When Wade, Jean and Sanjay are walking between lectures one day, the last thing any of them expect to stumble across is a spaceship. With the opportunity to explore the Milky Way, known as Galaxy9 to spacers, their world has just got a lot bigger. Meeting new species and exploring worlds they had never dreamed of, the three teenagers go from engineering students to space freighters overnight. Can they stay alive while earning enough to keep their ship in the sky? And how will the friends decide when to step into the intergalactic fray?
A really fun adventure through an imagined galaxy populated with other sentient species. I love the three friends from Earth who get whisked off on the Shrike, the spaceship equivalent of an 18-wheeler truck. Sanjay in particular is a lot of fun. The different planets and species are well-imagined, the dialogue is snappy and there are some real laugh-out-loud moments. This reads like a travelogue with splashes of action as the friends go through a variety of different experiences as they get to know the larger galaxy.
I loved this book. It started by introducing the characters with clarity and humor. Each one had their own distinct personality contributing to a well rounded team. The story emphasized their mutual respect allowing a smooth flow through the book. The more I shared their adventures the harder it was to put the book down. By the time I reached chapter 14 I could not put it down. I look forward to the next in the series.
Galaxy9 is Darryl Brent's first published novel. The book is about three engineering students who come across a spaceship and then explore space. That's it. His command of the English language is good, and he can write a well-paced story with well described settings and locations, but he lacks the skill at creating depth in character or plot.
Described as "Science Fiction Comedy Adventure for Young Adults" this book undershoots drastically, missing all the standard benchmarks of young adults fiction. The characters are two dimensional and often make illogical and sometimes nonsensical decisions. There is very little emotional input by the characters and there isn't particularly much at stake for them either. This makes it hard for the reader to emotionally invest in the characters or the book.