s role in their rescue puts her in the spotlight. No hiding at back of class now. To make life more complicated, she finds herself falling in love with one of her classmates – a norm from another planet. Somehow, she has to keep the deception going.

    A freak solar storm strikes the atmosphere, and the class is ordered to portal off-world for safety – no problem for a real child of military parents, but fatal for Jarra. The storm is so bad that the crews of the orbiting solar arrays have to escape to planet below: the first landing from space in 600 years. And one is on collision course with their shelter.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins Publishers
    Release dateNov 2, 2017
    ISBN9780008269449
    Unavailable
    Earth Girl
    Author

    Janet Edwards

    Janet Edwards lives in the Midlands. As a child, she read everything she could get her hands on, which included the works of many of the great names of Science Fiction. She has a husband, a son, a lot of books, and an aversion to housework.

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    Reviews for Earth Girl

    4/5

    107 ratings16 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Goodreads Synopsis: A sensational YA science fiction debut from an exciting new British author. Jarra is stuck on Earth while the rest of humanity portals around the universe. But can she prove to the norms that she’s more than just an Earth Girl?2788. Only the handicapped live on Earth. While everyone else portals between worlds, 18-year-old Jarra is among the one in a thousand people born with an immune system that cannot survive on other planets. Sent to Earth at birth to save her life, she has been abandoned by her parents. She can’t travel to other worlds, but she can watch their vids, and she knows all the jokes they make. She’s an ‘ape’, a ‘throwback’, but this is one ape girl who won’t give in.Jarra invents a fake background for herself – as a normal child of Military parents – and joins a class of norms that is on Earth to excavate the ruins of the old cities. When an ancient skyscraper collapses, burying another research team, Jarra’s role in their rescue puts her in the spotlight. No hiding at back of class now. To make life more complicated, she finds herself falling in love with one of her classmates – a norm from another planet. Somehow, she has to keep the deception going.A freak solar storm strikes the atmosphere, and the class is ordered to portal off-world for safety – no problem for a real child of military parents, but fatal for Jarra. The storm is so bad that the crews of the orbiting solar arrays have to escape to planet below: the first landing from space in 600 years. And one is on collision course with their shelter.My Review: Imagine what the earth would be like in almost 800 years. Although I didn’t expect it to be like this book, I love how it turned out. Humans have populated other planets, and now the only people on earth are what they call “apes”, which means people who are “handicapped” and can’t portal off world. They have an extreme allergic reaction, and usually have to be hospitalized after. Sure, it sucks, but for Jarra, it’s the best thing she could think of. After turning 18 and starting university, Jarra’s life changes drastically. Although she’s done this all before, she joins a team and starts her classes and goes out to dig sites to uncover pieces of history that no one has seen before. Doesn’t that sound exciting? All the time, though, she’s keeping her secret hidden, and everything’s working out great for her. She’s got a boyfriend, she’s making friends, and her old friends are keeping in touch. She’s going to meet her real parents for the first time, and life is good. And then it happens. Everything changes. Suddenly, the world as she knows it, is in chaos. Ships are crash landing, and lives need to be saved. There’s a Carrington Event happening, the sky is lit up with auroras, and one of the teams is missing a tag leader and a tag support. Who better to help than Jarra and Fian? It’s hard work, and the book moves a lot faster at this point, but I really liked the end, aside from the last paragraph or so. It wasn’t written like a diary throughout the whole book, so why start at the very ending? That’s about it for what I didn’t like about this book, aside from what happened to her parents. There just wasn’t really a point for that. The world seemed really thought out, the characters were interesting and kept the story interesting with their back stories, I loved the concept that humans had spread to other planets and thrived, because I really hope that happens in the near future, and that the stories had changed throughout generations. It’s really cool that the characters were digging up pieces of history, I mean, wouldn’t that be exciting? Fian and Jarra are adorable together, and they seem good together. They work through their problems. I like how everyone on the team was becoming like a little family. Although it was just a class, they seemed really close at some points. I also liked that the places from now still exist, just as ruins. That’s really cool. Overall, I really enjoyed this book. Definitely check it out if you get the chance, I’m sure you won’t regret it. Thanks for reading. (Radioactivebookreviews.wordpress.com)
    • 4/5
      Not really post-apocalypse, precisely, but on such a far future Earth that our recognizable world has crumbled and is being excavated by archaeologists, so it works in that sense.

      I'm astonished at how much I liked this book -- that Jarra has so much anger and self-hate to work through seems off putting on the surface, but that she chooses to challenge herself and that she has so many honest thoughts about the consequences of her actions endears her to me. I'm also not usually drawn to books where that main character that I'm all bound up in has a psychotic break or personality split, and yet, somehow, it was not only believable but added perfectly to the tension of a book I was already struggling to put down. Is it far-fetched? Absolutely, but it's also kick-ass and a remarkable story about having courage and calling yourself on your own emotional reactions. Nicely done.
    • 4/5
      This one got me right in the soul. Overtones of racism and disability discrimination, both internally and externally. The story of Jarra Reaath is one I will not forget, because when you strip away all the science fiction it is a story that happens every day for someone.

      Whether you relate to Jarra or not this story has an important and beautiful message: acceptance starts within. If you don't love the skin/life you're in, it is an awful lot harder to go through it. This book tells the story of a girl who has grown up in a world that sees her as inferior for something out of her control. She grows up bitter and angry and with every intention of being just as horrible to these people as they have been to her. Will she take her revenge? You will have to read it to find out.

      I especially loved that the ending isn't all sunshine and rainbows, it's just different from the start.
    • 3/5
      I have mixed feelings about this book. There were elements I really enjoyed and others I didn't. I thought the author did a great job building a world seven hundred years into the future, but the storyline was rather bland and there were too many technical explanations which hindered the flow of the story. While the plot wasn't bad, it didn't really excite me either. There were some interesting characters in the book including Professor Playdon, Fian and Dalmora, and even though the main protagonist, Jarra, was strong, intelligent, feisty and unafraid of danger, she was a know-all and was quite happy to display her superior knowledge at every available moment, making her very hard to like. Like Jarra, I enjoyed the historical and archeological aspects of "Earth Girl" but I think it will limit the appeal of this book.
    • 5/5
      Goodreads Synopsis: A sensational YA science fiction debut from an exciting new British author. Jarra is stuck on Earth while the rest of humanity portals around the universe. But can she prove to the norms that she’s more than just an Earth Girl?2788. Only the handicapped live on Earth. While everyone else portals between worlds, 18-year-old Jarra is among the one in a thousand people born with an immune system that cannot survive on other planets. Sent to Earth at birth to save her life, she has been abandoned by her parents. She can’t travel to other worlds, but she can watch their vids, and she knows all the jokes they make. She’s an ‘ape’, a ‘throwback’, but this is one ape girl who won’t give in.Jarra invents a fake background for herself – as a normal child of Military parents – and joins a class of norms that is on Earth to excavate the ruins of the old cities. When an ancient skyscraper collapses, burying another research team, Jarra’s role in their rescue puts her in the spotlight. No hiding at back of class now. To make life more complicated, she finds herself falling in love with one of her classmates – a norm from another planet. Somehow, she has to keep the deception going.A freak solar storm strikes the atmosphere, and the class is ordered to portal off-world for safety – no problem for a real child of military parents, but fatal for Jarra. The storm is so bad that the crews of the orbiting solar arrays have to escape to planet below: the first landing from space in 600 years. And one is on collision course with their shelter.My Review: Imagine what the earth would be like in almost 800 years. Although I didn’t expect it to be like this book, I love how it turned out. Humans have populated other planets, and now the only people on earth are what they call “apes”, which means people who are “handicapped” and can’t portal off world. They have an extreme allergic reaction, and usually have to be hospitalized after. Sure, it sucks, but for Jarra, it’s the best thing she could think of. After turning 18 and starting university, Jarra’s life changes drastically. Although she’s done this all before, she joins a team and starts her classes and goes out to dig sites to uncover pieces of history that no one has seen before. Doesn’t that sound exciting? All the time, though, she’s keeping her secret hidden, and everything’s working out great for her. She’s got a boyfriend, she’s making friends, and her old friends are keeping in touch. She’s going to meet her real parents for the first time, and life is good. And then it happens. Everything changes. Suddenly, the world as she knows it, is in chaos. Ships are crash landing, and lives need to be saved. There’s a Carrington Event happening, the sky is lit up with auroras, and one of the teams is missing a tag leader and a tag support. Who better to help than Jarra and Fian? It’s hard work, and the book moves a lot faster at this point, but I really liked the end, aside from the last paragraph or so. It wasn’t written like a diary throughout the whole book, so why start at the very ending? That’s about it for what I didn’t like about this book, aside from what happened to her parents. There just wasn’t really a point for that. The world seemed really thought out, the characters were interesting and kept the story interesting with their back stories, I loved the concept that humans had spread to other planets and thrived, because I really hope that happens in the near future, and that the stories had changed throughout generations. It’s really cool that the characters were digging up pieces of history, I mean, wouldn’t that be exciting? Fian and Jarra are adorable together, and they seem good together. They work through their problems. I like how everyone on the team was becoming like a little family. Although it was just a class, they seemed really close at some points. I also liked that the places from now still exist, just as ruins. That’s really cool. Overall, I really enjoyed this book. Definitely check it out if you get the chance, I’m sure you won’t regret it. Thanks for reading. (Radioactivebookreviews.wordpress.com)
    • 5/5
      This book was GOOOOOOOOD! So much I'm starting next one right now.
    • 2/5
      As much of a teen utopia as you're likely to get. Interesting -- but the plot often drags -- and there's some really unbelievable plot twists. Nothing inappropriate. Fine for 5th grade on up.
    • 4/5
      This one started out a little slow for me and it took me a while to get into it, but that had more to do with the small print size than anything else. The writing felt a little harsh or stilted it just a little off in the beginning, but it stayed solid throughout the book and really worked for me by the end. I especially appreciate that this can be read as a complete story and readers aren't left with a lot of loose ends. I think this would make an "amaz" SciFi movie.
    • 3/5
      Surprisingly good first half, but really started to lose me in the second. By about 85%, I was rushing to finish, cuz I was over it.

      Review to come.
    • 5/5
      Really enjoyed this rite of passage, entrance into adulthood. Good characterisation, well thought out story.
    • 5/5
      When thinking about Young Adult books from Pyr, some of the words that spring immediately to my mind are “distinct”, “unconventional” and “unique”. I guess that’s why I’ve been counting on this book to lift me out of my YA slump. I’ve been feeling rather burned out by the love triangles, broody heroes, and paranormal/fantasy settings in this category lately, and Earth Girl looked like the perfect cure to this particular malaise. My instincts proved correct.The story of Earth Girl takes place in the far-flung future, narrated by eighteen-year-old Jarra. There are many names for people like her. Handicapped. Throwback. Nean. Ape. All of them mean one thing: that she is among the one in a thousand born with an immunity system disorder that confines her to earth. Humans have developed portal technology at this point, using it to colonize a multitude of worlds, but Jarra can’t visit any of them. If she traveled anywhere she would go into anaphylactic shock in seconds, and die if not returned immediately to earth’s atmosphere.But even in 2788, humanity has its bigoted attitudes. So when the time comes to enroll in university, Jarra chooses her preferred subject History, but decides to invent a fake military background for herself to apply at a school on another planet whose class of norms who would be on earth for the first year of practical studies. Jarra is sick and tired of being looked down on for being handicapped, and she’s determined to show a bunch of stupid Exos just what an ape girl is capable of.There is therefore nothing very subtle about the social message in Earth Girl. This is a book with emotion and meaning, but there’s so much to love even beyond this. While the plot may be a bit predictable at times, very little else about this novel falls prey to clichés, especially when it comes to the characters. You meet Lecturer Playdon, for example, and might immediately label him as a hardball professor, going to be bent on giving our protagonist a hard time – because adults obviously are in YA novels just to get in the way! Or take Dalmora Rostha, daughter of a rich, famous vid director. She’s totally going to be the snooty, spoiled and annoyingly fake arch nemesis, am I right? Now the lascivious pair of Betas though, surely they are there just to provide comic relief, cause trouble and flunk out? Nope, nope, and nope, wrong on all counts. This book will surprise you at every turn, and I can’t tell you how refreshing that is.I also confess, I have another reason for loving this book. For you see, in the context of Earth Girl, Jarra’s “practical prehistory studies” is just another word for Archaeology. And I love Archaeology. When I studied it and went on digs in college, I’d always entertained thoughts of future archaeologists excavating our modern cities and wondering what they would make of our civilization from the things they find. It’s like the author was reading my mind. And when Jarra and her class dig up the ruins of New York, the methods and technology they use may be very different, but still the culture and spirit of a dig site is there and really takes me back. World building is fantastic in terms of creating a great atmosphere.My only quibbles are minor. The dialogue can be stunted at times, making Jarra and her friends sound and act like they are much younger than their eighteen years. Fian, the romantic interest, is probably the worst offender. Jarra also seems to be an expert at everything. A character even makes a joke about this at one point in the novel. As well, there is a tendency to tell instead of show and moments of overt info-dumping, but as many of these instances are worked into a classroom setting, they were easily forgivable. Other than that, as you can see from my rating, this book was close to perfect.Thank you, Janet Edwards, for breathing some new life into YA for me. Earth Girl was very enjoyable and I’m looking forward to reading the next book.
    • 5/5
      I don’t read a lot of science fiction and this is not a perfect book--for one thing the main character is maybe a little bit of a good-at-everything Mary Sue--but the story held me enthralled anyway. I love the several hundred years in the future setting when most of humanity is living in off-planet settlements, I love the details about the different cultures of those settlements and their thoroughly thought out histories, and I could not help loving the overly talented Jarra because she’s full of enthusiasm and has some very big challenges. Since most humans now reside in one of the many off-planet colonies connected by easily traversed portals, people like Jarra with an immune system that only allows them to live on Earth are considered handicapped, and rudely referred to as “apes”--a fact that Jarra knows well because she watches the same “vids” (TV-like shows) as any other teenager in the galaxy. Like most of the “handicapped” Jarra was abandoned by her parents and portaled to Earth moments after her birth to save her life. She’s been raised in a compassionate but institutional setting and now that it is time for her to attend a university she’d like to pull one over on the “exos” or “norms” (people who live off Earth) by attending one of their universities undercover, using a fake military family background. Jarra loves history, and since the study of human history necessarily involves time on Earth, Jarra gets herself into the first year Earth program of a university based in the Gamma colony. She’s already had some experience in the dangerous but exciting dig sites of New York City’s ruins, so compared to her other classmates she’s a superstar. Those classmates were supposed to be her enemies, but her plan to shock them by revealing her true identity gets complicated when, against her better judgement, she makes friends and falls in love.Though Earth Girl has that Mary Sue issue I mentioned, a coincidence that weakens the plot credibility a little, and some info dumping written as lengthy passages of dialog, I’ve still rated it 5 stars. Why? Because I love it anyway. There are more perfectly written books that don’t hold my interest at all, but in spite of minor flaws Earth Girl captivated me. I read every word of those fascinating info dumping passages, and the Mary Sue quality of the story is, counter-intuitively, less irritating because it is written in the first person and Jarra doesn’t brag or see herself as exceptional. I read a library copy of the book, but bought it anyway because I knew I’d want to read and refer to it again, especially before its sequel comes out.
    • 3/5
      Quite a jumble of feelings with this book! It was good, and it was bad. I really wanted to like our protagonist, Jarra, I really tried and sometimes I did, but most of the time I just got annoyed by her because despite how hard she claims everything to be, she seems to excel easily. Anyway, first a little background. It's the year 3000 and traveling between worlds is a simple portal away. Jarra is handicapped because she has been born with a condition that allows her only to live on Earth and not travel to other planets. Parents of handicapped children tend to just send them off to Earth and forget the had them, so handicapped children, or "apes" as they are rudely called, are raised in group homes by foster parents. Jarra turns 18 and decides she wants to study off world, even though she can't because if she steps foot on another world her body will shut down. But through some savvy work, her foster mother finds that she can apply to an off-world university that has a base on Earth. Jarra must hide her handicap because the world thinks of apes as pointless, useless castoffs that shouldn't be around. Although as Jarra describes life on Earth for apes, it doesn't sound so bad. Since the world government or whoever feels some sort of guilt that handicapped children have basically all been abandoned at birth, they are given a free ride through life. Everything is paid for, and they can choose where to study and get a free education. And if they don't want to study, they still get everything paid for them and can just lay around if that's what they choose to do. Anyway, Jarra goes off world with this whole new fake identity as a military kid, determined to excel in class and then turn around to them all and shout out that she's an ape and an ape tricked them all. Jarra's into history, and her class seems to be all about going out to parts of Earth and excavating them looking for artifacts or stasis boxes (which I think are similar to time capsules). Various stuff happens, there's really no narrative apart from Jarra excelling through the class and going about her daily routines.Jarra befriends a few of her class and realizes that turning around and laughing at them for not realizing she was a "smelly ape" might not be as satisfying as she thought. Nothing else really happens, there's no big ending or plot twist or anything. It just kind of goes on. Fian, Jarra's closest friend in her class and a guy she's kinda into, and Jarra get stuck while visiting a settlement during a snowstorm so the portals go down. But there's no urgency in their predicament. They're being well taken care of, plenty of people, food and water around. Nothing to worry about. That seemed to be the constant feeling I got throughout the book. Don't worry, everything works out and there's no real danger because even if you lose a limb you can grow another one. Jarra also quickly excels to being Tag Leader of Team 1, the highest spot a student can attain in the class, because she's been at dig sites all her life or something. In creating her military persona, she has researched absolutely everything about the military in just one month as well as taught herself basic hand to hand combat. So, Jarra is never stumped at a question about the military, regularly offers paragraphs of information about off-world things that apparently none of the actual off-world students know, and also easily tosses people across a room.One of my biggest issues with the book was the massive info dumps bracketed as conversations. There is just so much to take in and you really end up taking in none of it. Exos, apes, portals, hover sleds, food dispensers, impact suits, lasers, Betans, Achilles, vids, etc. There's just sooo much to try and keep track of, I can tell the author spent a lot of time cementing these details but I feel like the reader didn't need them all, especially considering none of it came back in any real fashion at the end of the novel.Another negative for me was the use of their own set of "cool words", like saying things are "totally zan!" or "what the chaos is going on?" or "I was so grazzed!" or "it was blizz". It just reeked of childishness to me. As do the odd names. Krath, Isette, Fian, Dalmora. I enjoyed the relationship developing between Jarra and Fian to begin with, it was realistic and fun to read them bond and entrust themselves in one another. All of this changes as soon as they have their first kiss. Fian is talking about them signing a Twoing contract (which seems to be just some sort of official piece of paper that claims two people are boyfriend and girlfriend, and can therefore touch its each other) and then talking about Jarra meeting his parents. There's some weird thing about modesty in this future where there is simply no intimacy. Even in the language. When talking of how hot an actor is on a vid, its common to say "he has nice legs" instead of "dat ass!" But then there are also triad marriages, so it seems to hit both extremes pretty hard. Something weird happens towards the end. Jarra locates her parents, chats to them for half a page and plans to meet up with them despite never meeting them before, and then first paragraph of the next day her parents are dead. This sends Jarra into some sort of psychosis for some reason and she decides her parents are alive and that she really is the persona she create for herself. I know grief can alter the mind, but I judge this reaction from such a strong character upon hearing of the deaths of two people she's hated her whole life and seen only once through a screen. Then in the end, Fian takes complete control. He flat out forbids Jarra to break their Twoing contract even though she wants to because she's an ape and he's not. And then after an accident leaves her unconscious for a week, he tells the entire world the secret she's been keeping for the whole book. But Jarra is fine with this and doesn't argue why he acted so brazenly. It's an alright book, but it gave me this strange feeling of being given loads of information but not having actually learned much of anything.
    • 5/5
      Honestly, I'd sort of dismissed this book, because I saw the pretty cover and then never heard another thing about it. Only when my friend Kayla tweeted me about how good this book was and how much she thought I would like it did I look into it again. That was when I realized why I'd heard so little buzz about it: the cover I was familiar with was for the UK edition, and it's only just now publishing in the US. So, basically, Kayla knows me well and this book is stellar (see what I did there?); pay attention to Earth Girl.

      The world building in Earth Girl is astounding. Seriously, there's so much going on in here, and with so much of it well-explained. Though the Earth and surrounding solar system are nothing like they are now, I always felt completely grounded in Edwards' world. At no point did I feel like there was clunky infodumping or that I was at a loss, confused about why something was happening. There are some infodumps, but they're done in the guise of a classroom lesson, so they work perfectly. I'm not going to try to explain all of it to you, because there's too much and I would make it really complicated; if you're curious, trust in Janet Edwards.

      The biggest theme tackled in Earth Girl is that of racial tensions. Well, I'm not sure if racial is precisely the right world, but the strain between people from different planets and cultures. Although all originally from Earth, the humans who still live there are seen as neans (a shortening of neanderthals) or apes. No one would live on Earth at all anymore, since other planets have been located with far better conditions, but some people are unable to survive anywhere else because of a rare condition. Even among those not dwelling on Earth, there are stereotypes pertaining to every planet, like the idea that all Betans are promiscuous.

      Jarra is one of my new favorite heroines. She does not let people mess with her one bit, sarcastic and no-nonsense. Who doesn't love a heroine who throws a guy who tries to get fresh across the room? Well, probably lots of people, but I, for one, think that's awesome. Handicapped, the term used to describe those unable to survive off of Earth, Jarra resents the way her kind are viewed, and decides to do something drastic to prove a point. She enrolls in a history degree for a college on another planet, since the first year is taught on Earth. If no one notices that she's an "ape," then obviously the stereotypes are wrong. At the end, she plans to revenge herself on these narrow-minded exos (a slur for those who don't live on Earth) by revealing the truth. Over time, though, it becomes clear that there is more to every person than stereotypes, a lesson that's always important to remember.

      Though it's not the main focus of the story, Earth Girl does have one heck of an adorable romance. Jarra, in spite of herself, is highly attracted to Fian, a guy who just happens to rather resemble her favorite vid star. They develop a really natural bond by working to gether and playing together. I really love the way they swap episodes of their favorite shows, secretly pointing out their crushes on one another. These two have some great banter and I am a big fan.

      Though Earth Girl is nigh perfect for me, I do think it might be tricky for those with a bit less patience for science fiction. There are a lot of pages of description about the methods by which historians research pre-historic Earth (in this case, New York City). These might bore some readers, though I found them incredibly exciting. The closest comparison I can make would be to the various lessons in Ender's Game, as they play the battle simulation game. There were also a couple of spots that lagged a bit, but far more that made me laugh out loud or want to fistbump Jarra for being so damn cool.

      Science fiction fans, you're going to want to get yourself a copy of Earth Girl ASAP. I'm pretty sure I'm going to need to order the UK version of book two, just so I can have a shorter wait.
    • 4/5
      the orbiting solar arrays have to escape to planet below: the first landing from space in 600 years. And one is on collision course with their shelterThe Good Stuff•Unusual storyline •Fast paced •Author is a gifted storyteller, I was sucked in by the story almost immediately. It made it very hard to put down •A strong character who admits her faults and tries to do better •Reminded me a little of Serenity at times -- One of the planets was Miranda and a couple of other little comments, author obviously a fan •Nice moral messages imparted •One of the only books I have ever read that had made up terms that didn't irritate the hell out of me. They actually work in this story •Nice light moments of humour •The science actually makes sense, you could see this happening •Characters emotions are believable for her age and her background •Liked the love story, it was sweet and fun and not all over angsty for older readers The Not So Good Stuff•Jarra got over things and plot points were solved a little too neatly and quickly •She was also too perfect at times Favorite Quotes/Passages"I really and truly hate to admit I'm wrong but sometimes I have to. Dalmora Rostha, the gifted daughter of Ventrak Rostha, born to be adored Alphan vid personality of the future, and a living embodiment of everything I envied, was nice. I'd fought the idea for as long as I could, but she really was. It was truly sickening that someone so perfect should actually be nice as well but...""Amelia glared at him. "Being polite isn't on Miranda's planetary development plan until next year.""It took me a while to get it all sorted out, get past the pain of my parent's death, and realize what I had done."Who Should/Shouldn't Read•I would say a mature 10 - 11 yr old girl could also enjoy as well as the recommended age. There isn't too much violence and sex is hinted at but very subtly •Fans of scify, Dystopian and Post Apocolyptic will enjoy 4 Dewey's I received this from HarperCollins in exchange for an honest review
    • 3/5
      I don't really know what to say about this book, there was nothing exceptional good or bad to comment on. The writing is easy to read and if you just want a light weight book than go for it. The plot was interesting and the character of Jarra well developed. The only thing I'd have liked to have seen more of was development in the other characters. They seemed very 2D to me and were more a way of explaining Jarra's character and giving her things to react to/ worry about than characters in their own right.If you want something simple to read that isn't part of a series then this book is for you, if you're looking for great literature then I suggest you go elsewhere.