(Originally, this page reviewed only the first book. Later, I edited it to include the other two.)
The first book in the trilogy
Photo by Wil C. Fry
★★★★ (of 5)
- Titles: Space Case, Spaced Out, Waste Of Space
- Author: Stuart Gibbs
- Year: 2014, 2016, 2018 (mine were original hardcovers)
- Pages: 337, 336, 321
- Genre: Science Fiction (juvenile)
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster
- ISBN 978-1-4424-9486-2 (Space Case)
- ISBN 978-1-4814-2336-6 (Spaced Out)
- ISBN 978-1-4814-7779-6 (Waste Of Space)
- Author’s Wikipedia page
Summary
My daughter (fourth grade) brought home Book 1 (Space Case) of this trilogy from her school’s library after reading a few of Gibbs’s Spy School books. After reading the first page, she ran to show me the lines she found interesting. Fifty pages later, she came to me again and suggested that I would enjoy it, so I agreed to give it a shot. Several weeks later, she brought home the next one. And so on.
Like all of Gibbs’s books, these are written for a young teen or tween audience. Surprisingly often, I find books in this category as enjoyable as “adult” books. Just as often I find them as well-written as (if not better than) adult books — and I found that to be the case here.
The protagonist is Dashiell Gibson, a 12-year-old boy who lives at Moon Base Alpha with his scientist parents, six-year-old sister Violet (in real life, the author’s children are named Dashiell and Violet), and a crew of other scientist families and their children — and a horrible billionaire family who paid to visit. Dash doesn’t much like life in the moon base, and NASA strictly censors communications to and from the residents so there’s no negative press.
In Book 1, life suddenly gets very interesting because a prominent scientist dies, the first death on the Moon. Dash suspects it was a murder because of something he overheard the night before, and spends the rest of the book struggling against the skepticism of adults, the lack of hard evidence, the rude rich tourists, and even some scary physical violence. In the end (no spoilers!), the mystery is solved and a massive discovery that was hinted at earlier is revealed.
In Book 2, which takes place a few weeks later, the base commander (Nina) goes missing and Dash was the last person to see her. Though many residents of MBA suspect foul play after the events of Book 1, there is little to go on: she’s not anywhere inside the base, which is small enough to search thoroughly and easily, and she can’t be outside the base because her space suit is still in the locker. Again, there are multiple hijinks and the mystery is solved with big help from Dash (and this time Violet helped too).
Book 3 takes place about a month later, and 80% or more of the story is during a single day — Dash’s 13th birthday, with some wrap-up excitement on the following day. This time, the mystery is the poisoning of ultra-billionaire Lars Sjoberg, the patriarch of the nasty tourist family on the Moon. Sjoberg survives, but his near-death experience doesn’t make the family any nicer, and Dash has to avoid further bullying from the Sjobergs while helping base commander Nina solve the mystery. (Violet’s participation increased quite a bit in this one.)
The second book in the trilogy
Photo by Wil C. Fry
Praise
First: I wish I’d had books like this when I was my daughter’s age (10). In my memory, there was a fairly large gap between children’s books and juvenile books, at least in our local public libraries in the early to mid-1980s — certainly in science fiction. I remember being bored with children’s books but not yet ready for the older stuff. This series fits perfectly into that gap, when a kid isn’t yet ready for older teen fare. Truly the only things that make them “books for kids” instead of simply books are: (1) the narrator is a child, and (2) there’s no sex or profanity. And in my experience, at least ninety percent of the sex and profanity in adult books is gratuitous and pointless, distracting from the stories.
For some children, this trilogy might be a vocabulary lesson. There are words like reconstituted, infinitesimal, and fricassee, the latter of which even I had to look up. Which is a good thing. There are also science lessons (much as with Heinlein’s juveniles), including the speed of light, how air locks work, and why certain Earthly comforts aren’t available on the Moon (the prohibitive cost of shipping up anything that’s heavy).
The mysteries (murder in Book 1, missing person in Book 2, poisoning in Book 3) were done well enough — along with Dash, the reader begins to suspect various other inhabitants of the Moon base, and each with good reason. As the revelations keep coming, each is entertaining and informative — and works toward the final resolution.
Helpfully, not only were there lists of characters at the beginning of each book, but there were maps — (of Moon Base Alpha in Books 1 and 3 and of the area around it in Book 2). I referred to these informational pages several times while reading.
Some parts are simply hilarious, and I found myself laughing out loud. In Book 2, Violet got more funny parts. Yes, there is some toilet humor (moon base toilets are NOT like toilets on Earth), but the narrator is a 12-year-old boy so it would be weird if there wasn’t toilet humor.
I liked that the characters represented many ethnicities and backgrounds — which is realistic given the international cooperation that goes into space travel. My daughter was especially excited when she discovered the main character was “mixed like me!” Seeing that light in her face reminded me how important it is to include many types of people in our stories. The base commander is a woman, as are several of the scientists.
The third book in the trilogy
Points Off For...
I don’t have many criticisms of these books, though I did find a handful of inconsistencies and/or science mistakes that I wanted to mention. (1) Though MBA is said to be at the Moon’s north pole, later the Earth is described as being “overhead”. In reality, for someone near the Moon’s north pole, the Earth would be visible near the horizon. In Book 2 there’s a similar error: the base’s greenhouse has a skylight in the ceiling so the overhead sun can light the plants. In Book 3, Gibbs corrects those mistakes, noting that the Earth is near the horizon. (2) While the books do mention the “time lag” in communications between the Earth and Moon due to the speed of light, there are two mistakes. First, it says the lag is “a few seconds” each way, but in reality it’s about 2.5 seconds for the round trip. Secondly, one character (Dash’s friend Roddy) plays virtual reality games (in all three books) through the ComLink from a server on Earth, and other players from Earth are in the game — which requires split-second reactions to threats. Those games wouldn’t be possible given the time lag in communications. (3) Finally, though Dash does mention that giant comfortable spaceships we see in movies are unrealistic and later talks about the cost of bringing up materials and creature comforts due to weight, the Moon base is described as far more spacious than would be realistic — for the same reason: the weight of the materials.
(As long as we’re talking about the base’s design, I’m fairly certain that a real-life lunar habitat with this many people and rooms would be small spaces separated by air tight bulkheads and hatches — instead of large open areas — so that one or more sections could be closed off in case of a leak — much like many ships and submarines).
Conclusion
While I don’t foresee a full-scale shift of my reading into the tween/teen genres, I certainly enjoyed these three books and their cast of characters.
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