Earth Star book review

Janet Edwards is the author of the EARTH GIRL trilogy. EARTH GIRL was awarded a starred review for exceptional merit by Kirkus, and a starred review for being outstanding in its genre by Booklist. Earth Star, the sequel to Earth Girl, which I reviewed with deep pleasure last year, is even more startlingly original. Edwards does world-building like no one else. Her ideas are truly inventive, and she sprinkles them into a plot that is perfectly paced.

Jarra is eighteen now and finds herself in the center of the whirlwind when earth is visited by an unmanned alien sphere. Here’s a teen with expertise the military needs in a universe that doesn’t think much of the planet Earth. She still cannot survive on other planets because of her immune system ‘deficiency’, and now she has an additional obstacle she must overcome in the form of a phobia after an accident. But she is a hero who is irrepressible! Immersing myself in her story and her world does for me what I most require of fiction, and does it admirably— Earth Star not only delights me but it enlarges my own imagination.

Pyr is the science fiction and fantasy imprint of Prometheus Books. Prometheus Books’ name was derived from Prometheus, the Titan from Greek mythology who gave fire to humans. The name Pyr, the Greek word for fire, was chosen to continue this connection to fire and the liveliness of imagination. I find this appropriate since Edwards’ trilogy is the liveliest imagining I have read in many years.

Edwards, Janet. Earth Star. New York: Pyr, 2014