The first four people on Mars end up being the last four people on
earth in Robin Parrish’s Offworld. On
the way home from their successful mission to Mars, the crew of the Ares
mission mysteriously lose contact with Earth two months out from their arrival.
Barely surviving a harrowing re-entry, they are shocked to discover….nothing. Not
one living thing, human or animal, at the entire Kennedy Space Center complex.
Security footage shows that one second everyone was there…and the next they
were gone.
What follows is a harrowing journey across country towards
Houston, Texas, where satellite imagery shows an inexplicably bright light emanating
from, something that must be connected to the disappearance of the whole world.
And as the obstacles between them and their destination grow more treacherous,
they soon realize they’re not as alone as they thought…
I liked this book. It’s an imaginative spin on the post-apocalypse
genre, and it’s very quick paced and action-packed. It will also keep you guessing until the very
end. The book has religious undertones but they are done with expert subtlety,
it feels very organic to the story and never gets preachy. In fact there’s a
line I particularly liked in the book that goes something along the lines of “Everywhere
I look in the world I see poetry. And the thing about poetry…it doesn’t write
itself.”
My one complaint is that that the four main astronaut
characters seem flat. Can't put my finger on exactly why, they just seemed kinda bland. The book was
a fun enough read I didn’t really care, but for some reason I just found them
hard to get invested in.
Offworld isn’t a
YA book but it’s an easy enough read that high schoolers should have no trouble
with it. It’s available for Kindle and in paperback.
