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Cover of Earthbound

Earthbound

Milton Lesser (1952)

SubgenreSpace Opera
Age groupMiddle Grade 8-12
Content ratingPG
Pages (Quick Read (<250))
Setting
CSM age10
Goodreads3.72

Content levels

ViolenceMild
Sexual contentNone
LanguageNone

Trigger warnings

Deception

Positive tags

Coming of AgeRedemption ArcAdventureSelf-Discovery

Tropes

Space OperaReluctant HeroFound FamilySpace PiratesComing of AgeOutcast / Loner

Themes

Coming of AgeRedemptionDisillusionmentDuty vs DesireFather's LegacySecond Chances

Synopsis

"We'll thunder off to Io, Out in the Jovian Moons. We'll feast our eyes and seek the skies And plunder Martian ruins!" The "Spaceman's Chant" turned from a spirited to a heartbreaking refrain when Cadet Peter Hodges learned that he would never be allowed to "thunder off to Io." Bitter disappointment, to a youth whose father had been one of the first space captains, motivates this gripping tale of the future. Studded with detail of the spaceports, ships and men that handle interplanetary flight, Earthbound is the very human drama of a disillusioned cadet forced by circumstances to help plunder the very space liners he was trained to protect. How Pete Hodges became involved with interplanetary racketeers, his dramatic escape, his flight to the asteroids on a mission the authorities knew could not succed, is a finely wrought drama that only an author of Milton Lesser's stature could write. Fired with suspense and action, this story of one young man's determination to face the speckled blackness of outer space is science fiction at its best!

Tags

Space AdventureClassic Science FictionCrime Fiction