Review: Earth Girl by Janet Edwards

Title: Earth Girl

Author: Janet Edwards

Published:  August 16th 2012 by Harper Voyager
ARC copy was provided by the publisher

Book Description:

2788. Only the handicapped live on Earth. While everyone else portals between worlds, 18-year-old Jarra is among the one in a thousand people born with an immune system that cannot survive on other planets. Sent to Earth at birth to save her life, she has been abandoned by her parents. She can’t travel to other worlds, but she can watch their vids, and she knows all the jokes they make. She’s an ‘ape’, a ‘throwback’, but this is one ape girl who won’t give in.

Jarra invents a fake background for herself – as a normal child of Military parents – and joins a class of norms that is on Earth to excavate the ruins of the old cities. When an ancient skyscraper collapses, burying another research team, Jarra’s role in their rescue puts her in the spotlight. No hiding at back of class now. To make life more complicated, she finds herself falling in love with one of her classmates – a norm from another planet. Somehow, she has to keep the deception going.

A freak solar storm strikes the atmosphere, and the class is ordered to portal off-world for safety – no problem for a real child of military parents, but fatal for Jarra. The storm is so bad that the crews of the orbiting solar arrays have to escape to planet below: the first landing from space in 600 years. And one is on collision course with their shelter.

My Thoughts:

The first time I saw the title and cover, I was captured. The summary made me want to read it ASAP. When I got my copy from the mail, I was ecstatic! Earth Girl fully absorbed me in. I never wanted to leave.

The story is about Jarra, an Earth girl. Her immune system has unable her to go through portals and visit other planets. Earth is now an abandoned wasteland. Majority of the people migrated to different planets, leaving Earth a place for throwbacks/handicapped. The story took a great turn when Jarra got accepted to Asgard University, a school for Norms. Norms are people who can portal to other planets.  Jarra is considered handicapped. People like her are bullied and looked down. So she decided to hide her identity. She met new people and gained friends who think she’s a Norm. Will her secret be discovered? Can she finally prove herself worthy and every good as they are? You have to read this book to find out.

The world building is superb! I love the futuristic concept. I ‘am amaze by the author’s way of describing the scenes from the book. I didn’t have a hard time imagining Jarra’s world. The scenes are mesmerizing!  The concept is unique too! There is nothing like it. My favorite part of the book are the expeditions in New York dig site.  It was very cinematic. It reminds me a bit of Prometheus and Sanctum.

The characters are believable.  I love Jarra. Her determination and courage awed me. She is persistent. It’s like nothing can stop her in attaining her goal. I admire her deeply. Fian is my second favorite. He is a total gentleman. As for the other characters, I find it hard to connect to them. There are too many of them to get acquainted with. But I enjoyed their range of personalities, which gave spice to the story. I also like their unique names “Krath, Lolia, Jarra, Fian  and Lolmack.”

The love angle was okay. There was just a hint of romance. So if you are looking for a book that will give you butterflies in your stomach. This book will just give you small amount.

Overall, this book is totally Zan!  The story is centered more on the expeditions, so if you are into adventure and science fiction, this book is for you.

I give this book 4 whales