Before Gaia

Fearless Super Edition #1

by Francine Pascal

This Special Edition looks at the events that shaped Gaia Moore's destiny - the story of what happened to her parents before their daughter was born without the fear gene. Gaia Moore is the girl born without the fear gene. This special edition looks back at the events that shaped her destiny even before she was born - what happened to Gaia's granparents in World War II; how Gaia's father Tom and his evil twin Loki are recruited to the Academy, and the meeting between and the beautiful Russian Katia, who will become Gaia's mother before she is murdered by Loki.

Genres: Young Adult, Teen, Fiction, Childrens, Science Fiction

320 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2002

About the author

Francine Paula Pascal was an American author best known for her Sweet Valley series of young adult novels. Sweet Valley High, the backbone of the collection, was made into a television series, which led to several spin-offs, including The Unicorn Club and Sweet Valley University. Although most of these books were published in the 1980s and 1990s, they remained so popular that several titles were re-released decades later.

Reviews

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a kind of prequel, Before Gaia wasn't too bad. It was interesting seeing all of the elements that led up to Gaia's birth and her father's estrangement with her uncle. However, I still felt that the basic plot as a whole left a lot to be desired. I also feel that the exact position of this "Super Edition" amongst the regular books in the series is unclear; it would have made more sense had I read them in the proper order.

[Terry Marine · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Boris, dahling."
"Yes, Natasha."
"Why we not kill Moose and squirrel?"
"Because today, we capture supergirl."

[RL · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story is well thought out, unique and a breath of fresh air. I really appreciate Pascal's flawless writing style. Too bad, the TV series adaptation did not take off as planned; I still reckon Fearless is fit or perfect for the silver screen.

[Máire · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of the details I found to be confusing. I like this series a lot, but there are some plot holes

[Brenda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of back info, didn't fit in reading it after the series, was not clear when to read this super edition. Meh...

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This special edition provided much needed background, and helped clarify certain aspects of the rest of the series. I liked this one; it held my interest throughout.

[anolinde · Rating 3 out of 5]

I definitely should have read this in order, since it would have explained a lot, but oh well.

Tom, Katia, and Loki are hilarious. For grown-ass adults and, in Tom/Loki's case, CIA agents, they behave with the maturity and emotional stability of teenagers. Yikes.

But shit, I was not expecting Loki to rape Katia. I don't know if I had assumed he was just being delusional when he claimed Gaia as his daughter or if I thought he and Katia had actually been together at one point, but wow, I did not see that one coming at all. What a fucking asshole. And they redeemed him later on in the series!! Wtf.

On a less-infuriating note, I'm pretty sure the first clues were anonymous, and Gaia was like "oh I wonder who sent me these," but then like two chapters later she's talking about how Nikolai sent them to her and she can trust him because he knows everything? Like what? I can't tell if I missed something or if the editors missed something... either is plausible.