Earth Girl [Kindle Edition]

Earth Girl is Janet Edwards debut novel. If I hadn't read that in the publisher's blurb, I certainly wouldn't have realised. It's polished fiction, with a confident pace that keeps the reader hooked, and critically for sci-fi, she built the essence of an original setting in the first few pages, in a way that implied that there was much more depth and content to come.

Jarra is an eighteen year old, living on earth in the year 2788. She and her friends are about to go to university. Earth colonised other planets some four hundred years ago, and the majority of humans now live on one or other of the colony worlds. Unfortunately, Jarra and her friends are labelled "handicapped", because they are some of a small proportion of humanity who can't travel to other colonies. If they do, they suffer a mysterious allergic reaction, as their immune system can't cope, and unless they return to earth immediately via the nearest space portal, they die. Earth has become famous for three things, hospitals (as medical technology trying to overcome the handicap has been a focus), history (as the planet where all humans originated, with the oldest pre-historic archaelogical sites) and the handicapped - the triple H. Earth has become a dumping ground for unwanted handicapped babies, because parents on colony worlds can still have children who are born handicapped, and have to be transported to earth via an emergency space portal. Jarra and her friends are therefore orphans, brought up in residential schools and nurseries, with adoptive parents they share and see for only a couple of hours a week. Most of them have no contact with their real parents, and prejudice has grown up between the colonists and the handicapped on earth. Jarra is a rebellious girl, and plans to exact her own revenge on the colonists and their perceived prejudice against her and her friends, by fooling a group of them into thinking she is one of them.

Edwards describes all this in the first few pages, setting the scene for the story that follows. Jarra becomes a history student, excavating the ruins of New York City with a group of colonist students who think she is the daughter of a military couple, and therefore one of the many varieties of colonist like themselves. Edwards thus picks a setting guaranteed to help her book appeal to an American audience. It also adds a deeper level of meaning, as the students excavate skyscraper ruins using heavy lifting gear and wearing impact suits, in scenes reminiscent of Lower Manhattan after 9/11. It's an evocative setting for a book where the main theme is prejudice, and the differences between people from many different worlds. It's also dangerous work, as collapsing buildings are a constant threat, so Jarra is soon at risk, and forced to trust some of her fellow students, despite her prejudice. At this point the pace of the novel picks up, and events soon start to spiral out of Jarra's control. By this time the reader is hooked, and the book becomes very hard to put down. It's a great story, with a central character who is enough of a heroine to appeal to both male and female readers, and some interesting characters amongst the other students as well. The ending concludes the book nicely, without being either too drawn out, or too much of a surprise. The other bonus is that this is a stand alone book, and doesn't leave you hanging waiting for the sequel, although the author could easily choose to write another novel set in the world she has created, perhaps on one of the new colonies. Overall, it's a great piece of teen sci-fi, worthy of being read by adults too. This is debut fiction at it's rare best - if her first novel is this good, I can't wait to read whatever she writes next.

Janet Edwards has done it! She has written a first novel that reads like an assured 5th one. She has picked an interesting 18 year old heroine with a huge chip on her shoulder to do some serious heroine stuff. She has invented a new dying earth, and a great new way to do archeology! I would sign up for her version of an Applied History course on Old Earth any day. You get to blow things up, use interesting and dangerous high tech kit, show off, and save the world. It's a bit like being in the SAS, but more believable!

Guys, don't be put off by anything you see as feminine in the promotion. Older people don't write this off as a Young Adult thing. Sci Fi freaks don't relegate this to dystopia-lite land. This is fun, fun, fun. Personally, I have often disliked female attempts as Science Fiction, but this stuff is in the glorious tradition of Andre Norton, Ursula le Guin and Madelaine L'Engle (for you oldies), or Julian May for the next generation.

Yes, she does grow up emotionally. Yes, she does handle her abandonment issues. Yes, she does melt over a rad young guy. But all is in a kick-ass non cringe way. I can't see how a sequel could be easily written, but will still be interested whatever Janet Edwards chooses to write next. A winner.

I bought this book out of curiosity after seeing a lot about it on the internet, not being the target age group. It is a very well crafted book containing good imagery and characterisations and a story line that leads the reader on to want to know more about the lead character, Jarra, and the world she lives in. The book builds to a great climax and ends well. Apparently two more books have been commissioned and should be worth reading. This is a very good read for teens who are into Si-Fi, its target group, but also has something to attract young readers who haven't yet got into this genre. Enjoy!