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Earth 2 #2
Puzzle
While traveling through a waterless region, the Earth 2 colonists discover a ruined underground city well supplied with booby traps
230 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 1995
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
November 13, 2025
Earth 2 was a nice little TV series and this is a nice little book. 'Puzzle' is a decent treatment of the show and the story here is certainly good enough to be thought of as an episode.
I wanted to give it four stars, but really after the first half of the book there isn't much happening.
As others have said there are a few interesting oddities in this one, oddities that are not necessarily plot killers but there are noticeable differences to some of the characters and if you were/are a fan of the show you'll catch them straight away.
Overall 'Puzzle' is worth the read and I am glad to have found it for my collection.
I wanted to give it four stars, but really after the first half of the book there isn't much happening.
As others have said there are a few interesting oddities in this one, oddities that are not necessarily plot killers but there are noticeable differences to some of the characters and if you were/are a fan of the show you'll catch them straight away.
Overall 'Puzzle' is worth the read and I am glad to have found it for my collection.
March 7, 2021
Dull.
January 31, 2013
There were a few inconsistencies in this book - like the wrong age for one of the children and a few other simple things that seemed easy to catch. I really enjoyed the plot, though. I don't think it rang true with their experiences on the TV show. The author took the Terrians and their history in what I thought was kind of a 180, but ultimately, I enjoyed the ideas and story so much that I was willing to suspend disbelief.
The latter half of the book was harder to read than the first. It read as though the author had the plot and story movement firmly mapped out, but was only halfway done with his characterization of the cast. For example, Alonzo lost the ability to use contractions somewhere along the way. I think this was supposed to indicate english as a second language for him? I never got the impression that he wasn't completely fluent in American english. His speech became more and more stilted as the story progressed. Similarly, Devon and Danziger both seemed to become slaves to the plot - their motivations for their actions became less and less a product of their personalities and more and more necessary to keep the story moving. At the very end, especially, Devon seems to revert to her initial, unwise role as taskmaster, pushing the group hard to reach New Pacifica, with no real recognition of what her impatience nearly cost them at the beginning of the novel and their adventure.
Overall, I enjoyed the read because I really loved the strange and interesting look at G889, but I didn't feel that the voices of the characters were given much depth. They reverted to a more two-dimensional version of each of themselves - Julia the emotionless doctor, Danziger the sceptic, motivated to action only for love of his daughter, Devon the taskmaster, Morgan the complainer (and screwer-upper in every scene that needed it), Bess the simple farm-girl sort.
The latter half of the book was harder to read than the first. It read as though the author had the plot and story movement firmly mapped out, but was only halfway done with his characterization of the cast. For example, Alonzo lost the ability to use contractions somewhere along the way. I think this was supposed to indicate english as a second language for him? I never got the impression that he wasn't completely fluent in American english. His speech became more and more stilted as the story progressed. Similarly, Devon and Danziger both seemed to become slaves to the plot - their motivations for their actions became less and less a product of their personalities and more and more necessary to keep the story moving. At the very end, especially, Devon seems to revert to her initial, unwise role as taskmaster, pushing the group hard to reach New Pacifica, with no real recognition of what her impatience nearly cost them at the beginning of the novel and their adventure.
Overall, I enjoyed the read because I really loved the strange and interesting look at G889, but I didn't feel that the voices of the characters were given much depth. They reverted to a more two-dimensional version of each of themselves - Julia the emotionless doctor, Danziger the sceptic, motivated to action only for love of his daughter, Devon the taskmaster, Morgan the complainer (and screwer-upper in every scene that needed it), Bess the simple farm-girl sort.
April 25, 2014
I admit I was a captive audience going into this book. Earth2 is one of my all time favorite shows. This novel felt like I was reading the script of an unaired episode. The feel and style of the book fits right in with canon of the show. I could hear the actors voices in my head as I read along, and aside from some slightly off-character moments—mainly flat dialogue—this was an immensely enjoyable read.
If there are any other novelizations of this short-lived series out there, I want to find them.
If there are any other novelizations of this short-lived series out there, I want to find them.
February 10, 2013
The author must have been working from pre-production notes of the TV series, because there are a number of inconsistencies with characters and events as seen in the televised episodes. But it's a reasonably interesting read for fans of the show nonetheless, and delivers a bit of background on the mysterious Terrians that inhabit planet G889. My full study of the novel is posted at http://earth2.popapostle.com/html/epi...
August 1, 2013
As someone else commented, it seemed that the writer read some post production ideas, and wrote the book from that. Many inconsistencies with this book and the show, and it was impossible to place where this book would have taken place during the series because of the inconsistencies with it. The story was good, and I did like it, but I have to give this a three star due to how it did not relate to the series as much as I would have liked it to.
April 17, 2015
I remember not liking this one as much as the first one but no real memory as to why. I'm sure I probably liked it more than I would if I picked it up now but there was a definite fondness there when I was a kid who was an avid fan of the show.
July 29, 2012
how rediculous.
January 18, 2016
Intriguing story focusing less on adventure and thrills and more on the drama of exploring a new world. All the characters are well written, and for once we have a pair of kids who aren't annoying.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews