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Inside Jupiter
Walt, 14, and his sister Mindy, 12, are attacked by giant sword-bearing warrior butterflies in their first outing after crash landing inside Jupiter. The only survivors of their ship, they soon learn that all the remaining colonists are nearly their ages as well. All the tension does not stem from an environmental experiment gone wrong, where grasshoppers are the size of camels and praying mantises are as big as giraffes. The children do not get along that well either. Add to that predators that just want to eat them, and the inside of Jupiter seems far from a happy wonderland.
100% of the royalties for the sale of this book go to Doctors Without Borders.
100% of the royalties for the sale of this book go to Doctors Without Borders.
292 pages, Perfect Paperback
First published August 1, 2009
4 people want to read
About the author
Russ Hall
55 books37 followersRuss Hall is author of more than thirty-five books and coauthor of numerous other books. He has been an editor for major publishing companies, ranging from Harper & Row (now HarperCollins), Simon & Schuster, to Pearson. In 2011, he was awarded the Sage Award, by The Barbara Burnett Smith Mentoring Authors Foundation—a Texas award for the mentoring author who demonstrates an outstanding spirit of service in mentoring, sharing and leading others in the mystery writing community. He lives in Lago Vista, on the north shore of Lake Travis near Austin, where he hikes, fishes, and tends a herd of deer that visit daily to peep in the office window and help with the writing.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
November 16, 2009
This was hilarious. How did I pick this up? I saw Jupiter in the sky a few days before and nostalgically thought of my old obsession with Jupiter - specifically Sailor Jupiter of the Sailor Moon TV show. So I was hooked into anything with the word Jupiter on it. Which, ahem, was... kind of stupid actually.
The best way to describe this is Lord of the Flies on Jupiter. Oh okay, there were girls there, but quite honestly it didn't matter. The main characters have Magic Powers that set them apart from the other children on the planet and allow them to overcome all obstacles. I read a piece of advice for writers the other day: if children have special powers, don't make the special powers the reason they overcome their obstacles. Readers can't identify with it as well. The author, sadly, doesn't follow this advice, and it just seems to fit too easily. There isn't any real test because the main characters are fated to win anyway. Yawn.
I was also really frustrated that there were quite a few allusions to things in our history, but no allusions to the history between now and the strange and far-off future that this world is set in. Too underdeveloped. I want a rich world to sink my teeth in and really grapple with, and this was just a quick romp-in-the-park adventure. With no real problems, no real conflicts overcome.
I guess the author wants the moral of the story to be "everyone should try to work together happily", because more than once the main characters lament that they just wanted to fit in to the colony they find themselves in and that they just wanted to be friends. Not sure how that worked.
All in all, I was excited by the premise (it's on Jupiter! OMG!!!) but I think the author was really excited by the premise too, and then didn't work out the details well enough. Ah well. It's still an adventure.
The best way to describe this is Lord of the Flies on Jupiter. Oh okay, there were girls there, but quite honestly it didn't matter. The main characters have Magic Powers that set them apart from the other children on the planet and allow them to overcome all obstacles. I read a piece of advice for writers the other day: if children have special powers, don't make the special powers the reason they overcome their obstacles. Readers can't identify with it as well. The author, sadly, doesn't follow this advice, and it just seems to fit too easily. There isn't any real test because the main characters are fated to win anyway. Yawn.
I was also really frustrated that there were quite a few allusions to things in our history, but no allusions to the history between now and the strange and far-off future that this world is set in. Too underdeveloped. I want a rich world to sink my teeth in and really grapple with, and this was just a quick romp-in-the-park adventure. With no real problems, no real conflicts overcome.
I guess the author wants the moral of the story to be "everyone should try to work together happily", because more than once the main characters lament that they just wanted to fit in to the colony they find themselves in and that they just wanted to be friends. Not sure how that worked.
All in all, I was excited by the premise (it's on Jupiter! OMG!!!) but I think the author was really excited by the premise too, and then didn't work out the details well enough. Ah well. It's still an adventure.
Displaying 1 of 1 review