The
average daytime temperature is 120 degrees.
Crops are dying, animals are starving, water is drying up and soon
the Earth will be a dry desert wasteland.
Mankind
is barely hanging on. Millions of
people are dying from the sun’s radiation and those that do survive are
forced to wear protective suits to stave off the heat.
Before
long mankind will cease to exist.
But,
there is hope: the stars.
A
large fleet of spacecraft has been prepared to send hundreds-thousands of
people to the stars in search of habitable planets.
Although
faster than light speeds have been obtained it will take at least 100 years
to reach what is hoped to be an earth-like planet capable of sustaining
human life.
As
the air grows increasingly stale and food and water diminish a brave group
of volunteers prepare to go into suspended animation in the desperate
attempt to wake up on a new world and thus save mankind.
There
are no guarantees and it is certain a large portion of the volunteers will
die.
In
‘The Exo Project’ by author Andrew Deyoung and published by Boyds Mills
Press/Highlights, seventeen year
old Matthew must make the hardest decision of his young life.
Several
years previously Matthew’s father died leaving his mother,
younger
sister and Matthew to fend for themselves.
When
Matthew’s mother contracts cancer and must be put in suspended animation
until a cure is found Matthew decides to volunteer for the one way trip to
the stars in order to get the money to cure his mother.
He
is chosen, leaving his mother, sister and his home behind him. Or so he assumed.
Meanwhile
on a distant planet a young alien girl (Kiva) experiences a vision of
visitors from space.
Are
the fates and lives of Matthew and the girl intertwined?
Are
things are as they appear? What of ‘The
Exo Project’?
When
Matthew and Kiva meet what will become of their lives and their worlds!
‘The
Exo Project’ surprised me. The end of
mankind is no new concept or fodder for literature.
But,
author Andrew Deyoung managed to take what would appear to be a cut and dry
‘end of times’ story and throws in a number of surprises for a remarkably
fresh perspective.