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Crater

ebook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

A sixteen-year-old must battle his way across a thousand miles of deadly lunar terrain and face genetically altered super warriors in his quest to recover an astonishing object that will alter the lives of everyone on the moon . . . and beyond.

It's the 22nd Century. A tough, pioneering people mine the moon produce energy for a desperate, war-torn Earth. Sixteen-year-old Crater Trueblood loves his job as a Helium-3 miner. But when he saves a fellow miner, his life changes forever. Impressed by his heroism, the owner of the mine orders Crater to undertake a dangerous mission. Crater doesn't think he can do it, but he has no choice. He must go.

With the help of Maria, the mine owner's frustrating but gorgeous granddaughter, and his gillie—a sometimes insubordinate clump of slime mold cells—Crater must fight both human and subhuman enemies to complete his mission.

New York Times bestselling author Homer Hickman (Rocket Boys) will take you on a hold-your-breath adventure across the moon, and you'll never look at the night sky the same way again.

  • The first installment of the Helium-3 series
  • Book #1: Crater
  • Book #2: Crescent
  • Book #3: Crater Trueblood and the Lunar Rescue Company
  • Book length: 75,000 words
  • Includes discussion questions for book clubs
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    • Reviews

      • Kirkus

        February 1, 2012
        Long-haul trucking on the Moon...with raiders, romance and a secret mission. Teenage orphan Crater Trueblood was plucked from the Helium-3 mines by lunar kingpin Colonel Medaris because he's an "honest man who was above suspicion and also easily manipulated." Trueblood suddenly finds himself scouting for a convoy headed for Armstrong City and charged with picking up a mysterious package. In the course of an eventful trip, Crater survives numerous natural hazards out in the "big suck," learns how to deal with rambunctious truckers (much like herding cats) and plays various high-speed low-gravity sports. He also hooks up with the Colonel's mercurial granddaughter Maria and battles genetically altered superwarriors with help from a vacuum-suited horse and a Tribble-like supercomputer. Tongue planted pretty firmly in cheek, Hickam tucks in rough-and-ready characters with names like Nitro Ned and Unlisted Sally, along with ballads ("All I want is a moon dust girl, / Down in a crater waitin' for love...."), sexist comments, running jokes and prayers to the "Big Miner." As he leaves his protagonist at the brink of a war with Earth and determined to "keep his homeland safe," sequels are plainly in the offing. High adventure on the space frontier. The horse is a nice touch. (Science fiction. 11-13)

        COPYRIGHT(2012) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

      • School Library Journal

        Starred review from May 1, 2012

        Gr 6 Up-Best known for Rocket Boys (Delacorte, 1998), which has been published in a dozen different languages and then made into both a movie and a musical, Hickam has written another hit, Crater, his first novel for teens. Sixteen-year-old Crater Trueblood is a scragline picker, a menial worker responsible for keeping rocks and debris out of the machinery used for harvesting helium-3 from the surface of the Moon. When he makes a daring decision to save a fellow miner and averts a potentially fatal disaster, the enterprising orphan comes to the attention of the Colonel, who sends him on a secret and, most likely, deadly mission to retrieve a mysterious object. In the company of the Colonel's granddaughter and an amorphous blob of semi-intelligent jelly known as a gillie, the teen finds himself caught up in a web of intrigue and danger where he faces doom at every turn both from subhuman creatures and the inhospitable lunar surface itself. Classic science-fiction storytelling in the style of early Heinlein, humor, and grand adventure permeate every page of this first book in a trilogy. Boys in particular may be inspired to bring back the time-honored tradition of reading by flashlight under the covers.-Jane Henriksen Baird, Anchorage Public Library, AK

        Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    Formats

    • Kindle Book
    • OverDrive Read
    • EPUB ebook

    Languages

    • English

    Levels

    • ATOS Level:6.2
    • Lexile® Measure:910
    • Interest Level:4-8(MG)
    • Text Difficulty:4-5

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