Hiya Jared,
With Katherine Applegate having such a pivotal place in my childhood I really wanted to read more of her work. Since this book and the sequel kindly showed up for me to take them home, I obliged.
Title: The Mayflower Project
Series: Remnants; Book 1
Author: K. A. Applegate
Genre: Science Fiction
Audience: Teen
ROTS Setting: CU, Modern, Apocalyptic, Space Travel
Synopsis: It’s 2011. An asteroid is on a collision course with the earth. And eighty people have been given the opportunity to survive. To leave the planet before the world ends. Jobs isn’t quite sure of what’s going on. Just that he and his family are a few of the lucky ones chosen to board a revamped space shuttle. A shuttle that will leave Earth just before the final impact. No one knows where they’re going. Or if they’ll make it there at all. Because there isn’t a lot of time for questions. And there are fewer answers.
Recommendation: This book and series are In Dispute. Meaning there are equal reasons for and against recommending it. I would also say that this may be targeting a slight older audience that it may appear.
This was a very good start. It introduces several characters and the dire circumstance they all find themselves in. But that’s just it. It’s just a start. Instead of a book unto itself it felt more like the first couple chapters in a larger book. I found the plot to be very linear with a clear focus on setting up the series as a whole.
The characters were decent. Jobs feels a bit too shiny for me, especially when compared to the other characters who all have a dark thread to them. When it comes to antagonists, they were on the weak side with not much depth at this point. Again, none of this is surprising when the focus is clearly on establishing a series.
My biggest beef was that there were a couple of terms that were used by unconnected individuals. It broke the immersion. I later find out one is a term that appears to be used in a cultural context but the fact that it took two books to figure it out showed it could have been clearer.
I would also like to point out that there were at least two pretty dark moments. As a whole I would put this series audience a year or two older than Animorphs.
One of the great things that the book did was the technology. It’s purposefully vague bit with enough tenuous ties solid concepts that I never questioned anything. It was easy to suspend my belief.
Another part I found really interesting was that this was written in 2001 and takes place in 2011. I thought that the subtle changes in society and technology between 2011 in the book and even current society were fascinating.
In summary, it’s a good start but not enough to decide much. Thankfully I had the second book to quickly follow up on.
Robert
Reading Over The Shoulder 