Found on the 8-12 shelf, Space Case by Stuart Gibbs is a science fiction adventure story set on a realistic moon base in which its twelve-year-old protagonist helps to solve a murder mystery. Its sequel, Spaced Out, is about a missing person mystery. A relatable protagonist, some science fiction with proper science, a location with opportunity for adventure and an engaging mystery: these ought to be great ingredients for a book my son could enjoy.
The first problem, however, is that the protagonist is very negative about living on the moon. It would be possible to complain a bit about the poor food and the lack of space while also being excited and in awe of the achievement of living on the moon. But no, there is no upside. Even the boredom is only relieved by terrible events, leading the protagonist to yearn for boredom once more. And he’s not an inspiring chap who faces his challenges head on, with aplomb. He mostly moans about things or is scared. Instead of being relieved to get out of the micrometeorite storm alive, after the discovery of a hole in the top layers of his suit, the author dwells on his fear and dislike of returning outside even when the threat of incoming meteorites disappears.
Minor spoiler in the next paragraph…
And they’re not just meteorites, they’re space junk. Because humans always make a mess wherever they go, leaving tracks over the pristine lunar surface, filling up space with junk, and destroying the planet. Oh yeah, (spoilers): the big threat to humanity is humanity itself. And only alien technology can save us, but the aliens don’t want to give us the technology because humans are the only species in the galaxy capable of evil (I kid you not) and might turn it into a weapon.
The author goes out of his way to be negative here. I can well imagine a benevolent extraterrestrial civilisation that might need to carefully learn more about humans, as it would any newly discovered civilisation, before making contact. There is plenty of opportunity for tension between the protagonist and the alien over this point. But that is not enough for this author: humans have to be uniquely terrible and uniquely destructive. And unable to help themselves. Even their highest achievement, their moonbase, is an awful place, made to look good with propaganda and censorship, since NASA will not allow the lunar base residents to speak freely about anything negative (obviously the only reason we do not hear real astronauts constantly moaning).
The tone is pessimistic and misanthropic. What I am looking for in science fiction is a celebration of the ingenuity of humanity and optimism that we can overcome adversity and make a better world. Instead the message here is that everything is rubbish and the best you can do about it is sulk and be afraid.
Also, rich people are bad. Yes, there is a rich space tourist family living on the moon, and obviously they are one-dimensionally horrible because they are rich. The author also seems weirdly concerned with the fact that they are the whitest people the protagonist has ever met. There may be legitimate world-building reasons for this but in execution it is jarringly shoe-horned in, in both books.
All in all it is not very inspirational, unless you want to inspire the type of malaise that comes from thinking humans are a disease and there is no hope and everything sucks.
Possibly I ought to have seen it coming from the blurb:
You wouldn’t think it, but being one of the first kids to live on a moon colony isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Your’re stuck inside a small base with only a few other kids, and you’re not even allowed to go for a low-gravity romp on the moon’s surface. What’s the point?
Or even from an out-of-place remark, early on in the story:
Everyone on earth knows this, unless they’ve been living in the Amazon rain forest for the last few years, and since there’s barely anything left of the Amazon rain forest, I’m guessing that’s unlikely.
I am thinking of trying out the Ranger’s Apprentice series next. John Flanagan seems like a no-nonsense sort of bloke. From what I have seen so far, there is a bad guy who “enjoys taking taxes and killing anyone who refuses to pay them”. When asked for advice for new writers, Flanagan replied that one should plan out one’s story in advance. Not only is that solid, no-nonsense advice, it implies Flanagan might have a care that his epic fantasy series makes some kind of sense. In the meantime I will keep looking for optimistic, sense-of-wonder-inducing SF that my son might enjoy. In a separate question about heroes, Flanagan replies, “The world stage is dominated by politicians, and they usually don’t have the right qualities to be heroes.”