Middle-Grade Review: My Best Friend Runs Venus by Katrina S. Forest

My Best Friend Runs Venus
By Katrina S. Forest
Genre: Science Fiction
Age category: Middle Grade
Release Date: June 1, 2019


Description:
At 12.9 years old, number-obsessed Kade Walker has never heard of death. Literally. But neither has anyone else he knows. Kade is one of hundreds of kids "living" across the solar system through robotic avatars while their real bodies sleep in pods on Earth. Unfortunately, robot bodies can be hacked.

One day during an (innocent!) experiment, Kade unwittingly breaks a major security wall and releases an infamous hacker. The madwoman targets all the royal avatars, including Kade’s best friend, Princess Tamika of Venus.

If Kade and Tamika don’t want to become the hacker’s puppets, they’ve got to stop her fast--even if it means waking up on Earth to fight with bodies they never realized could be hurt.


My Review:
In My Best Friend Runs Venus, there’s a lovely blend of sci-fi, adventure and whimsy. The main characters are a couple of pre-teens who have been paired up as companions and sent to Venus via robotic avatars to run the planet. Their curiosity gets the better of them, and they activate a teleporter that releases a dangerous criminal who is intent on taking over their sims and destroying the status quo.

Had I read this as a kid, I think I would have loved it. As it is, I just really liked it, which isn’t all that different, really. I very much enjoyed the planet hopping, the banter between Kade and Tamika, the illustrations, and the imaginative technology that made everything possible: the flavor sticks, the teleporters, the avatars, the environmental overlays. And I thought the story was well executed and well organized. Just overall good!

Still, the idea of sending children to rule the planets of the solar system was interesting, but I couldn’t help but sense the unfairness of it all. The kids are essentially locked into sleep pods and expected to live out their lives as their avatars. The companions are basically the appointed best friend of each of the royals, and they aren’t even allowed to look human, that that seemed to bother Kade too much.

Through it all, I had questions. Did the parents go about their lives on the home world when not overseeing their children? Who else is on each of the planets? How are these children going to have families of their own and keep humanity going if they are living virtual lives? As an adult reader trying to understand the world, these kept me wondering. Would a young reader ask the same? I don’t know.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I would recommend it to younger readers who enjoy science fiction and adventures, particularly those who like imagining the possibilities of space colonization. Adults looking for a lighter read may also enjoy this, particularly if they enjoy middle-grade fiction.

I received the review copy of this book from the author via Lola’s Blog Tours.

About the Author:

Katrina S. Forest is a teacher by day, author by any-other-time-she-can-get. Her work has sold to a variety of magazines, ranging from Flash Fiction Online to Highlights to Children. She loves nerdy conventions and believes video games can be a force of creative good instead of evil.

You can find and contact Katrina S. Forest here:
- Website
- Facebook
- Twitter
- Goodreads
- Amazon

Middle-grade Steampunk Review: Farsprocket by Dustin McGee

Farsprocket
by Dustin McGee 

Publication Date: February 9th 2013

Description:
The Kingdom of Stormgear flourished for many ages, before the events of the 7th Age brought that peace to an abrupt and devastating halt. A great war ravaged the Far North and spread corruption throughout the land. At the end, the war even reached the massive gates of the city of Stormgear, with its shining beacon of hope, the Academy, at its heart.

Though the city had already seen its fortunes fall when a plague swept through its western reaches, the defenders managed to hold back the assault, but at a great cost. With the war finally over, the city began to recover and life seemed to be returning to normal, but there are still threats lurking in the shadows, hoping to disrupt this fragile peace. Much of this danger lies in the manufacturing district in the western portion of the city, which remains a restricted area, but children regularly find their way in, to explore and discover the parts needed for their latest inventions.

It's every child's dream to become an engineer of legend and to do so they must first gain entry into the Academy of Engineering, a massive tower at the center of the city. An engineering marvel in itself, the tower has trained and nurtured many engineers through its diverse programs in various fields of engineering study. To be accepted, you must prove yourself and it’s this test that has led many a child to seek out the assortment of parts and wreckage that lie in the west.

With many of the old legends fading into history and the world just a tad darker than in ages past, it is through this search for elusive parts that a small group of children and early teens will be brought together to face this new age, together.

Though they are mostly naïve to the dangers surrounding them, they just might have the talent and heroism necessary to become legends themselves.

My Review:
Farsprocket is steampunk for the middle-grade crowd. The heroes in this story are Magnus, Vorrin, Melayna, and Cindra. Aided by their robots, Titan and Alpha, the kids decide to go on a rescue mission.

The thing I love most about this story is the humor. The author has great timing, particularly with the dialog and arguments. The non-verbal cues are also spot on. I could totally picture the faces the kids were making and it just made it all the more entertaining. The rivalry between Cindra and Magnus was hilarious. Poor Magnus.

The two robots that go along with the kids are also a hoot. They were just as charismatic as the kids, even without the ability to talk, especially Alpha, who kept turning on a certain setting despite how often Melayna turned it off.

Besides the heroic team, plenty of dangerous characters roam these pages, giving the story an exciting edge and the heroes a reason for working together. A devastating plague caused by pollution causes people to go insane, even so much as to engineer equally insane robots to wreak havoc. Scrappers, who roam the abandoned parts of the city to steal parts, are just as likely to steal away unsuspecting people to work in the mines. And corrupted robots are fueled by a dark power source that makes them incredibly strong and violent, a bad combination.

Even so, I noticed a few things that didn’t quite work for me. The kids tend to yell and shout when they’re supposed to be hiding, yet they’re never noticed. They also become friends almost the instant they meet. The story spans only a couple of days, but very quickly refers to them all as being close friends or family. Not a big deal, just seemed a bit easy.

Overall, I really liked this story. I’d recommend it to folks who enjoy kid-friendly action, humor, and robots. In particular, I think the middle school crowd would dig it.

I picked this up some time ago while it was on a free promotion. Finally got a chance to read it.