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SPACE BOY by Stephen McCranie

SPACE BOY

by Stephen McCranie ; illustrated by Stephen McCranie

Pub Date: July 3rd, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-50670-648-1
Publisher: Dark Horse

A high school sophomore from deep space struggles to adjust to her new life on Earth.

Amy lives with her mother and father on a mining colony. When her father loses his job after a fuel-line accident, the three of them are deported to Earth. Amy is desolate over leaving her best friend, Jemmah, behind but departs on the 30-year trip in cryogenic stasis. At her new school in Kokomo City, Amy encounters physical and social challenges. She is weak from the change in gravity and has no classes with anyone her age, and everyone is constantly plugged into the internet via their “net gear” glasses. Meanwhile, a nameless boy is burdened by an invisible darkness, an archaeologist is mysteriously murdered, and a ship full of humans travels toward an enigmatic Artifact. The premise is intriguing, and the art is evocative, especially when it conveys loneliness, disorientation, and melancholy. However, sci-fi fans may be disappointed by a future in which the tech is all too familiar and uninspired by the passive heroine who mopes around in curve-hugging outfits and shoes so pointy that her feet seem nonexistent. Amy is white, but this future is diverse, with multiracial supporting characters (Amy’s “reintegration manager” displays cartoonishly stereotypical Asian features).

Readers will find heroines with more gumption, more interesting worlds, and possibly better shoes elsewhere

. (Graphic science fiction. 10-14)