SOJALS rating:

Good (3/5)

I first read this on the 20th October 2002.

The sequel to "Jumping Off The Planet" continues the saga of the Dingillian family. The Dingillian children, Douglas, Charles 'Chigger' and Robert, have fled the Earth, at least as far as Geostationary orbit. Now they must reach the Moon, escaping the self-destructing Earth, evading marshalls and bounty-hunters, to seek a final destination beyond Lunar, on one of the colony worlds.

First though, they must to avoid capture and reach the Lunar surface. Their new friends Mickey and Alexei have some unusual, and very scary, ideas on how to get there unseen by officialdom. They (crash-) land successfully and, led by the indefatigable Alexei, embark on an arduous but exhilarating trek to Gagarin base.

Midway Alexei abandons them, and they must stumble and fumble their way across this alien, unknown and very dangerous terrain to their uncertain destination.

This is totally fab stuff, hip, "gear cool" as us hipsters say, it's superb writing. It's fresh and innocent, it's early Heinlein, it's wonderfully good fun. It's even better than "Jumping Off The Planet".

How does David Gerrold do this so well?

What's it got? all you wanted to know about walking on the moon, some interesting stuff on solid-fuel rockets, space elevators, and a great artificial intelligence, or more correctly a "Human Analogue Replicant, Lethetic Intelligence Engine".