Title: Redworld: Year One | Author: A.L. Collins | Publisher: Capston | Pub. Date: 2018-2-1 | Pages: 320 | Genre: Kids Science Fiction | Language: English | Triggers: None | ISBN13: 9781623709860 | Rating: 4 out of 5 | Source: Received a copy from Netgalley for review consideration.
Redworld: Year One
Belle Song and her family are aliens on a new world. The Songs came to Mars to seek a new life, but living on the red planet isn’t easy. The land is rough. The people are strange. The weather is unpredictable, and water is always in short supply. However, adventure is never far away. Follow along as Belle adapts to her new life on Mars, faces dangerous Water Raiders, explores wondrous ancient sites, and has other amazing adventures on Redworld. From the rich imagination of author A.J. Collins comes a fantastic sci-fi western story of growing up on the Martian plains.
Redworld: Year One Review
Redworld: Year One was a solid middle-grade sci-fi read. The author does a great job of keeping the writing on a level her readers can understand. With relatively few words, she builds a bare minimum type world on Mars that makes sense. The book is divided into parts that feel like their own individual mini books. The author refreshes the reader’s memory in each part. This reinforcement can come in handy for those with wandering attention spans, but it doesn’t feel forced.
I liked the interactions between the characters in Redworld. Belle and her companions are an interesting group. Belle is the immediately easy to relate to. She is also the eyes through which readers experience other races. I appreciated the way the author slowly brings readers to the understanding that even though people might look different, they’re still people. Even though in this book, the others are decidedly alien, its a lesson easy to apply to ‘real’ life.
There aren’t many illustrations in the book, but the ones that are present help to enforce the emptiness and desolate atmosphere on the partially terraformed Mars.I liked also the letters at the end of each chapter that sum up the major events of that chapter. Its a good way to reinforce what readers just read, and it’s done casually enough that they might not even realize that’s what’s going on.
Overall, Redworld: Year One is a good science fiction book that strikes exactly the right chords for the intended audience. It’s well written, easy to read, and imaginative. I can’t wait to read more from author A.L. Collins!
Buy Link: Amazon
I enjoy a lot of books intended for younger readers. This sounds like one I’d enjoy. And that cover is amazing. Makes it hard to resist.
It is well worth picking up.
I’m always intrigued by books for a younger audience. Sometimes they feel like they are written and then “dumbed down” and others it feels like they are really written for that age group. It sounds like this is the latter and I’m semi-interested in the story.