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Voyagers #1
Project Alpha
#1 New York Times bestseller D. J. MacHale launches this part sci-fi, all action adventure, multiplatform series.
Earth is about to go dark. Without a new power source, life as we know it will be toast. A global competition is under way to determine which four kids will join the secret mission that might just save us all. Project Alpha is a contest of physical challenges, mental puzzles, and strategic alliances. The battle is fierce. Who will lead the team? Who will pilot the most complicated space ship ever built? Who will be a friend? An enemy? And how will they survive over a year stuck on a space ship together?
Once chosen, the Voyagers will journey to the far reaches of space, collecting unique elements and facing unbelievable dangers. The future of our planet is in their hands. Sure, they’ll be the best in the world . . . but can they save the world?
The action is on the page, on your device, and out of this world! And you don't have long to wait, 6 books are coming all in one year!
Do you have what it takes to be a Voyager? Find out at VoyagersHQ.com.
Earth is about to go dark. Without a new power source, life as we know it will be toast. A global competition is under way to determine which four kids will join the secret mission that might just save us all. Project Alpha is a contest of physical challenges, mental puzzles, and strategic alliances. The battle is fierce. Who will lead the team? Who will pilot the most complicated space ship ever built? Who will be a friend? An enemy? And how will they survive over a year stuck on a space ship together?
Once chosen, the Voyagers will journey to the far reaches of space, collecting unique elements and facing unbelievable dangers. The future of our planet is in their hands. Sure, they’ll be the best in the world . . . but can they save the world?
The action is on the page, on your device, and out of this world! And you don't have long to wait, 6 books are coming all in one year!
Do you have what it takes to be a Voyager? Find out at VoyagersHQ.com.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published July 7, 2015
82 people are currently reading
948 people want to read
About the author
D.J. MacHale
96 books2,342 followersD.J. MacHale is a writer, director, executive producer and creator of several popular television series and movies.
He was raised in Greenwich, CT and graduated from Greenwich High School. While in school, he had several jobs including collecting eggs at a poultry farm, engraving sports trophies and washing dishes in a steakhouse...in between playing football and running track. D.J. then attended New York University where he received a BFA in film production.
His filmmaking career began in New York where he worked as a freelance writer/director, making corporate videos and television commercials. He also taught photography and film production.
D.J. broke into the entertainment business by writing several ABC Afterschool Specials. After moving to Los Angeles, he made the fulltime switch from informational films, to entertainment. As co-creator of the popular Nickelodeon series: Are You Afraid of the Dark?, he produced all 91 episodes over 8 years. He wrote and directed many of the episodes including the CableAce nominated The Tale of Cutter's Treasure starring Charles S. Dutton. He was nominated for a Gemini award for directing The Tale of the Dangerous Soup starring Neve Campbell.
D.J. also wrote and directed the movie Tower of Terror for ABC's Wonderful World of Disney which starred Kirsten Dunst and Steve Guttenberg. The Showtime series Chris Cross was co-created, written and produced by D.J. It received the CableAce award for Best Youth Series.
D.J. co-created and produced the Discovery Kids series Flight 29 Down for which he writes all the episodes and directs several. His work on Flight 29 Down has earned him both Writers Guild of America and Directors Guild of America award nominations.
Other notable writing credits include the classic ABC Afterschool Special titled Seasonal Differences; the pilot for the long-running PBS/CBS series Ghostwriter; and the HBO series Encyclopedia Brown, Boy Detective for which he received a CableAce nomination for writing.
In print, D.J. has co-written the book The Tale of the Nightly Neighbors, based on his own teleplay and penned the poetic adaptation of the classic Norwegian folk tale East of the Sun and West of the Moon.
The book series: Pendragon - Journal of an Adventure through Time and Space marks D.J.'s first turn as a novelist. He plans for this series of Young Adult adventures to span a total of 10 books.
D.J. lives in Southern California with his wife Evangeline and daughter Keaton. They are avid backpackers, scuba divers and skiers. Rounding out the household are a Golden Retriever, Maggie; and a Kitten, Kaboodle.
He was raised in Greenwich, CT and graduated from Greenwich High School. While in school, he had several jobs including collecting eggs at a poultry farm, engraving sports trophies and washing dishes in a steakhouse...in between playing football and running track. D.J. then attended New York University where he received a BFA in film production.
His filmmaking career began in New York where he worked as a freelance writer/director, making corporate videos and television commercials. He also taught photography and film production.
D.J. broke into the entertainment business by writing several ABC Afterschool Specials. After moving to Los Angeles, he made the fulltime switch from informational films, to entertainment. As co-creator of the popular Nickelodeon series: Are You Afraid of the Dark?, he produced all 91 episodes over 8 years. He wrote and directed many of the episodes including the CableAce nominated The Tale of Cutter's Treasure starring Charles S. Dutton. He was nominated for a Gemini award for directing The Tale of the Dangerous Soup starring Neve Campbell.
D.J. also wrote and directed the movie Tower of Terror for ABC's Wonderful World of Disney which starred Kirsten Dunst and Steve Guttenberg. The Showtime series Chris Cross was co-created, written and produced by D.J. It received the CableAce award for Best Youth Series.
D.J. co-created and produced the Discovery Kids series Flight 29 Down for which he writes all the episodes and directs several. His work on Flight 29 Down has earned him both Writers Guild of America and Directors Guild of America award nominations.
Other notable writing credits include the classic ABC Afterschool Special titled Seasonal Differences; the pilot for the long-running PBS/CBS series Ghostwriter; and the HBO series Encyclopedia Brown, Boy Detective for which he received a CableAce nomination for writing.
In print, D.J. has co-written the book The Tale of the Nightly Neighbors, based on his own teleplay and penned the poetic adaptation of the classic Norwegian folk tale East of the Sun and West of the Moon.
The book series: Pendragon - Journal of an Adventure through Time and Space marks D.J.'s first turn as a novelist. He plans for this series of Young Adult adventures to span a total of 10 books.
D.J. lives in Southern California with his wife Evangeline and daughter Keaton. They are avid backpackers, scuba divers and skiers. Rounding out the household are a Golden Retriever, Maggie; and a Kitten, Kaboodle.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 169 reviews
September 13, 2017
1* for the audiobook edition as the narration was good; 0.5* for the book itself
This review probably contains spoilers
Let me preface my comments on this book by saying that I am a reader who has a well-developed ability to suspend disbelief. I can accept (or indeed not even notice) unlikely coincidences and improbabilities while reading if the story is exciting, though they might bother me afterwards if they are too blatant. However, MacHale stretched my disbelief to the breaking point starting with the premise of the whole story & piling on additional unbelievable things as it progressed. I don’t know if MacHale is ignorant, a poor writer or just thought that the pre-teen audience of this would be too naïve to notice the book’s many logical flaws. This is NOT science fiction because there is no science and there are several aspects which are directly contradicted by science!
Let’s start with the premise: fossil fuels are about to run out and the world is in a severe energy crisis. A pretty good premise for a science fiction story! But immediately there are some ridiculous assertions upon which the entire plot rests – a) humanity’s very existence is threatened by the approaching loss of electricity (“Earth will die”!) and b) the only way to keep having electricity is to get a power source from an unspecified location in outer space. Perhaps the author is right in assuming that 10-12 year-old readers will have difficulty in conceiving of a world without electricity (despite the thousands of years of history in which man did just that!) but it is a bad premise to state that not just man but the planet itself would somehow be threatened by it. In addition, even kids should be aware that there is already existing technology for creating electricity by solar, wind, hydroelectric and nuclear power. But we are expected to believe that the U.S. government would spend millions or billions of dollars developing a space craft to retrieve ‘the Source’ from deep outer space rather than develop those technologies. I suppose that is almost more believable than the idea that these kids & everyone else have to go to bed at 9 pm because the power cuts leave them in the dark at that time (hello, ever heard of candles??).
But that’s not the most ridiculous part! The method of space travel that has been developed to get ‘the Source’ requires that the astronauts be under the age of 14. For some unspecified reason, anyone even one day older than 14 faces medical problems which could be fatal! And to further insult the reader’s intelligence, the author doesn’t even try to make this absurdity conform in the slightest way to biological knowledge. I could possibly conceive by a wild stretch of imagination that there might be some sort of interaction of the space travel with the astronaut’s biology that would be different after puberty. After all, there are lots of changes in our bodies during puberty. But MacHale doesn’t use puberty as the danger point but the specific age of 14. I guess that is because people reach puberty at different times and he wanted a ‘deadline’ which wasn’t vague. Plus, having a specific age meant he could have 2 male & 2 female characters without the worry about the fact that girls generally reach puberty first.
The silliness continues:
Then once they are in outer space, using an unexplained Gamma Drive which presumably takes the ship faster than light speed (since it only takes them 15 days to reach a planet “in deep space” past hundreds of stars), the book dives from improbable to actual impossibility. Even though they are light years away, they have instantaneous radio communications with Earth, not even a 10 second delay. Radiowaves, as with all electromagnetic radiation, travels the speed of light – communication between the ship and Earth would have significant delays if it was even possible.
Once we finally are told more about ‘the Source’, my ability to listen without rolling my eyes deserted me. The ingredients needed (I refuse to call them elements as that word already has a specific scientific meaning which does NOT apply to these ingredients) to create this “energy source which can stop the world from going dark” include
Ranting over.
I did enjoy the competition between the 8 12-year-olds to see which 4 would be selected to travel in space.
This review probably contains spoilers
Let me preface my comments on this book by saying that I am a reader who has a well-developed ability to suspend disbelief. I can accept (or indeed not even notice) unlikely coincidences and improbabilities while reading if the story is exciting, though they might bother me afterwards if they are too blatant. However, MacHale stretched my disbelief to the breaking point starting with the premise of the whole story & piling on additional unbelievable things as it progressed. I don’t know if MacHale is ignorant, a poor writer or just thought that the pre-teen audience of this would be too naïve to notice the book’s many logical flaws. This is NOT science fiction because there is no science and there are several aspects which are directly contradicted by science!
Let’s start with the premise: fossil fuels are about to run out and the world is in a severe energy crisis. A pretty good premise for a science fiction story! But immediately there are some ridiculous assertions upon which the entire plot rests – a) humanity’s very existence is threatened by the approaching loss of electricity (“Earth will die”!) and b) the only way to keep having electricity is to get a power source from an unspecified location in outer space. Perhaps the author is right in assuming that 10-12 year-old readers will have difficulty in conceiving of a world without electricity (despite the thousands of years of history in which man did just that!) but it is a bad premise to state that not just man but the planet itself would somehow be threatened by it. In addition, even kids should be aware that there is already existing technology for creating electricity by solar, wind, hydroelectric and nuclear power. But we are expected to believe that the U.S. government would spend millions or billions of dollars developing a space craft to retrieve ‘the Source’ from deep outer space rather than develop those technologies. I suppose that is almost more believable than the idea that these kids & everyone else have to go to bed at 9 pm because the power cuts leave them in the dark at that time (hello, ever heard of candles??).
But that’s not the most ridiculous part! The method of space travel that has been developed to get ‘the Source’ requires that the astronauts be under the age of 14. For some unspecified reason, anyone even one day older than 14 faces medical problems which could be fatal! And to further insult the reader’s intelligence, the author doesn’t even try to make this absurdity conform in the slightest way to biological knowledge. I could possibly conceive by a wild stretch of imagination that there might be some sort of interaction of the space travel with the astronaut’s biology that would be different after puberty. After all, there are lots of changes in our bodies during puberty. But MacHale doesn’t use puberty as the danger point but the specific age of 14. I guess that is because people reach puberty at different times and he wanted a ‘deadline’ which wasn’t vague. Plus, having a specific age meant he could have 2 male & 2 female characters without the worry about the fact that girls generally reach puberty first.
The silliness continues:
Then once they are in outer space, using an unexplained Gamma Drive which presumably takes the ship faster than light speed (since it only takes them 15 days to reach a planet “in deep space” past hundreds of stars), the book dives from improbable to actual impossibility. Even though they are light years away, they have instantaneous radio communications with Earth, not even a 10 second delay. Radiowaves, as with all electromagnetic radiation, travels the speed of light – communication between the ship and Earth would have significant delays if it was even possible.
Once we finally are told more about ‘the Source’, my ability to listen without rolling my eyes deserted me. The ingredients needed (I refuse to call them elements as that word already has a specific scientific meaning which does NOT apply to these ingredients) to create this “energy source which can stop the world from going dark” include
Ranting over.
I did enjoy the competition between the 8 12-year-olds to see which 4 would be selected to travel in space.
December 9, 2015
Bueno, lo primero que quiero decir es: este libro está escrito por el creador de "¿Le Temes a la Oscuridad?". HOW FREAKING COOL IS THAT? Yo adoraba ese programa :O
Pero bueno, vamos al libro que es más bien normalito y para pasar el rato. Voyagers nos presenta una historia en la que todas las fuentes de energía de la Tierra están a punto de acabarse, hay apagones constantes, racionamiento de electricidad y otras medidas para aplazar la oscuridad eterna que amenaza con llegar pronto. Aunque el sol sigue existiendo y se puede sacar energía con paneles solares y tal... pero, por el bien de la trama, vamos a ignorarlo, ¿sí? xD El punto es que los gobiernos han encontrado algo llamado la Fuente en el espacio profundo y están reclutando a chicos de 12 años para que se sometan a unas pruebas y, al final, sólo cuatro de ellos sean la tripulación que la Tierra va a enviar para traer esta Fuente a la Tierra y arreglar todos los problemas. Voyagers nos cuenta la historia de cómo es ese proceso de selección y cómo empieza la misión de estos cuatro chicos en el espacio, los problemas que enfrentan y las dudas que cualquier persona de 13 años puede tener cuando lo envían solo al espacio profundo sin ningún tipo de adulto o experto en ciencia.
Creo que para disfrutar el libro hay que ignorar un montón de cosas que no tienen el más mínimo sentido y que son bastante rebuscadas: viajes a velocidad gamma a lo profundo del espacio en quince días, 4 chicos de 13 años en una misión en el espacio profundo, cuestiones técnicas de la nave, etc... Y sí, es que después de haber leído El Marciano no ves los libros de viajes espaciales de la misma manera, jajaja, pero, ¡hey!, Voyagers es un libro de ficción y en los libros de ficción todo se vale, ¿okay? Por esto es que digo que lo mejor es ignorar todos esos detalles y sencillamente disfrutar de la historia, de los personajes y de los pequeños giros de trama que van apareciendo aquí y allá.
Si bien pienso que al principio no nos dan tiempo para conocer a los personajes, a medida que avanza la trama vamos viendo quién es cada uno, identificamos su personalidad y su rol dentro del grupo. Dash, por ejemplo, es un protagonista que me deja mucho que desear... porque realmente me cayó mejor el perro, Rocket, que sale en dos o tres páginas, que él, jajaja. Quizá un personaje del que me gustaría saber mucho más, y tal vez sea una de las razones que me haga querer leer el siguiente libro, es Chris, un hombre/chico de edad indeterminada pero que es un genio de la ciencia y que, para más inri, es el creador de todo el Proyecto Alfa que busca encontrar la Fuente. No diré cuál es el papel exacto de este personaje, pero diré que pasa de ser un mero espectador a estar muuuuy involucrado en las vidas de los cuatro chicos escogidos para la misión. PEEEERO aún así es un misterio completo, sobre todo tras cierta escena en el planeta J-16, hmmm...
En fin, Voyagers es un libro infantil de ciencia ficción, así que no le pidas mucho cuando lo leas, más allá de un rato de risas y entretenimiento :)
Pero bueno, vamos al libro que es más bien normalito y para pasar el rato. Voyagers nos presenta una historia en la que todas las fuentes de energía de la Tierra están a punto de acabarse, hay apagones constantes, racionamiento de electricidad y otras medidas para aplazar la oscuridad eterna que amenaza con llegar pronto. Aunque el sol sigue existiendo y se puede sacar energía con paneles solares y tal... pero, por el bien de la trama, vamos a ignorarlo, ¿sí? xD El punto es que los gobiernos han encontrado algo llamado la Fuente en el espacio profundo y están reclutando a chicos de 12 años para que se sometan a unas pruebas y, al final, sólo cuatro de ellos sean la tripulación que la Tierra va a enviar para traer esta Fuente a la Tierra y arreglar todos los problemas. Voyagers nos cuenta la historia de cómo es ese proceso de selección y cómo empieza la misión de estos cuatro chicos en el espacio, los problemas que enfrentan y las dudas que cualquier persona de 13 años puede tener cuando lo envían solo al espacio profundo sin ningún tipo de adulto o experto en ciencia.
Creo que para disfrutar el libro hay que ignorar un montón de cosas que no tienen el más mínimo sentido y que son bastante rebuscadas: viajes a velocidad gamma a lo profundo del espacio en quince días, 4 chicos de 13 años en una misión en el espacio profundo, cuestiones técnicas de la nave, etc... Y sí, es que después de haber leído El Marciano no ves los libros de viajes espaciales de la misma manera, jajaja, pero, ¡hey!, Voyagers es un libro de ficción y en los libros de ficción todo se vale, ¿okay? Por esto es que digo que lo mejor es ignorar todos esos detalles y sencillamente disfrutar de la historia, de los personajes y de los pequeños giros de trama que van apareciendo aquí y allá.
Si bien pienso que al principio no nos dan tiempo para conocer a los personajes, a medida que avanza la trama vamos viendo quién es cada uno, identificamos su personalidad y su rol dentro del grupo. Dash, por ejemplo, es un protagonista que me deja mucho que desear... porque realmente me cayó mejor el perro, Rocket, que sale en dos o tres páginas, que él, jajaja. Quizá un personaje del que me gustaría saber mucho más, y tal vez sea una de las razones que me haga querer leer el siguiente libro, es Chris, un hombre/chico de edad indeterminada pero que es un genio de la ciencia y que, para más inri, es el creador de todo el Proyecto Alfa que busca encontrar la Fuente. No diré cuál es el papel exacto de este personaje, pero diré que pasa de ser un mero espectador a estar muuuuy involucrado en las vidas de los cuatro chicos escogidos para la misión. PEEEERO aún así es un misterio completo, sobre todo tras cierta escena en el planeta J-16, hmmm...
En fin, Voyagers es un libro infantil de ciencia ficción, así que no le pidas mucho cuando lo leas, más allá de un rato de risas y entretenimiento :)
Want to read
September 21, 2020how could I not know there was another book MacHale had written??? I knew everything about his works!
well, apparently not everything.
probably because this series is a work of a few authors (co-authoring?) & not just MacHale.
the cover (or maybe just the symbol?) kind of gave me the "Voltron" vibes, anyone else? (it even has V in series title!) :D
please please please be epic!
well, apparently not everything.
probably because this series is a work of a few authors (co-authoring?) & not just MacHale.
the cover (or maybe just the symbol?) kind of gave me the "Voltron" vibes, anyone else? (it even has V in series title!) :D
please please please be epic!
September 30, 2022
No recuerdo hace cuántos años que tengo pendiente esta saga, pero le llegó su momento, necesitaba unos libros así para cumplir unos retos de lectura que me propuse este año.
Esta es una novela de ciencia ficción juvenil tirando a middle grade. 4 preadolescentes deben viajar al espacio para conseguir una fuente de energía que salve a la Tierra, para ello deben pasar un intensivo entrenamiento y luego obstáculos.
Es de muy fácil lectura, y aunque algunas cosas son predecibles, quieres seguir acompañando a los personajes principales y saber cómo afrontan las distintas situaciones que se les presentan.
Creo que es una lectura entretenida para pasar el rato, espero continuar en breve con los demás.
Esta es una novela de ciencia ficción juvenil tirando a middle grade. 4 preadolescentes deben viajar al espacio para conseguir una fuente de energía que salve a la Tierra, para ello deben pasar un intensivo entrenamiento y luego obstáculos.
Es de muy fácil lectura, y aunque algunas cosas son predecibles, quieres seguir acompañando a los personajes principales y saber cómo afrontan las distintas situaciones que se les presentan.
Creo que es una lectura entretenida para pasar el rato, espero continuar en breve con los demás.
October 5, 2016
This book is about 4 kids trying to save the Earth From a power shortage. I have to admit it started out pretty weird because it actually started in the future. I felt really excited about reading this book because it started to get very suspenseful during the end. I won't put any spoilers, but if you are interested in adventure and action I would recommend this book highly!
February 18, 2018
A solid 4 stars. This book is a pretty solid middle grade book, although it reads young for sure. But overall good and a fun read. I'm excited to read more in the series. Although I hope the action isn't quite so predictable from here with the whole "video game" feel to things and the mission.
June 27, 2019
UPDATE: I've read it twice now and I found it much better the second time, however these opinions still stand.
I’ll admit...I was kind of disappointed by this one.
Look, I was so excited to read these. They reminded me of my 39 CLUES days and it was this cool sci-fi story, and I was like, “Heck yeah, spoon feed it to me.”
And I was just disappointed with this first book - and I have two specific reasons why:
1) The scene where the characters were introduced felt like a meet and greet.
What do I mean by that? Well, we decided to introduce all eight kids at once, and it read a lot like oh, here’s so-so and they do this, they’re really cool and it was really difficult to keep up with them.
2) The Pacing
The pacing in this book was so off to me. It was like, we’ve been here for a week and we’re just starting to make friends. Next chapter: okay, it’s been a year and these are the four kids you’re actually supposed to care about except I didn’t care about them because I didn’t actually get time to care about them.
I think this might be the only occasion where I still continued with the series despite thinking the first book wasn’t great, and the reason is because it’s written by six different authors. Six different authors with different styles of characterization and pacing, so I continued on.
I’m glad that I did, given that I’m about to move on to book six, and they got so much better than the first one (book three’s my personal favorite).
I’ll admit...I was kind of disappointed by this one.
Look, I was so excited to read these. They reminded me of my 39 CLUES days and it was this cool sci-fi story, and I was like, “Heck yeah, spoon feed it to me.”
And I was just disappointed with this first book - and I have two specific reasons why:
1) The scene where the characters were introduced felt like a meet and greet.
What do I mean by that? Well, we decided to introduce all eight kids at once, and it read a lot like oh, here’s so-so and they do this, they’re really cool and it was really difficult to keep up with them.
2) The Pacing
The pacing in this book was so off to me. It was like, we’ve been here for a week and we’re just starting to make friends. Next chapter: okay, it’s been a year and these are the four kids you’re actually supposed to care about except I didn’t care about them because I didn’t actually get time to care about them.
I think this might be the only occasion where I still continued with the series despite thinking the first book wasn’t great, and the reason is because it’s written by six different authors. Six different authors with different styles of characterization and pacing, so I continued on.
I’m glad that I did, given that I’m about to move on to book six, and they got so much better than the first one (book three’s my personal favorite).
October 8, 2017
me ha encantado y tengo ganas de seguir leyendo!!!
December 11, 2015
This review is also available on my blog, Read Till Dawn.
I've had my eye on this series for a while, ever since Patrick Carman (creator of the series) announced it on his website. How could I not be intrigued by a series that resembled the 39 Clues franchise in format, featured books written by some of my favorite authors (Patrick Carman, Wendy Mass, Jeanne DuPrau), and had a cool sci-fi premise to boot? So when I saw on Bloglovin that Ms. Yingling Reads was reviewing the second Voyagers book, I clicked over to see what she thought of it - and then, when the review included a giveaway by the publisher for the first two books in the series, I eagerly entered and crossed my fingers to win.
I think you can guess what happened: that's right, I won the giveaway! I am now the proud owner of Project Alpha, Game of Flames, a Voyagers phone case, and a little button to put on my iPhone's home button. I know, I'm so awesomely lucky. Don't begrudge it to me too much, though, I really needed these books. I found out I won the giveaway a few days before we closed on the new house in Indiana, and the package with my prize showed up a few days after we'd moved in. I was so worn out from unpacking and scrabbling to catch up with my missed schoolwork (not to mention emotionally exhausted from leaving my home of four years) that nothing was ever so wonderful to me as curling up in bed with the nice, shiny new books I'd been wanting to read for months.
Escapist pleasure aside, did I enjoy Project Alpha as much as I'd hoped I would? Why, yes indeed. While full of lots of tropes (the humanesque robot, crazy-realistic training simulations, and imminent threat of total power loss all ring particularly familiar), it handles them in a fun, compelling manner that drug me along every step of the way. Some of the characters also seemed slightly familiar (the overachieving bully and the genius, yet emotionally-suppressed girl both stuck out as old friends), but I didn't really mind very much - this is just that sort of book, you know? And I feel like the characters will develop away from their initial stereotypical roles as the series progresses. They will likely develop in still-predictable ways (who's betting the overachieving loner winds up realizing she needs the others' help?), but again - something about the way they're presented makes that okay, like I'm surrounded by old friends I've know in some form or other my entire life.
Honestly, my only real complaint with Project Alpha is that it was paced rather strangely. The first good chunk of the book is devoted to the almost Hunger Games-like competition between the eight contenders for the four spots on the ship, and then the last little bit (and I meant little - maybe the last fourth?) follows the team as they begin their travels, go to a planet, have an adventure, etc. It felt to me like the book should have ended with the announcement of the teams, and then the second book should have followed them as they began their journey and had their first adventure in space. The tone of the book shifted so completely from "intense interpersonal competition" to "Ah, attacking creature from a foreign planet!" that it kind of threw me off and made me wonder why the people behind the scenes decided this was the best way to tell the story.
Anyway, I've only read the first two books so far (keep an eye out for my review of Game of Flames!), so I don't know how the series will hold up by the sixth book, but so far it's been really great. It's the perfect mix of compelling characters, familiar tropes, and suspenseful plot, and I am just lapping it up.
I've had my eye on this series for a while, ever since Patrick Carman (creator of the series) announced it on his website. How could I not be intrigued by a series that resembled the 39 Clues franchise in format, featured books written by some of my favorite authors (Patrick Carman, Wendy Mass, Jeanne DuPrau), and had a cool sci-fi premise to boot? So when I saw on Bloglovin that Ms. Yingling Reads was reviewing the second Voyagers book, I clicked over to see what she thought of it - and then, when the review included a giveaway by the publisher for the first two books in the series, I eagerly entered and crossed my fingers to win.
I think you can guess what happened: that's right, I won the giveaway! I am now the proud owner of Project Alpha, Game of Flames, a Voyagers phone case, and a little button to put on my iPhone's home button. I know, I'm so awesomely lucky. Don't begrudge it to me too much, though, I really needed these books. I found out I won the giveaway a few days before we closed on the new house in Indiana, and the package with my prize showed up a few days after we'd moved in. I was so worn out from unpacking and scrabbling to catch up with my missed schoolwork (not to mention emotionally exhausted from leaving my home of four years) that nothing was ever so wonderful to me as curling up in bed with the nice, shiny new books I'd been wanting to read for months.
Escapist pleasure aside, did I enjoy Project Alpha as much as I'd hoped I would? Why, yes indeed. While full of lots of tropes (the humanesque robot, crazy-realistic training simulations, and imminent threat of total power loss all ring particularly familiar), it handles them in a fun, compelling manner that drug me along every step of the way. Some of the characters also seemed slightly familiar (the overachieving bully and the genius, yet emotionally-suppressed girl both stuck out as old friends), but I didn't really mind very much - this is just that sort of book, you know? And I feel like the characters will develop away from their initial stereotypical roles as the series progresses. They will likely develop in still-predictable ways (who's betting the overachieving loner winds up realizing she needs the others' help?), but again - something about the way they're presented makes that okay, like I'm surrounded by old friends I've know in some form or other my entire life.
Honestly, my only real complaint with Project Alpha is that it was paced rather strangely. The first good chunk of the book is devoted to the almost Hunger Games-like competition between the eight contenders for the four spots on the ship, and then the last little bit (and I meant little - maybe the last fourth?) follows the team as they begin their travels, go to a planet, have an adventure, etc. It felt to me like the book should have ended with the announcement of the teams, and then the second book should have followed them as they began their journey and had their first adventure in space. The tone of the book shifted so completely from "intense interpersonal competition" to "Ah, attacking creature from a foreign planet!" that it kind of threw me off and made me wonder why the people behind the scenes decided this was the best way to tell the story.
Anyway, I've only read the first two books so far (keep an eye out for my review of Game of Flames!), so I don't know how the series will hold up by the sixth book, but so far it's been really great. It's the perfect mix of compelling characters, familiar tropes, and suspenseful plot, and I am just lapping it up.
September 24, 2015
The VOYAGERS series is a multi-platform experience including books, an app, and a website filled with engaging activities.
Each book in this science fiction series is written by a different author. The first title, PROJECT ALPHA by D.H. Hale features four children battling against a wide array of creatures to become part of an elite team that will be sent into space to help save the world. The books contain attractive graphics and cool coded symbols to engage readers.
The Voyagers website contains information about each book. A “Code Entry” area is used to unlock secret information based on the codes found in the books. The “Beyond the Universe” page contains information about the team’s ship and fictional information about planets. New sections will be unlocked as each book in the series is launched. The “Project Alpha” area invites participants to take a quiz and become part of the team. Users will also enjoy creating their own ZRK Commander using the “Customizer” tool.
Voyager: The Game is an app that immerses players in the world of the books. Users pilot their space craft through an asteroid field, test their knowledge, complete puzzles, and explore planets.
This multi-platform experience could serve as the focal point for a fun library book club or literature project. Aimed at the middle grades, even reluctant readers will be drawn to the action and multi-media approach. Students would enjoy inventing their own planets and writing their own stories based on the book characters.
To visit the website for the app and games, go to https://www.voyagershq.com/.
Published by Random House Children’s Books.
Each book in this science fiction series is written by a different author. The first title, PROJECT ALPHA by D.H. Hale features four children battling against a wide array of creatures to become part of an elite team that will be sent into space to help save the world. The books contain attractive graphics and cool coded symbols to engage readers.
The Voyagers website contains information about each book. A “Code Entry” area is used to unlock secret information based on the codes found in the books. The “Beyond the Universe” page contains information about the team’s ship and fictional information about planets. New sections will be unlocked as each book in the series is launched. The “Project Alpha” area invites participants to take a quiz and become part of the team. Users will also enjoy creating their own ZRK Commander using the “Customizer” tool.
Voyager: The Game is an app that immerses players in the world of the books. Users pilot their space craft through an asteroid field, test their knowledge, complete puzzles, and explore planets.
This multi-platform experience could serve as the focal point for a fun library book club or literature project. Aimed at the middle grades, even reluctant readers will be drawn to the action and multi-media approach. Students would enjoy inventing their own planets and writing their own stories based on the book characters.
To visit the website for the app and games, go to https://www.voyagershq.com/.
Published by Random House Children’s Books.
October 3, 2016
(This is how I'll start my review)
Eight finalists have been chosen. Only four will win the chance to voyage to the far end of the galaxy and back. And I will be their guide.
STEAM 6000 is so cute!
Earth is in need of energy. In around 10 years, it could be complete darkness. Within a century, the planet would run out of fossil fuels. Project Alpha is a test to find four teens that will save the energy crisis back on earth, by traveling across the galaxy to six different planets. Planet J-16 is visited in this first installment of the series.
I thought the idea of Project Alpha was there, but the puzzle/mission elements weren't as well laid out as they could've been. The asteroid flight simulator scene made me laugh, and the final challenge was well-planned out, but I wish they elaborated a bit more on the other tests.
I'm wondering how this series will turn out, being written by multiple authors. I wasn't a huge fan of The Maze of Bones (39 Clues), despite reading the whole series. So far though, book 1 seems promising, and I plan on reading book 2 shortly.
Eight finalists have been chosen. Only four will win the chance to voyage to the far end of the galaxy and back. And I will be their guide.
STEAM 6000 is so cute!
Earth is in need of energy. In around 10 years, it could be complete darkness. Within a century, the planet would run out of fossil fuels. Project Alpha is a test to find four teens that will save the energy crisis back on earth, by traveling across the galaxy to six different planets. Planet J-16 is visited in this first installment of the series.
I thought the idea of Project Alpha was there, but the puzzle/mission elements weren't as well laid out as they could've been. The asteroid flight simulator scene made me laugh, and the final challenge was well-planned out, but I wish they elaborated a bit more on the other tests.
I'm wondering how this series will turn out, being written by multiple authors. I wasn't a huge fan of The Maze of Bones (39 Clues), despite reading the whole series. So far though, book 1 seems promising, and I plan on reading book 2 shortly.
May 2, 2016
My name is Dash. Earth must discover a new energy source, because all fossil fuels will soon be gone. I was chosen to lead a crew of other kids to planet J-16 where we'll return with the Source, a new form of energy. Mr. Phillips told me that I might die during the trip, but I suspect there are even worse things he's still not saying. Why would our training include holograms of dinosaurs and giant snow creatures? My questions are answered once we arrive at the planet, and we are informed the mission is much more difficult than we were first told. The Souce comes from something biological, if you know what I mean, and the scientists' information about the planet is missing some facts. However, failure is not an option.
I'm not sure why I enjoy this book so much. It's not super creative, as the plot is similar to other books on space travel. It can be easily read by middle grade students, and the events aren't overly complicated. It's the original "Star Trek" in a book! However, I really like the blend of characters, and the conflict is interesting. Dash has leadership qualities, Gabriel is the thinker and pilot, Carly is the science expert, and Piper zooms around in her wheelchair to take care of their health. The author seems to have ideas up,his sleeve, and he tosses in surprises to complicate the mission. And, the characters aren't aware yet of a subplot going on. I assume the plots will come together in a future book, but I'm not sure if it will be in the sequel.
I'm not sure why I enjoy this book so much. It's not super creative, as the plot is similar to other books on space travel. It can be easily read by middle grade students, and the events aren't overly complicated. It's the original "Star Trek" in a book! However, I really like the blend of characters, and the conflict is interesting. Dash has leadership qualities, Gabriel is the thinker and pilot, Carly is the science expert, and Piper zooms around in her wheelchair to take care of their health. The author seems to have ideas up,his sleeve, and he tosses in surprises to complicate the mission. And, the characters aren't aware yet of a subplot going on. I assume the plots will come together in a future book, but I'm not sure if it will be in the sequel.
June 21, 2015
Voyagers: Project Alpha is a pretty good middle grade sci-fi adventure story. While this is just the first of what will be 6 books released over the course of a year, D.J. MacHale does a good job of setting the scene and setting up future events for the authors to follow. It's a bit like 39 Clues but as a space adventure with a hint of mystery and plenty of chapters ending in suspense. The premise is fairly simple: a group of kids must find a power source to save the Earth which is running out of fossil fuels. There are some questions that linger and characters that are clearly the antagonists from the start, but for the most part the target age group won't care the same way adults would. Overall, a fun start to what looks to be a fun series.
Note: ARC received via Amazon Vine in exchange for review.
Note: ARC received via Amazon Vine in exchange for review.
December 11, 2015
D.J. McHale sets the pace for this series in the first book. This was an engaging story. I really got hooked into the story and the characters were fun to read about. I like how the book has an environmental theme, and found the current Earth in the book (which is at an unspecified time period) a good reminder about where we will end up after a period of time. Not only that, but the fact that space exploration is a very near, very possible event. The book is really well-written, the story is set up nicely and it made this reader very anxious to get his hands on the next boo (fortunately I already have it ;) – see below ). I read the book in a day, and couldn’t put it down at all. The plot is realistic, and made me think of ways that the characters could get out of the situations.
*NOTE* I got a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review
*NOTE* I got a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review
July 12, 2016
4.5 stars.
I was really surprised by this one. I wasn't expecting much when I picked up the advance reader's copy ages ago, which is why it's sat on my stack for so long. But, I needed it for a reading challenge - so I picked it up.
It's not very often that a children's book is able to make a cohesive, interesting sci-fi world. I haven't seen one that I like since The Wrinkle in Time Quintet. And it worked well! I'm excited to read the rest of this series.
I was really surprised by this one. I wasn't expecting much when I picked up the advance reader's copy ages ago, which is why it's sat on my stack for so long. But, I needed it for a reading challenge - so I picked it up.
It's not very often that a children's book is able to make a cohesive, interesting sci-fi world. I haven't seen one that I like since The Wrinkle in Time Quintet. And it worked well! I'm excited to read the rest of this series.
October 14, 2015
Bueno, me gusto. Tiene un lenguaje simple, no entra en detalles innecesarios y se aboca directamente en la historia principal. Recomendadísimo para lectores entre 12 a 17 años, muy entretenido. (Es una saga de 6 libros que se publicarán durante un año, buena esa.
June 4, 2017
according to my 5 year old "my favorite part was when the raptogon got mad and tried to eat Gabriel, Dash, and Piper. That's my favorite part because they knocked the raptogon down and got the tooth."
August 8, 2015
I can see this becoming a very popular series, especially when the online game component goes live. Recommended for grades 3-5.
ARC provided by publisher.
ARC provided by publisher.
November 8, 2018
Haven't read yet but going to give a better review of the book. 👍👌
February 23, 2018
This book was AMAZING for all you science fiction readers out there this book is now your first priority to read!!!!!!!!!!!
January 14, 2023
[memory lane] I first read this years ago when I was in primary school (ie. 7-12 y/o), when I'd borrowed it from the public library. I was *especially crazy* about fantasy back then, and while I typically skipped sci-fi novels because they felt too 'science-y' for me, the early chapters about the challenges to select the final crew line-up were what drew me in (I was also pretty into puzzle books).
Subsequently, the world-building opened my eyes to scenes different from what I'd grown accustomed to from the fantasy novels, and it was pretty refreshing! I definitely came to appreciate sci-fi a little more, haha. As for the characters & the first adventure that the Alpha crew face, I recall loving the whole premise of how kids my age could be so brave & strong & brilliant to be trusted with such an important mission. I admired them, and had a lot of fun immersing in their story & their world, imagining how it'd be like to go through the very same things that they did. (I even recall writing in a journal for class about how Voyagers was one of my favourite books, alongside my ultimate favourite comfort fantasy series The Familiars – and that meant A Lot!)
---
Yesterday, I was sorting my shelves here and suddenly remembered how I'd loved this book a lot! Except... I'd completely forgotten the title. (...) Miraculously though, I managed to find it again via online search !! Preserving my wonderful search terms just for the laughs:
Re-reading it again now in 2023, I'm a little disappointed by how fast we seemingly skimmed through the Alpha crew selection process (especially since I'd rediscovered this series with the memory that they'd gone through way more puzzles & competitions than they actually did... But that's probably just me & my goldfish memory LOL). It felt like there was a lot of talk about all their intensive training & exhaustion, and then we suddenly see them face three different milestone contests? I dunno, the time gaps just felt a little out of place, like we were deprived of properly seeing what every one of them was capable of? :")
The rapid-fire introduction of the eight finalists was definitely too much too fast – I wish the finalists' profiles that's placed at the start of Part 2 was somewhere around the original introductions (Ch.2) instead! Would've been way better to have a face to match their names from the start, rather than imagine them all up, only to have to replace them with their 'canon' looks halfway through the book. Otherwise, it was cool to naturally learn in Part 1 who clicked better with who, though after all the hyping up & suspense it felt a little anti-climactic when the Alpha crew members were finally announced. I mean, I definitely liked them the most too! But maybe that's the point, to show that they were naturally/obviously the best crew combi? (Hm.)
Part 2 (where they actually travel to J-16!) was amazing, and I honestly wish it could've been longer! A whole new planet – I was dismayed to see that only half of the book would be dedicated to it. Nevertheless, the Alpha crew's growing camaraderie & ever-brilliant minds were wonderful to witness, alongside the sights & sounds of the planet! They overcame trials and tribulations, and I'm so proud of everyone – I really started to cheer them on & wish them all the best! A little regrettable was how the suspense kept dropping somewhat quickly, maybe within the page or two before you realise, "Ah, I know they're definitely safe now." Nothing major though, because ultimately I'm aware I'm quite far past this book's intended audience. x'D
Writing style-wise, I think it fell a biiit short of the amazing potential that the premise & J-16 has. However!! For its intended juvenile audience, I'm sure it's more than enough to elicit all the fun emotions that a sci-fi/fantasy adventure promises :> No sentence was too jarring, and MacHale didn't seem to have any obvious/annoying writing quirks. The 3rd-person POV was mostly easy to follow, save for this one time in Ch.3 when Anna suddenly appeared asking about Niko's flag and nobody batted an eyelid HAHA :P
---
It's really fascinating that the cliffhanger will be picked up by a different author in the next book. With the series being written by six different authors, it'll kinda reflect the different 'personalities' of the six planets that the crew will visit, and I really love that! Not sure how it'll *actually* work out for the reader though, since I never got to continuing the series all those years ago (shocker)... Excited to finally continue the adventure (with properly fresh eyes this time!) and see this series to its end~ /o/
Subsequently, the world-building opened my eyes to scenes different from what I'd grown accustomed to from the fantasy novels, and it was pretty refreshing! I definitely came to appreciate sci-fi a little more, haha. As for the characters & the first adventure that the Alpha crew face, I recall loving the whole premise of how kids my age could be so brave & strong & brilliant to be trusted with such an important mission. I admired them, and had a lot of fun immersing in their story & their world, imagining how it'd be like to go through the very same things that they did. (I even recall writing in a journal for class about how Voyagers was one of my favourite books, alongside my ultimate favourite comfort fantasy series The Familiars – and that meant A Lot!)
---
Yesterday, I was sorting my shelves here and suddenly remembered how I'd loved this book a lot! Except... I'd completely forgotten the title. (...) Miraculously though, I managed to find it again via online search !! Preserving my wonderful search terms just for the laughs:
children's book series "science fiction" "puzzles" "competition" "too old"
Re-reading it again now in 2023, I'm a little disappointed by how fast we seemingly skimmed through the Alpha crew selection process (especially since I'd rediscovered this series with the memory that they'd gone through way more puzzles & competitions than they actually did... But that's probably just me & my goldfish memory LOL). It felt like there was a lot of talk about all their intensive training & exhaustion, and then we suddenly see them face three different milestone contests? I dunno, the time gaps just felt a little out of place, like we were deprived of properly seeing what every one of them was capable of? :")
The rapid-fire introduction of the eight finalists was definitely too much too fast – I wish the finalists' profiles that's placed at the start of Part 2 was somewhere around the original introductions (Ch.2) instead! Would've been way better to have a face to match their names from the start, rather than imagine them all up, only to have to replace them with their 'canon' looks halfway through the book. Otherwise, it was cool to naturally learn in Part 1 who clicked better with who, though after all the hyping up & suspense it felt a little anti-climactic when the Alpha crew members were finally announced. I mean, I definitely liked them the most too! But maybe that's the point, to show that they were naturally/obviously the best crew combi? (Hm.)
Part 2 (where they actually travel to J-16!) was amazing, and I honestly wish it could've been longer! A whole new planet – I was dismayed to see that only half of the book would be dedicated to it. Nevertheless, the Alpha crew's growing camaraderie & ever-brilliant minds were wonderful to witness, alongside the sights & sounds of the planet! They overcame trials and tribulations, and I'm so proud of everyone – I really started to cheer them on & wish them all the best! A little regrettable was how the suspense kept dropping somewhat quickly, maybe within the page or two before you realise, "Ah, I know they're definitely safe now." Nothing major though, because ultimately I'm aware I'm quite far past this book's intended audience. x'D
Writing style-wise, I think it fell a biiit short of the amazing potential that the premise & J-16 has. However!! For its intended juvenile audience, I'm sure it's more than enough to elicit all the fun emotions that a sci-fi/fantasy adventure promises :> No sentence was too jarring, and MacHale didn't seem to have any obvious/annoying writing quirks. The 3rd-person POV was mostly easy to follow, save for this one time in Ch.3 when Anna suddenly appeared asking about Niko's flag and nobody batted an eyelid HAHA :P
---
It's really fascinating that the cliffhanger will be picked up by a different author in the next book. With the series being written by six different authors, it'll kinda reflect the different 'personalities' of the six planets that the crew will visit, and I really love that! Not sure how it'll *actually* work out for the reader though, since I never got to continuing the series all those years ago (shocker)... Excited to finally continue the adventure (with properly fresh eyes this time!) and see this series to its end~ /o/
February 16, 2018
Enfocada a un público muy juvenil de unos 12 años es la serie de libros Voyagers, unas lecturas que intentan reunir lo mejor de cada una de las sagas tipo Amanecer Rojo, El corredor del laberinto, pero con un toque de ciencia ficción y con escenas muy lights. Este primer tomo, es el inicio de una serie que nos tiene preparada la editorial y que además cuenta con un aliciente, es una lectura interactiva. El libro está repleto de códigos secretos que tendrás que descifrar entrando en la página web y así meterte de lleno en las aventuras de nuestros protagonistas.
El libro comienza contándonos que el planeta se está quedando sin los recursos fósiles necesario para la creación de energía, hay apagones en las grandes ciudades y un horario limitado para el uso de la electricidad. El mundo entero ha puesto la solución del problema energético en el Proyecto Alfa, en el que ocho jóvenes de 12 años tendrán que pasar una serie de pruebas de los cuáles cuatro serán los elegidos para viajar a través del espacio en busca de una fuente de energía que sirva para la Tierra.
Estamos ante una distopía de ciencia ficción que me ha resultado curiosa ya sea por los protagonistas como por el tema a tratar. Lo primero es que nuestros protagonistas tienen 12 años y precisamente tienen que ser de esa edad por la tecnología desarrollada por el gobierno, es decir, viajarán a la velocidad gamma y es perjudicial para un adulto de ahí que sean adolescentes los que tengan que realizar la misión. Sí, parece que está muy bien “hilado” pero hay algo que no me cuadra en la historia… Uno de los personajes tiene 12 años y medio más para trece y con lo anteriormente explicado no puede viajar, ¿y cuál es la solución? La creación de una vacuna que retrasas el envejecimiento celular y de ahí me surge una duda, si han creado ese remedio para ese personaje, ¿por qué mandar niños al espacio? Digo yo que podrían mandar adultos con ese tratamiento.
Creo que uno de los fallos del libro es querer contar mucho en poco por lo que se omiten muchísimos datos y parte de la trama se deja muy suelta, sin conexión y sin mucho sentido. Es un libro que se disfruta, muy fácil de leer y entretenido, pero ves estos fallos, que otros lectores de esas edades también los verán, y se te puede quedar cara de póker. Quiero pensar que en las próximas entregas se explicará mucho mejor el tema.
Es una novela bastante completa porque encontramos de todo en sus páginas: aventuras, intriga, misterio, acción, ciencia ficción… solo les falta una trama de amor que sinceramente, dudo que la metan porque no cuadra mucho en la historia, así como en el carácter de los personajes.
Otro de los aspectos que tanto me chirrían del libro es que los personajes o son muy buenos o son muy malos, se mueven en los extremos. Tenemos a Dash que es el protagonista principal y en el que cae todo el peso de la narración y como antagonista está Anna que es la mala malísima. Desde el primer momento ya se ven las diferencias y sus compañeros se mueven en un lado y en el otro, no hay zonas grises en cuanto a su carácter y quizás a mi no me gustó el contraste porque los buenos nunca son tan buenos y los malos nunca son tan malos.
En definitiva, Voyagers es el inicio de una serie de libros de ciencia ficción juvenil orientada a un público de 12 años en el que encontraremos acción, intriga y aventuras para la búsqueda del problema energético en la Tierra. Hay muchos cabos sueltos a lo largo de sus páginas y espero que los solventen en las próximas entregas.
El libro comienza contándonos que el planeta se está quedando sin los recursos fósiles necesario para la creación de energía, hay apagones en las grandes ciudades y un horario limitado para el uso de la electricidad. El mundo entero ha puesto la solución del problema energético en el Proyecto Alfa, en el que ocho jóvenes de 12 años tendrán que pasar una serie de pruebas de los cuáles cuatro serán los elegidos para viajar a través del espacio en busca de una fuente de energía que sirva para la Tierra.
Estamos ante una distopía de ciencia ficción que me ha resultado curiosa ya sea por los protagonistas como por el tema a tratar. Lo primero es que nuestros protagonistas tienen 12 años y precisamente tienen que ser de esa edad por la tecnología desarrollada por el gobierno, es decir, viajarán a la velocidad gamma y es perjudicial para un adulto de ahí que sean adolescentes los que tengan que realizar la misión. Sí, parece que está muy bien “hilado” pero hay algo que no me cuadra en la historia… Uno de los personajes tiene 12 años y medio más para trece y con lo anteriormente explicado no puede viajar, ¿y cuál es la solución? La creación de una vacuna que retrasas el envejecimiento celular y de ahí me surge una duda, si han creado ese remedio para ese personaje, ¿por qué mandar niños al espacio? Digo yo que podrían mandar adultos con ese tratamiento.
Creo que uno de los fallos del libro es querer contar mucho en poco por lo que se omiten muchísimos datos y parte de la trama se deja muy suelta, sin conexión y sin mucho sentido. Es un libro que se disfruta, muy fácil de leer y entretenido, pero ves estos fallos, que otros lectores de esas edades también los verán, y se te puede quedar cara de póker. Quiero pensar que en las próximas entregas se explicará mucho mejor el tema.
Es una novela bastante completa porque encontramos de todo en sus páginas: aventuras, intriga, misterio, acción, ciencia ficción… solo les falta una trama de amor que sinceramente, dudo que la metan porque no cuadra mucho en la historia, así como en el carácter de los personajes.
Otro de los aspectos que tanto me chirrían del libro es que los personajes o son muy buenos o son muy malos, se mueven en los extremos. Tenemos a Dash que es el protagonista principal y en el que cae todo el peso de la narración y como antagonista está Anna que es la mala malísima. Desde el primer momento ya se ven las diferencias y sus compañeros se mueven en un lado y en el otro, no hay zonas grises en cuanto a su carácter y quizás a mi no me gustó el contraste porque los buenos nunca son tan buenos y los malos nunca son tan malos.
En definitiva, Voyagers es el inicio de una serie de libros de ciencia ficción juvenil orientada a un público de 12 años en el que encontraremos acción, intriga y aventuras para la búsqueda del problema energético en la Tierra. Hay muchos cabos sueltos a lo largo de sus páginas y espero que los solventen en las próximas entregas.
December 17, 2024
Oh gosh, I'm not even exactly sure where to start.
I went into this knowing that MacHale's writing isn't for me. I liked the premise, and given that all the other books were written by other people, I figured it wouldn't be hard to just push through this one. I was wrong, lol.
Firstly, the power source problem. This is set on Earth, so I'm going off "Earth rules" here. Fossil fuels have almost run out, and they have to go to other planets to get an alternate source of energy, or all life on Earth will cease to exist somehow. But we already have alternate sources right here with us. Nulear, solar, wind, etc. What happened to all those?
Secondly, Piper's disability would (and should) have immediately disqualified her. It's just a liability to have someone on a spaceship that needs all this extra support, as we find out later in the story as well. Plus, if you have the technology to do all the stuff they're doing, wouldn't you also be able to just fix her legs? Seems like it wouldn't be that much of a stretch to figure out that as well.
Thirdly, their age. Oh jeez, this one. So, first things first, none of them would have been the "correct age." Did they all have exactly the same birthday at launch? We know this isn't true because they all arrived at the facility at 12. That means after six months of training, Dash would have been 13, and the rest would have been 12.5, past the acceptable time. Oh, except Chris and Rocket. They are allowed to be older because they have special things. If you are able to regress the age of people and have billions of dollars to go around, wouldn't you want to just de-age actually qualified people than a bunch of kids with only six months of training?
Fourthly, the raptogon scene. This went pretty much exactly how I was expecting, except for the actual extraction. You're telling me you've mastered faster than the speed of light travel but can't invent a tooth extractor/cutter? And them knocking the raptogon out rather than killing it was a pretty cheap way to add conflict later. Didn't see that coming. 🙄. Furthermore, why in the world would they be eating those vermint things as their primary food source? I'll break it down for you 💃: a T-rex (which is smaller than a raptogon) is thought to have eaten around 308lbs of meat per day. If we say vermints are the approximately the size of house cats, that would be about 31 vermints it would have to eat per day. This is completely unreasonable, and the amount of energy it would take to catch these things would outweigh the energy it got from eating them. For reference, the same weight could be gotten from only TWO deer. So eating larger prey would definitely be the move for it. That'd be like the T-rex hunting rats as its main food.
Fifthly, how problems among the crew start immediately. Gabriel flies the ship wrong, and Dash has to take over at one point, then it starts this whole, "who made you commander? 😡" issue. Literally everyone made him commander, yeah? That's his whole role. How is this even a question? And you'd think all that would have been ironed out in the very specific training they had for all of this.
Sixthly, Chris is this brilliant genious inventor but has nothing to tell him if he's alone? The ending was TERRIBLE. 😬
Honestly, I'm having a hard time thinking of any redeeming quality.
I know that we were supposed to hate Anna and all, and I did, so I guess I had a good time with what happened to her. 🤭. I did like the competitions overall, I guess.
STEAM was cute.
Cloud Leopard, Cloud Cat, and Light Blade are cool names.
I went into this knowing that MacHale's writing isn't for me. I liked the premise, and given that all the other books were written by other people, I figured it wouldn't be hard to just push through this one. I was wrong, lol.
Firstly, the power source problem. This is set on Earth, so I'm going off "Earth rules" here. Fossil fuels have almost run out, and they have to go to other planets to get an alternate source of energy, or all life on Earth will cease to exist somehow. But we already have alternate sources right here with us. Nulear, solar, wind, etc. What happened to all those?
Secondly, Piper's disability would (and should) have immediately disqualified her. It's just a liability to have someone on a spaceship that needs all this extra support, as we find out later in the story as well. Plus, if you have the technology to do all the stuff they're doing, wouldn't you also be able to just fix her legs? Seems like it wouldn't be that much of a stretch to figure out that as well.
Thirdly, their age. Oh jeez, this one. So, first things first, none of them would have been the "correct age." Did they all have exactly the same birthday at launch? We know this isn't true because they all arrived at the facility at 12. That means after six months of training, Dash would have been 13, and the rest would have been 12.5, past the acceptable time. Oh, except Chris and Rocket. They are allowed to be older because they have special things. If you are able to regress the age of people and have billions of dollars to go around, wouldn't you want to just de-age actually qualified people than a bunch of kids with only six months of training?
Fourthly, the raptogon scene. This went pretty much exactly how I was expecting, except for the actual extraction. You're telling me you've mastered faster than the speed of light travel but can't invent a tooth extractor/cutter? And them knocking the raptogon out rather than killing it was a pretty cheap way to add conflict later. Didn't see that coming. 🙄. Furthermore, why in the world would they be eating those vermint things as their primary food source? I'll break it down for you 💃: a T-rex (which is smaller than a raptogon) is thought to have eaten around 308lbs of meat per day. If we say vermints are the approximately the size of house cats, that would be about 31 vermints it would have to eat per day. This is completely unreasonable, and the amount of energy it would take to catch these things would outweigh the energy it got from eating them. For reference, the same weight could be gotten from only TWO deer. So eating larger prey would definitely be the move for it. That'd be like the T-rex hunting rats as its main food.
Fifthly, how problems among the crew start immediately. Gabriel flies the ship wrong, and Dash has to take over at one point, then it starts this whole, "who made you commander? 😡" issue. Literally everyone made him commander, yeah? That's his whole role. How is this even a question? And you'd think all that would have been ironed out in the very specific training they had for all of this.
Sixthly, Chris is this brilliant genious inventor but has nothing to tell him if he's alone? The ending was TERRIBLE. 😬
Honestly, I'm having a hard time thinking of any redeeming quality.
I know that we were supposed to hate Anna and all, and I did, so I guess I had a good time with what happened to her. 🤭. I did like the competitions overall, I guess.
STEAM was cute.
Cloud Leopard, Cloud Cat, and Light Blade are cool names.
October 7, 2018
What a disappointment. MacHale took a perfectly fine idea and made it totally asinine. Do writers think that kids won't notice the glaring scientific impossibilities? Lack of character development? Totally implausible inconsistencies?
I also have to wonder how the cliche bitchy girl character made it past editors. Seriously, we know this girl is the 'bad guy' because she wants to win. And she's willing to be driven, hard-working and goal-oriented to do so! Therefore, she must be bad, right? Girls should be content to play second fiddle in MacHale's world. Otherwise their motives are suspect.
Another irritation is the fact that the book has a color, fold-out page in the middle featuring photos all these beautiful kids. Such a fantastic multicultural cast of characters. Generally, I would appreciate seeing a diverse cast. Except that MacHale made no effort to actually feature any cultural differences. I quickly forgot his one mention to the characters' races, when he had the robot character speak to each character in their native tongue. That was it. In no way was there ever another mention of these different characters cultures or races. Nothing to make them distinct in any way, or have their backgrounds influence their behavior and choices. And the 'bad guy' character, the girl mentioned above, is a black girl. And the 'good' characters, the winning team, features both the white kids. Just the laziest character development and racial diversity for the sake of checking off that box, with no attempt made to actually allow the characters to be richly drawn, with motivations driven by their worldview or cultural experiences. Lazy, pointless, and frankly, insulting.
On a related note, MacHale also has characters totally change mid-way through the book, with no explanation. One minute kids are friendly and cooperative, but then when he needs to develop tension, he just has a kid who has always been perfectly nice and ordinary, become a demanding and unreasonably competitive jerk, who'd never shown any such behaviors before. It just... made no sense. And then you've got the character who is a teenager, who has developed faster-than-light travel and drugs which allow a character to stop aging, but who then manages to goof up a simple calculation which causes the entire mission to almost fail. Oopsie! Just lazy character-development all around.
And then there's the science. Or "science" I should say. There were so many implausibilities as to make the science a joke. At least make an effort to allude to some plausible explanation for the science. I mean, give kids a little credit, will ya.
Finally, let's talk about the robot. Specifically, his dialogue. His catch-phrase is "yes, sir." Is it 1950? Not only is the super gendered language unnecessary, but the character was just incredibly irritating. Yes it was, yes sir!
Ugh.
Do better, kidlit authors.
I also have to wonder how the cliche bitchy girl character made it past editors. Seriously, we know this girl is the 'bad guy' because she wants to win. And she's willing to be driven, hard-working and goal-oriented to do so! Therefore, she must be bad, right? Girls should be content to play second fiddle in MacHale's world. Otherwise their motives are suspect.
Another irritation is the fact that the book has a color, fold-out page in the middle featuring photos all these beautiful kids. Such a fantastic multicultural cast of characters. Generally, I would appreciate seeing a diverse cast. Except that MacHale made no effort to actually feature any cultural differences. I quickly forgot his one mention to the characters' races, when he had the robot character speak to each character in their native tongue. That was it. In no way was there ever another mention of these different characters cultures or races. Nothing to make them distinct in any way, or have their backgrounds influence their behavior and choices. And the 'bad guy' character, the girl mentioned above, is a black girl. And the 'good' characters, the winning team, features both the white kids. Just the laziest character development and racial diversity for the sake of checking off that box, with no attempt made to actually allow the characters to be richly drawn, with motivations driven by their worldview or cultural experiences. Lazy, pointless, and frankly, insulting.
On a related note, MacHale also has characters totally change mid-way through the book, with no explanation. One minute kids are friendly and cooperative, but then when he needs to develop tension, he just has a kid who has always been perfectly nice and ordinary, become a demanding and unreasonably competitive jerk, who'd never shown any such behaviors before. It just... made no sense. And then you've got the character who is a teenager, who has developed faster-than-light travel and drugs which allow a character to stop aging, but who then manages to goof up a simple calculation which causes the entire mission to almost fail. Oopsie! Just lazy character-development all around.
And then there's the science. Or "science" I should say. There were so many implausibilities as to make the science a joke. At least make an effort to allude to some plausible explanation for the science. I mean, give kids a little credit, will ya.
Finally, let's talk about the robot. Specifically, his dialogue. His catch-phrase is "yes, sir." Is it 1950? Not only is the super gendered language unnecessary, but the character was just incredibly irritating. Yes it was, yes sir!
Ugh.
Do better, kidlit authors.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 9, 2021
This is a fun sci-fi / space opera series for younger middle grade readers, featuring a contest to get into space, a team of four winners, and simulations that prepare them for the challenges they'll face on a two-year mission. I know it's a bit older, but given the weight many of these authors carry in kid-lit circles, I felt it worth reading and recommending for the holiday season.
The set up is that the Earth has depleted all fossil energy sources and is experiencing wide-spread electricity blackouts. Enter Project Alpha, ostensibly judged by Commander Shawn Phillips, but actually conceived and controlled behind the scenes by Chris, a boy-genius who supposedly designed the technology to go into space and find the elements that will form the Source, an unlimited power source for Earth. (I'm not entirely convinced Chris is human, but I'll have to read more to find out.)
Project Alpha starts as a nationwide competition and is winnowed down to eight finalists, who make up the bulk of the story. Only four kids are chosen, but don't count the losers out of the competition.
They're chosen after facing simulation challenges presenting situations they'll encounter while on the two-year mission in space. One is against a Raptogon, a sort of Tyranno-Velociraptor hybrid on a jungle-like planet. Another is a yeti-like being in a frozen tundra. Another is a bunch of sneaky, intelligent robots in an entirely engineered structure with moving floor tiles (kinda like a video game).
The twelve year olds are chosen because anyone over the age of 14 can be harmed by the space travel technology utilized on the Cloud Leopard. Except for Chris.
The Alpha teen captain, Dash, is older than anticipated and has to take drugs to delay the onset of puberty, and if he doesn't take his meds on time, every day, he could die before coming home from the mission. That's a tall order for any 12-year-old to adhere to. The other three winners are Gabriel, who wants to be a pilot; Carly and Piper, who uses a cool hovercraft insted of a wheelchair.
The first planet the kids go to is the Raptogon planet, and the challenge is to extract a tooth from one of the huge hulking beasts. I won't spoil how it ends, just know they have to come together as a team to accomplish their mission.
It sets it up nicely for book 2. This was a quick, easy read, fun for middle grade readers interested in science fiction and space travel who still haven't quite given up their fascination of dinosaurs. Enjoy!
Looking for more book suggestions for your 7th/8th grade classroom and students?
Visit my blog for more great middle grade book recommendations, free teaching materials and fiction writing tips: https://amb.mystrikingly.com/
The set up is that the Earth has depleted all fossil energy sources and is experiencing wide-spread electricity blackouts. Enter Project Alpha, ostensibly judged by Commander Shawn Phillips, but actually conceived and controlled behind the scenes by Chris, a boy-genius who supposedly designed the technology to go into space and find the elements that will form the Source, an unlimited power source for Earth. (I'm not entirely convinced Chris is human, but I'll have to read more to find out.)
Project Alpha starts as a nationwide competition and is winnowed down to eight finalists, who make up the bulk of the story. Only four kids are chosen, but don't count the losers out of the competition.
They're chosen after facing simulation challenges presenting situations they'll encounter while on the two-year mission in space. One is against a Raptogon, a sort of Tyranno-Velociraptor hybrid on a jungle-like planet. Another is a yeti-like being in a frozen tundra. Another is a bunch of sneaky, intelligent robots in an entirely engineered structure with moving floor tiles (kinda like a video game).
The twelve year olds are chosen because anyone over the age of 14 can be harmed by the space travel technology utilized on the Cloud Leopard. Except for Chris.
The Alpha teen captain, Dash, is older than anticipated and has to take drugs to delay the onset of puberty, and if he doesn't take his meds on time, every day, he could die before coming home from the mission. That's a tall order for any 12-year-old to adhere to. The other three winners are Gabriel, who wants to be a pilot; Carly and Piper, who uses a cool hovercraft insted of a wheelchair.
The first planet the kids go to is the Raptogon planet, and the challenge is to extract a tooth from one of the huge hulking beasts. I won't spoil how it ends, just know they have to come together as a team to accomplish their mission.
It sets it up nicely for book 2. This was a quick, easy read, fun for middle grade readers interested in science fiction and space travel who still haven't quite given up their fascination of dinosaurs. Enjoy!
Looking for more book suggestions for your 7th/8th grade classroom and students?
Visit my blog for more great middle grade book recommendations, free teaching materials and fiction writing tips: https://amb.mystrikingly.com/
April 24, 2018
The first book in a series about four teens who must save the world.
Chapter book, fiction
Interest level: grades 4-6
YHBA 2017-2018 intermediate grade nominee
3 out of 5 stars
The plot of this series is something that will really appeal to upper elementary age readers. It features four teen protagonists, space travel, puzzles, adventure, and a lot of suspense. It falls within the realm of dystopian fiction, set in the bleak future where the earth is about to run out of fossil fuel.
Project Alpha is book one of the Voyagers series. The series will eventually have six books, each written by a different children's author. This first book is written by D.J. MacHale, who wrote Pendragon. This format is very similar to the popular 39 Clues series, and like that one, there is also an online component that will interest readers.
The story starts with eight tweens reporting to a top-secret training camp. They are the finalists in a search for some of the smartest people who want to experience space travel and save the earth, which is about to run out of fuel. A possible fuel source has been located in a distant galaxy and four of the tweens will be trained to retrieve it.
The book is divided into two parts -- the first part focuses on the final trials to determine who the four will be, and the second part focuses on their initial travel into space.
I definitely believe that the Voyager series will appeal to many readers. Personally, I was disappointed in book one. We learn very little about the eight characters, aside from who they are in some of the trials. There is no back story to provide motivation for why these eight want to participate in the project, and there is little personal interaction between the characters. Overall, the characters felt flat and two-dimensional.
There are plenty of suspenseful scenes, but I never really felt immersed in the story. Instead of watching a movie in my mind while reading, I felt as if I was watching a news report -- some live action scenes, but then a lot of a narrator telling me what the author wanted me to know. I am not sure that I will invest myself into the six-book series.
Chapter book, fiction
Interest level: grades 4-6
YHBA 2017-2018 intermediate grade nominee
3 out of 5 stars
The plot of this series is something that will really appeal to upper elementary age readers. It features four teen protagonists, space travel, puzzles, adventure, and a lot of suspense. It falls within the realm of dystopian fiction, set in the bleak future where the earth is about to run out of fossil fuel.
Project Alpha is book one of the Voyagers series. The series will eventually have six books, each written by a different children's author. This first book is written by D.J. MacHale, who wrote Pendragon. This format is very similar to the popular 39 Clues series, and like that one, there is also an online component that will interest readers.
The story starts with eight tweens reporting to a top-secret training camp. They are the finalists in a search for some of the smartest people who want to experience space travel and save the earth, which is about to run out of fuel. A possible fuel source has been located in a distant galaxy and four of the tweens will be trained to retrieve it.
The book is divided into two parts -- the first part focuses on the final trials to determine who the four will be, and the second part focuses on their initial travel into space.
I definitely believe that the Voyager series will appeal to many readers. Personally, I was disappointed in book one. We learn very little about the eight characters, aside from who they are in some of the trials. There is no back story to provide motivation for why these eight want to participate in the project, and there is little personal interaction between the characters. Overall, the characters felt flat and two-dimensional.
There are plenty of suspenseful scenes, but I never really felt immersed in the story. Instead of watching a movie in my mind while reading, I felt as if I was watching a news report -- some live action scenes, but then a lot of a narrator telling me what the author wanted me to know. I am not sure that I will invest myself into the six-book series.
February 21, 2018
This is one of my forays into Middle Grade fiction in some time. I decided to do this because I noticed that of all my middle grade books usually consist of either stuff written by Rick Riordan, or Harry Potter. To remedy this, I’ve decided to begin reading books by other authors that a middle school student may find interesting.
Enter Project Alpha, a book that not only is an okay story, but also has the knack of working with an app to bring you a multidimensional story. While I didn’t try and download the app along with the story, the story itself does have some merit. In this book the earth is dying, being stripped of resources, and people are running out of power. In order to get the material from space that is needed to keep the people of earth alive, a company has selected about 10 contestants to take place in some Goblet of Fire like challenges to be selected down to four people. These four will go up in a spaceship to a planet called J-16 in order to collect the material needed to save the world. But this trip is more than it seems and soon the crew discovers they are in for more than they bargained for.
This book has some fun and interesting challenges for our heroes to go through. They had to go through various simulations that dealt with flying through an asteroid belt, and going through a snowy environment. These helped to show their teamwork, and how people who work together can accomplish more than a lone individual, which is an excellent message for kids. The twist at the end was an interesting choice that I didn't see coming but that has some nice subtext and metaphors to things in the real world that I noticed as an adult.
Sadly, many of the characters did not stand out to me in terms of the dialogue. Unlike books like Percy Jackson, the characters weren't vivid enough to make me care for them. This makes me think that while the book was fun during the read, there was nothing here to make me come back to reading it, or continuing the series. I give this first book a two out of five. This would be perfect for a middle school age reader, but, for me, it was forgettable overall.
Enter Project Alpha, a book that not only is an okay story, but also has the knack of working with an app to bring you a multidimensional story. While I didn’t try and download the app along with the story, the story itself does have some merit. In this book the earth is dying, being stripped of resources, and people are running out of power. In order to get the material from space that is needed to keep the people of earth alive, a company has selected about 10 contestants to take place in some Goblet of Fire like challenges to be selected down to four people. These four will go up in a spaceship to a planet called J-16 in order to collect the material needed to save the world. But this trip is more than it seems and soon the crew discovers they are in for more than they bargained for.
This book has some fun and interesting challenges for our heroes to go through. They had to go through various simulations that dealt with flying through an asteroid belt, and going through a snowy environment. These helped to show their teamwork, and how people who work together can accomplish more than a lone individual, which is an excellent message for kids. The twist at the end was an interesting choice that I didn't see coming but that has some nice subtext and metaphors to things in the real world that I noticed as an adult.
Sadly, many of the characters did not stand out to me in terms of the dialogue. Unlike books like Percy Jackson, the characters weren't vivid enough to make me care for them. This makes me think that while the book was fun during the read, there was nothing here to make me come back to reading it, or continuing the series. I give this first book a two out of five. This would be perfect for a middle school age reader, but, for me, it was forgettable overall.
August 24, 2023
A book set in the future where Earth is close to running out of energy and is desperate need of a solution but this time it won’t be adults that save the day. The fate of the world rests on the shoulders of kids no older than 12 in fact. While you might need to suspend your disbelief in order to enjoy this series, isn’t that what reading fantasy and science fiction is all about.
The book starts off with a competition with insane challenges to determine the perfect team to travel into deep space in order to collect The Source which will be able to power Earth again and allow the people to avoid the rolling blackouts that have become common. There is more going on and some of the kids are wondering what the people running this program aren’t telling them.
Once the team is picked you get all kinds of interstellar action and adventure. There is lots of cool tech aboard their spaceship and new creatures to find on distant planets. These kids have to be quick and sharp and adapt at every step. They also get a cute sidekick robot to help them along the way which is awesome. Every kid dreams of having a robot right!? There are some secrets revealed and twists and turns along the way to keep them on their toes too of course.
A really cool (to me) feature is the website that goes along with the series that has more information and games to go along as you read. There are codes at the end of some chapters that you can enter into the website and they give you access to hidden files. I would have been super excited for something like that at 12 (maybe I still was) and thought it was a fun surprise to enjoy along with the series.
The book starts off with a competition with insane challenges to determine the perfect team to travel into deep space in order to collect The Source which will be able to power Earth again and allow the people to avoid the rolling blackouts that have become common. There is more going on and some of the kids are wondering what the people running this program aren’t telling them.
Once the team is picked you get all kinds of interstellar action and adventure. There is lots of cool tech aboard their spaceship and new creatures to find on distant planets. These kids have to be quick and sharp and adapt at every step. They also get a cute sidekick robot to help them along the way which is awesome. Every kid dreams of having a robot right!? There are some secrets revealed and twists and turns along the way to keep them on their toes too of course.
A really cool (to me) feature is the website that goes along with the series that has more information and games to go along as you read. There are codes at the end of some chapters that you can enter into the website and they give you access to hidden files. I would have been super excited for something like that at 12 (maybe I still was) and thought it was a fun surprise to enjoy along with the series.
July 21, 2019
219 pgs. This is a sci-fi/adventure kind of series. There are 8 kids competing to be on a team that would help save the world and find a new energy source for earth. There is a lot of drama and lots of tests to see if they are up for the task. Once the team is chosen, the plot continues and we get to know the characters better. The kid characters are 12 years old but I think elementary kids would enjoy this series. I really liked the twist at the end and now I can’t wait to read the next book. This series has lots of science infused but not too much to put any non-science fans off. Highly recommended for Grade 5.
December 13, 2019
Voyagers book 1 is a great book, it’s science fiction, so it talks about people being so far in space. The book is about when the future of our planet is at stake, and it’s in the hands of four kids! Of Course there the best, smartest, and most highly trained kids in the world. They are on a mission to find a new source of energy, (a new sun) because ours is soon to die. And the best part is if you love this book well guess what there is five more books, six total. In this paragraph, what it is that I’m trying to say is, I highly recommend this book because, well it’s just such a great book, I have all of them, and read all of them.
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