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THE PLANET THIEVES by Dan Krokos

THE PLANET THIEVES

by Dan Krokos

Pub Date: May 21st, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-7653-3428-2
Publisher: Tor

Eighteen cadets stand between the terrifying Tremist fleet and the annihilation of Earth!

In the year 2800, 13-year-old orphan Mason Stark and the other cadets are logging time in space during summer break on a routine mission when the ship, the SS Egypt, is attacked by Tremists, aliens that have been waging war with humankind for decades over the habitable planet Nori-Blue. Naturally, the cadets escape capture and try to save their acting captain, Susan Stark, Mason’s older sister. What they find is that the Egypt was carrying a gate, a device capable of making a wormhole big enough to move a planet to a new part of space, and that Earth Space Command was planning to use it to move Nori-Blue into our sun’s orbit to keep it out of the clutches of the Tremists. The Tremists steal the gate…and then use it to steal the Earth! Can Mason and his friends rescue Susan and the whole of the Earth? And what secrets does Nori-Blue harbor that can change the trajectory of the human–Tremist relationship? With a total disregard for the laws of physics and nearly every other science, Krokos kicks off a series of sci-fi adventures with this overstuffed, nonstop adventure that harkens back to pulpy space operas. Far too many plot points tangle a narrative chock-full of one-dimensional characters who excel far too easily at the heroics they must perform.

Clichés aside, it’s an enjoyable, if totally undemanding read for sci-fi–starved audiences.

(Science fiction. 9-12)