Book Review : 172 Hours on the Moon by Johan Harstad

It's been decades since anyone set foot on the moon. Now three ordinary teenagers, the winners of NASA's unprecedented, worldwide lottery, are about to become the first young people in space--and change their lives forever.
Mia, from Norway, hopes this will be her punk band's ticket to fame and fortune.
Midori believes it's her way out of her restrained life in Japan.
Antoine, from France, just wants to get as far away from his ex-girlfriend as possible.
It's the opportunity of a lifetime, but little do the teenagers know that something sinister is waiting for them on the desolate surface of the moon. And in the black vacuum of space... no one is coming to save them.
In this chilling adventure set in the most brutal landscape known to man, highly acclaimed Norwegian novelist Johan Harstad creates a vivid and frightening world of possibilities we can only hope never come true.

I read this book over the long weekend (for Ganesh Chaturthi). I had taken a leave on Friday so I would have 4 days to spend in Ahmedabad with my family. So while I was helping my sister move in to her house I read 2 books. One of them was 172 Hours on the Moon by Johan Harstad.

I really liked the premise of this book. I mean if I were given a chance of visiting the Moon I would jump at it. But I also understand the view point of those who would be reluctant to do the same. Even though I liked the premise, the execution of it went a little awry in the middle. But the book redeemed itself at the end.

This book is about NASA restarting the Space program and giving a chance to 3 random teenager to go to the Moon, to visit a previously secret space station on the Moon called DARLAH - 2. These 3 teenagers would be chosen by a lottery and would undergo an intense training before heading off in to space. But NASA is not doing this for the sole reason of exploration alone. There is something that they are hiding from the general public when it comes to this trip to the Moon.

There are different narrators in this book. But for the most part the story is narrated by the 3 teens who get selected - Mia from Norway, Midori from Japan and Antoine from France. Each of them have their own reasons for putting their names up for the lottery. Amongst the 3 I was mostly annoyed with Mia a bit at the beginning of the book. But I started liking her as the time for the Moon launch came nearer.

The book was a little slow, especially the parts before the Moon launch.And the author mostly skipped the 4 days spent on the journey. But the story really picked up once the team landed on the Moon.

I cannot really write about what it is exactly that the astronauts face on the moon without giving something away, so let me just say that the ending was awesome and the suspense that was built up in the 2nd half of the book on the Moon was just right.

I rate this book a 3.5/5.

July Recap

Hello All!! So I thought that I would put up a Recap Post. This post will recap all the books I have read (regardless of my reviewing it here on the blog).

I tried reading a lot of books this past month. But could only finish 4 Novels. I also read 4 Graphic novels. Here's the list:

1. Cinder by Marissa Meyer - Reviewed
2. Fables Vol. 2 - Bill Willingham
3. Fables Vol. 3 - Bill Willingham
4. Fables Vol. 4 - Bill Willingham
5. Fables Vol. 5 - Bill Willingham
6. Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn - Reviewed
7. Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl - Reviewed
8. Touch of Power by Maria V. Snyder - I really enjoyed this book. The review for this book will be put up probably over the weekend.

So this was it for the July Recap. Coming to the books I plan on reading in August, I've lined up a few books I would like to tackle the following. This is the number of books I would like to read this month but it depends on how busy work keeps me. It could also be that I might not read any of these books at all as I read a book if the fancy strikes me.

1. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine l'Engle
2. Scarlet by Marissa Meyer (if I receive the book in time. I just placed the order for it)
3. The Lost Girl by Sangu Mandanna
4. Inside Out by Maria V. Snyder

So that is it for the August Reading. I know that there are a few holidays coming up (Eid and Independance day) but I am planning a trip on those weekends so I might not be able to read too many books.

Book Review: Whisper of Death by Christopher Pike

I recently stumbled upon a great blog called The Book Smugglers. I haven't gone through the whole blog but the book reviews that I've read are great. It was in one of these blog entries (about dystopian novels) that lead me to "Whisper of Death" by Christopher Pike.

I didn't know what I was going into when I started the book. But I'm glad I did. Most dystopian or end of the world novels nowadays are mostly to do with the zombie apocalypse. Don't get me wrong. I enjoy a good Zombie book but it makes one yearn for a different kind of scenario. And boy did Pike deliver.

-----Spoilers----

This book is about Roxeanne, an 18 year old girl who gets pregnant. She and her boyfriend decide to abort the pregnancy and on the way back they realize that they are now all alone in the world except for 3 more people in their town. They find all of them have one thing in common - a girl, Betty Sue who had committed suicide a month ago- and start to die one by one. And they die horrible deaths.

The story reminded a little of Carrie by Stephen King. Not in the way that it was a copy but that a few elements were a bit similar. The supernatural phenomenon and the revenge theme was there in both the books but were handled differently. Betty Sue could affect people's lives and thoughts by writing stories about them. Carrie was telekinetic. They both wanted to take revenge on the people who they thought had wronged them. But that is where the similarity ends.

In the case of Carrie at least there was an end to the story. But in the case of WoD the story is more cyclical. As Betty Sue says, she has a million stories to tell. So she can go on torturing those that betrayed her, in innumerable ways. This book will linger with me for quite a while. And to me that is the sign of a great story. It is making me think. To us something that we do might be of the smallest of significance. But the same thing might the greatest affront to someone else. In this case Roxeanne had not really done anything to Betty Sue personally, but she was still used as a pawn in her revenge and had to go through a lot of pain. I know its weird saying this but this is how real life is. A lot of books depict a rosy picture. that no matter what a person does(especially the main protagonist) he/she is usually forgiven or at least moves on and lives a relatively happy life. But that is not the case.    And you don't have to be the bad guy to get the short end of the stick either, like Roxeanne did in WoD.

All in all I really really liked this book. I would rate this a 4 out of 5.