The Space Elevator: A Bobby Blinx Adventure

by John Sylvain

The Blinx family is moving from California to outer space and Bobby is not happy about it. The timing couldn't be worse as far as he's concerned but his parents won't listen to reason. For some reason, they don't think it's safe to stay on Earth. But during the routine trip on the Clarke Space Elevator, something goes horribly wrong and Bobby Blinx and his parents must risk everything to save the planet from utter destruction. This is the first in an epic science fiction series from John Sylvain.

112 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 11, 2015

Reviews

[Ruby · Rating 5 out of 5]

I may be a little biased since my friend's brother wrote this, but it's excellent!

[Thistle · Rating 2 out of 5]

This story was set in the early days of humanity's shift to living in space. As part of that effort, humans had built a space elevator (so we wouldn't have to deal with escaping the atmosphere with every launch).

This book very much felt like part one of a longer series. In it, a young boy's family were moving to a space station for reasons they didn't tell him. If the story had stuck with him as the POV character, it would have had a bigger emotional impact. Instead it rotated through at least five different POV characters.

It was very unclear who this book was intended for. It was extremely short (it took me less than two hours to read, middle grade books take me 2-4 hours) and the main character was young, so this should have been a MG book. But all the other POV characters were adults, which I think isn't done in MG books.

As much as I like stories about space elevators, this one was not one I enjoyed. The only reason I finished it at all was that it was so short.

On Amazon, the author uses a quote on his book's page "It's like Star Wars meets Harry Potter". No. No it is not. It is nothing like either of those in story or in quality.

[Bryan457 · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not really about a space elevator. More about a sneaky alien attempt to wipe out humanity.
It "Jumped the Shark" when they had all the people in the containers going up and down the space elevator run back and forth at mathematically choreographed intervals to set up waves in the elevator, in an attempt to dodge the asteroid that was about to hit them.
The fate of one of the main characters is unresolved at the end, so I guess you could say this is only part of a story that is continued in book 2.

[SBC]

I bounced off this one. I liked the idea of the space elevator, but there was also an alien subplot that didn't appeal.

[Clare O'Beara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a good fun YA adventure. Bobby has to leave California as his parents, science professors, are moving off Earth. First they travel to Brazil where the space elevator envisioned by Arthur C Clarke sits on the equator.

Naturally all does not go smoothly, as an attack is planned on Earth and on the elevator. I won't spoil the tale by going into detail but a lot depends on the physics and engineering of the structure. This is a fun read and a good way to introduce younger readers to the big concepts involved.