Earth Star by Janet Edwards

Earth Star by Janet Edwards

Earth Star

Author Janet Edwards

Book length: 385 pages

Content note: YA for 9th grade up

"Sir, I'm just a history student, how can anyone possible believe..." 

"They believe it because they want to, because they're scared and it makes them feel safer."

Earth girl, Jarra, is back with her “handicap” which means she is a person who can not portal off Earth because of her immune system. Also, it seems that she, like all other Earth-bound people, can not escape being called cruel names like “ape” because of this handicap. This book opens in the year 2790 with Jarra’s college history class moving from excavating the ruins of ancient New York City to excavate the ancient city of Eden in Africa. She and her non-handicapped boyfriend, Fian, suddenly get called out of class because they have been drafted into the military. The reason for this? Well, even though humans have explored and colonized many planets, they have not found any intelligent life anywhere. But now, it seems that intelligent life has found them. There is an unmanned sphere hovering silently right above Earth, and the military need Jarra and her vast information about Earth’s pre-history (pre-history is the time before portals were invented) to help deal with this situation. The military think there is a possibility that these aliens might have visited Earth before the great “data crash,” and mass exodus from Earth to other planets. Jarra and Fian are tasked with the responsibility of heading a team to research ancient images and information that might help determine if this is possible. Then Jarra, because she knows more about Earth than anyone else in the military, comes up with a plan to portal all Earthlings (Earth’s population is quite small because it only contains the handicapped) to a safe place in caverns below Australia. These caverns were built long ago and have been largely forgotten, but school children still take field trips there and Jarra knows all about them because she was one of those school children.


The general population is in the dark about the possible threat of an alien spacecraft hovering over Earth. So, evacuating to the caves as a precaution against a supposed meteor shower seems like a big party, until the true information leaks out. Now there is a panicked population on Earth and over the whole universe and the military must use Jarra to calm everyone down while cooler heads prevail.


I have to admit I enjoyed this book even though I did roll my eyes at some of the “cheezy-ness” of the dialogue and Jarra’s “knowing it all” quality. However Jarra is a likable and strong character who valiantly struggles with inner battles and the prejudice that comes with being handicapped. Fian is a great boyfriend for Jarra, and the two of them are willing to work hard on their relationship dealing with Fian's parents and Jarra's issues. Also, the plot and the setting are absorbing. Edwards has done a great job of creating whole societies, codes-of-conduct, and cultures from various human colonies making this story even more interesting. I know I will read the third book in this series.