Earth Star (Earth Girl, #2)

by Janet Edwards

The highly anticipated follow-up to Janet Edward's sensational YA sci-fi debut, Earth Girl.

18-year-old Jarra has a lot to prove. After being awarded one of the military's highest honours for her role in a daring rescue attempt, Jarra finds herself - and her Ape status - in the spotlight. Jarra is one of the unlucky few born with an immune system that cannot survive on other planets. Derided as an 'ape' - a 'throwback' - by the rest of the universe, Jarra is on a mission to prove that Earth Girls are just as good as everyone else.

Except now the planet she loves is under threat by what could be humanity's first ever alien contact. Jarra's bravery - and specialist knowledge - will once again be at the centre of the maelstrom, but will the rest of the universe consider Earth worth fighting for?

• ISBN10: 1306934559
• ISBN13: 9781306934558
• Publish Date: 1 January 2014 (first published 15 August 2013)
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 14 April 2015
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Pyr
• Format: eBook
• Language: English

Reviews

[Angie]

Earth Star is a fun and exciting sequel which I adored, although not as much as Earth Girl. Jarra is back to her History class, but they've moved on to a new dig site. However, it's only her, Fian, and a couple of other students since the portals are all backed up. Soon enough they learn why, when the military drafts Jarra and Fian for the Alien Contact program. Turns out, there's an alien ship positioned in orbit right above Africa (where the current dig site is). No one knows if it's dangerous, since it hasn't done anything. Not even attempted to make contact. Jarra and Fian are head of the history team trying to find clues as to whether this ship has been there before and get insight into its potential threat level. Exciting stuff.

The plot of Earth Star definitely had me on the edge of my seat. Are the aliens friendly? Are they just biding their time before they attack? Why are they at Earth of all places? I was anxiously awaiting answers to these questions and more! Jarra continues to be a super smarty pants when it comes to ancient Earth history. And it's her knowledge that finds a safe place for Earth residents to go when the military believes the aliens will attack. Then, of course, she helps find something super important that changes everything. Unfortunately, that's where the book ends. It was kind of anticlimactic and I wanted some follow up to the situation! It's not exactly a cliffhanger, but it also didn't feel complete to me which is why I liked this one less.

The romance between Jarra and Fian has become even more adorable! Those two had me grinning like a fool from the very beginning! They have amazing banter and some great ways of being affectionate toward one another. Fian is still working on getting Jarra to open up with her feelings, and I loved how he kept sitting her down to have serious talks. He is so good for her, especially when bad things start happening. We also get to learn a lot more about their home planets (we find out where Jarra's family was from!) which I find endlessly interesting. Those two couldn't be from more different worlds and I love how they make it work!

Earth Star is really good. I did love it, but I wish it had a stronger ending. There were also some points where it felt repetitive and I started to get a bit annoyed. Over all though, it's full of tension with the looming alien threat, and a lot of solid world building!

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.