Review – Journey to Hart's Halo

Title: Journey to Hart’s Halo

Author: Lou Hood

Publisher: we(e)press

Publication Date: January 20, 2012

ASIN: B0070YHQCE

Available at: Kindle

From Goodreads:

JOURNEY TO HART’S HALO is a near-future fantasy adventure, set in 2033 on the world’s first international space colony.

The project of eccentric technology billionaire Dr. Oliver Hart, Hart’s Halo is about to be populated by Zero Colony. Space-crazy twelve year old Davey Randolph’s dream is to win two of the twelve spots, for him and his mom, in a global lottery to spend five years aboard the Halo.

Constructed as a puzzle-propelled mystery, Davey needs the help of an international cast of clever and quirky pre-teens, and to conquer his own feelings of being an outsider, to solve the puzzles that will lead to a shocking discovery about the true fate of his missing father.

With new quantum physics from The Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, futuristic technology, and space travel and habitation, it is a modern myth of epic scale.

Review:

Davey Randolph has Halotisis. He’s desperate to get on Hart’s Halo. He even enters the Hart Lottery by hacking into his mother’s email account. What he never dreamed of was winning the lottery! Now, thanks to his puzzle solving skills, he’s on his way to the space colony itself!

This was a fun book. I didn’t think I’d get so engrossed in it. The puzzles were fun. Davey was cute and so was Grace, his young friend. There was nothing new about a space colony but the puzzles did keep it fresh. Somehow Hood managed to keep the story going despite the recycled plot as well.

The characters were endearing and I think that’s what really drives the story. Davey was a good kid with a lot of smarts. He wasn’t aware of how smart he was which made him all the more appealing. He wasn’t particularly geeky either. He just liked puzzles and learning. Neither was Davey particularly mature for his age like most authors make out young characters to be in books these days. He acted his age and it was fun.

His friend Grace was the same way. She acted her age and they both had a lot of fun. There were some sobering moments as well. I didn’t respond to them as well as I did the lighter moments. But the kids reacted as I would expect they would.

The end plot was a little crazy. It was backed by a little too much by hard talking science that I found a little hard to take. It was basically introduced in conversation and it amounted to a monologue by one of the characters with only interjections of “Cool!” by the other participants. If you’re not into science you may not be too interested in it. I just kind of skipped it.

The book ended a bit too abruptly for me. I suppose it’s because there’s going to be a series.  I would have liked a bit more closure though. I felt like it was a bit too rushed.

I had a fun time with this book. The puzzles were inventive. The characters were fresh. I look forward to seeing where Lou Hood takes this series.

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