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But first, to put this review into a little bit of context (who knows for how long this blog will be read), at the moment there is a huge amount of Worldwide press and interest on Civil Rights and the Black Lives Matter movement. So as this book is based on Nasa's current mission to Mars I wanted to point you towards the awesome book and movie titled Hidden Figures. This is a book and movie charting the lives of a group of awesome black women - Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, and Katherine Johnson - who were Nasa's human calculators without whom the mission to the moon probably wouldn't have happened. I previously did a blog review here: Hidden Figures, movie review.
And to neatly go full circle, as most of you know we are heading into the last few days of Pride which of course didn't really happen because of our Covid19 lockdown - or as some like to call it a Queerantine - this will probably be the last LGBT title I'll get to review for Pride month.
In this book we follow the life of Calvin, or Cal for short as his dad is also called Calvin. He has his whole life planned out, college, journalism studies, an internship with Buzzfeed and has been building his social media profile and polishing his journalism skills. He currently has 500,000 followers and does a weekly walk through of New York and what's happening. In the past he has covered local and national stories, politics and elections. He even broadcasts about the hugely popular Orpheus Project - NASA's mission to Mars.
But then overnight his life is uprooted. His dad is chosen to be the 20th and last member of the Orpheus project and they have to pack up and move immediately. He has to abondon his plans, friends and worst of all his journalism ambitions as StarWatch the company that owns the rights to interviews and publicity for the Orpheus project has a gagging order in place. After a three day drive to their new home they land in the town that has been bought-up for the Astro-families the name given to the families of the Astronauts. Cal, in a moment of last defiance figuring his dad has only arrived and hasn't yet signed the papers and gagging order makes a final broadcast to his fans breaking the news who the final 20th member of the Orpheus Project is. All hell breaks loose as the press & StarWatch descend even before they have unpacked their car.
Shortly after this mess Cal finds out everything isn't as cosy as StarWatch likes to portray, the other Astrofamiles and Astrokids are not perfect and StarWatch experiencing dropping ratings tries to create drama and excitement - they have full access to the houses of the Astrofamalies and with Cal's exposé they aren't very happy. Cal also meets Leon, one of the only other teen Astorkids in the area and they hit it off. What ensues is a sweet teen romance with enough intrigue and drama to keep you turning the pages.
Before I like to cover the pro's of a book I like to mention the negatives, but, honestly in this debut novel I found none. There is no mature content - the most that happens is two teens kissing so nothing unsuitable for a mature chilld or 12+ reader. One person does loose their life, so I suppose that is a trigger warning but there is not too much detail and the family affected leaves the story very quickly. The only one negative I have is the premise of the book is based on the lives of the family members of the astronauts so I would have liked to learn a little more about them, but that's really it.
The book is really well written and paced. The language is perfectly aimed at a teen market but also an adult that likes NASA, geeky, LGBT stories will also enjoy. It delves into the World of a teenager and their interaction with Social Media and the press. Cal's dad doesnt understand what Cal is messing about with online - it's not a proper thing/job is it? ... the mechanics of social media, online press, modern journalism and followers, I imagine this reflects exactly how today's parents think and misunderstand about the digital World today. As mentioned before the book has enough tension and drama that makes you want to continue reading. It's a throughly enjoyable read. There are two moments I love in the book;
Cal considers himself a fixer of broken things (part of his obsession with planning) but he is reminded that he cannot fix ever broken thing but he can makes things a little better.
Also in the early stages of Cal and Leon's relationship Leon is starting to talk a little about his depression and he realises that Cal wants to kiss him. He asks Cal not to kiss him to make him feel better but to instead kiss him showing affection at a later stage.
I really enjoyed this book and give it a solid 9 out of 10 stars. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
John The Captain Ryan
