Spaced Out: Book Review By Abdurrahman Alturki

     What is the quickest way you can find a book to read? Well, before searching that up, you should probably consider the sequel of an amazing book. That’s Stuart Gibbs’ Spaced Out, the second book in the Moon Base Alpha (MBA) series and the follow-up of Space Case (you should read my other blog about it first!).

 

     In case you forgot, Space Case is a futuristic novel (in the year 2041) about Dash’s (the main character) life with his family in the first settlement on the moon, called MBA. It consisted of 27 moonies (the term used for those living in MBA), including Dash and the arrival of new moonies at the beginning of the book. In the beginning, the story begins when Dr. Holtz dies a mysterious death. As a result, Dash, who is the only one to suspect the possibility of a murder, undergoes a secretive, life-threatening investigation to find the murderer. When the murderer was uncovered by Dash’s deductive skills, he/she was sent back to Earth to go to court.

     At the beginning of Spaced Out, the Sjoberg family, who are rich, brutal bullies, continue to express their hatred to everyone partly because they desperately want to return to Earth, where they and every other moonie were promised the best imaginable vacation on MBA. Shortly after, Nina Stack, an unemotional, short-tempered moon base commander, mysteriously disappears. The moonies become totally lost since MBA is only the size of a soccer field, which is pretty small for people who lived there for months. After searching the entire base for her, with no sign of her, the moonies retreated to the next obvious option they had– searching for Nina on the lunar surface, where a few life-or-death situations befall them. Whether they find Nina alive or dead, it’s for you to figure out by reading the book!

     One common feature I adore found in almost all of Gibbs’ books, including Spaced Out, is a very engaging and heart-racking plot through the use of a large amount of suspense and mystery. For starters, how could a person disappear in a place as small as MBA? When I first read this book, this question came to my mind. I could imagine the mere idea of Nina’s disappearance raising a lot of suspicion and rumors about murder since it already happened before in Space Case. Even though this wasn’t emphasized much in the book, a lot of tension between the moonies was presumably created. This was because everyone knew that everybody had a reason to hold a grudge against Nina in their own way, who is antisocial and often unfair. Therefore, almost anyone could be a suspect for the potential murder. When first reading this book, I wondered how Nina’s body was hidden if there was a murder. Perhaps, after the murder, the murderer could take their space suit, carry Nina’s body outside and bury her under the moon dust, so she would look like a small hump in the ground. Also, she wouldn’t decay without any decomposers, so not even police dogs could sniff her out, that is, if there was air to breathe at all on the lunar surface. To me, this seemed like the perfectly planned-out crime. I believe that this mystery becomes more mind-boggling when thinking of other explanations for her disappearance. A theory some moonies invented to explain Dr. Holtz’s death in Space Case was space madness, which is developed as a result of being in such a confined space (MBA) with little things to do for months. This hypothesis was mentioned in Spaced Out, where some moonies proposed the idea that Nina decided to leave MBA because she was sick and tired of it, who didn’t have the best time at MBA like the other moonies. Another explanation for Nina’s vanishing, proposed by a young science know-it-all, Roddy, suggests that she was made of nanobots that scattered, which wasn’t such a far-fetched idea. This was because the book took place in a time far enough in the future (2041) when nanobots became more common. I personally think this is a valid idea since Nina acts so robotic that some of the younger children in MBA called her “Nina the Machina.”

     Another way I personally think Spaced Out has an appealing plot is the use of life-threatening situations. To Dash, going out to the lunar surface was already very intimidating because the last time he went outside, which was in Space Case, he was extremely close to suffocating and close to frying to death. In Spaced Out, when Dash goes outside to aid some adult moonies, including his parents, who are all in grave danger, he is very unsettled by the mere idea of leaving MBA. Before he knew it, he also fell into a serious danger different from his parents’ situation. This is one of the major reasons why I believe a reader would love reading this outstanding book. The reader would want to see the results of such frightening scenes, and it would be too difficult to stop reading at those moments.

     Humor is commonly found in Gibbs’ books, which Spaced Out has a fair share of to add to the overall enjoyment of the story. For instance, when Patton, the brutal, rude son of the Sjoberg family, was in the middle of nagging Dash, he was absolutely horrified when an “imaginary” space snake-like monster burst out of the floor and made him pee in his pants. When no one believed him (except for Dash, who knew the origins of the creature, but kept silent) after he reported it because the floor seemed perfectly fine, Dash mockingly made a loud, hissing sound to continue frightening Patton, which was the exact outcome. Another notable instance that made me laugh was one with Dash’s six-year-old sister, Violet, who is always chipper, enthusiastic, and said to have “too much” personality. Once, she assumed a noise that replied to her below the toilet was a space walrus, who she named “Deedah,” and informed every person she saw. There were numerous other occasions that happened frequently when she made the reader laugh, which was often attributed to how animated she always was and how quickly she could switch to a good mood if she wasn’t in one yet.

     I also liked how Stuart Gibbs weaves his talk about science into many occasions in Spaced Out, which I find informative and interesting. One time, Dash thought of how ugly the lunar surface was with so many bootprints and tread tracks when looking out a window. Immediately, in the book’s narration, he launched into an explanation of how the surface would remain unchanged for eternity because of the lack of wind unless the surface is physically disturbed by objects like boots, treads, and meteorite impacts. Another occasion when Gibbs began blending science talk with the story is when Dash encountered a meteorite shower. The author used this opportunity to talk about where they came from (including if they were actually space junk, not meteoroids), and how dangerous they were due to their rocket speeds, even if the pieces were pebbles or tiny screws.

     Spaced Out is a book hard to be compared with others. I highly recommend reading it and I believe you should put this novel in your to-read list. It is by far one of my favorite books I’ve ever read, and I think I’ll have a hard time finding a better book. It has one of the most gravitating plots I’ve seen that always keeps the reader engaged. Suspense, tension, and humor constantly have a presence throughout the novel, as well as near-death situations. Gibbs used all of these aspects to compose a very captivating story.