The Bookwyrm's Review of The Adventures of Kirk Rogers Inside the Moon by C. J. Boyle

 

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RATING: 9/10 Stars

Synopsis

"An overconfident pilot with a stolen spaceship must fix an alien device before time runs out."

The Newtonians came to Earth two thousand years ago looking for a place to call home. Earth was perfect except its Sun had a fatal flaw that needed to be corrected. Once it was fixed, they were free to abandon their ship and leave it to orbit the planet below. Earthlings commonly refer to it as The Moon.

For two thousand years, Sheldor was nothing more than a highly intelligent computer program that maintained every function of Atlantis. It was a very boring and predictable job that was the same, day in, and day out. The monotony didn’t bother him, nor was he aware that it was an utterly boring life. He didn’t long for change or wonder when it will all end, he just did his job. It wasn’t until an asteroid slammed into the side of the ship that his life changed in a dramatic way. The damage that followed prevented him from carrying out an important task. A task that would save the Earth below. Part of his programming required him to ensure the survival of the Newtonians and the many generations that followed after them. The asteroid caused a cave-in deep inside a cannon that was supposed to fire photon particles into the volatile sun and correcting its flaw. The cannon required fixing but his figurative hands were tied. He needed someone with enough Newtonian blood to unlock his controls so that he could make the repairs. He was forced to use the satellites in Earth’s orbit to scan the planet below for possible candidates that he could teleport to the inside of the ship. But the process was imperfect.

That’s how Laura Rogers ended up inside the moon making friends with a giant spider and a man called The Dangerous One.

Kirk always looked after his little sister and he would do anything to find her. Including, steal a spaceship.

Review

I've been a fan of sci-fi since I was a kid. Star Trek, Star Wars, Space 1999, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Battle of the Planets, Planet of the Apes, I'd watch it all. Writers like Heinlein, Jack L. Chalker, Fred Saberhagen, Alan Dean Foster and Roger Zelazny hooked me on sci-fi books too, with a combination of great characters, humor, adventure and the idea of endless possibilities. C. J. Boyle's Kirk Rogers Inside the Moon hearkens back to those reads from my youth, focusing on character interaction and growth, humorous situations and some really creative adventures. Not to mention the sheer volume of Easter eggs liberally sprinkled throughout the book, which get their own moments of levity. 

This book is just fun. The characters really shine. They come across as real people with real strengths and flaws, coping with stressful situations with humor, grace and screaming in terror, all in turn, just as real people would. Well, real people, androids and giant, intelligent telepathic spiders. So many fun, crazy arcs occur for the characters, it just keeps you turning pages to see what comes next.

The world building has that retro pulp sci-fi feel to it, with the story taking place on the moon. But like no moon that you've read about in quite some time. This is not some gritty domed city or tunnel rat existence we get in so much modern "serious" sci fi. This is much more like hollow earth type stuff from the old pulps. I kept expecting John Carter and Dejah Thoris to come swing through at any minute, and that's a good thing in a book, I think. The homages to classic sci-fi are sprinkled throughout, and really add some fun touches to the world building. 

The audiobook version is narrated by Jared Kedzia. I had listened to a couple other books he narrated, so to me this is a good matchup. Jared does an excellent job creating unique voices for each character, using a variety of tones, cadences and accents to differentiate them from each other. He is excellent at adding an emotional element to his narration, enough so that even his voice for a telepathic giant spider had great emotion. That took real talent, and is something he does with all the characters throughout the book. This is a version I'd highly recommend.

After finishing, I had very positive vibes about the book, and about the future of the series. I know there are at least three more adventure in the series, and I am exited to see where the author goes with these adventures. I think fans of classic sci fi, space opera and more humorously oriented sci-fi will definitely find a new series to binge with Kirk Rogers and company. I highly recommend this one.