Earth Girl written by Janet Edwards is out of this world.
Yes, it’s a pun and I am personally going to see how many more will orbit this article. Earth Girl is the first in a trilogy about a girl who is trapped on earth. In the distant future, space travel is as ordinary as car travel today. That is for all except the unlucky few who are born incapable of traveling to other worlds and must immediately be sent back to earth in order to survive.
Earth is the land of the handicapped where Jarra, the heroine, grows up in foster care since her parents abandoned her to explore the galaxy or so she thinks. We meet her when it’s time to make a decision that anyone can relate to: “What am I going to do with my life?”
The people stranded on earth can go to any earth college free or do nothing and receive a stipend each month for being disabled. However Jarra thinks of a third option which is go to a non-earth school and major in history. By doing this, she could release all of the frustration she has from being born odd.
What Jarra doesn’t expect is to fit in with people who she thought were so different and to even fall in love with one of them. She must thread the needle through fact and fiction as she discovers the truth about herself, her birth parents and even the people closest to her. Jarra must learn to deal with her own self-hate, self-doubt, and misconceptions while fending off the discrimination of others. This includes a teacher who is constantly trying to out her as an earth girl.
This is one time when you can judge a book by the cover which is beautiful and subtle like the story inside. From the fully developed characters to the world building this book has everything I want from a novel including being an excellent read.
Final Score: 8/10 Power Ups
