Billion Dollar Boy [Turtleback]

Charles Sheffield (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 30, 2004

One of the richest young men of twenty-second-century Earth, Shelby Crawford Jerome Prescott Cheever V finds himself stranded on a mining ship twenty-seven light years from Earth, where he must learn to survive without all his vast wealth.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

In The Billion Dollar Boy, rich, spoiled, overweight 15-year-old Shelby Cheever is bored, so he convinces his mother to take him on a space cruise. Without proper preparation, and drunk besides, he accesses the node network alone to visit the Kuiper asteroid belt and finds himself hurtled 27 light years out to the Messina Dust Cloud, where he is rescued by a mining family. On the three-month journey home, Shelby must learn how to do for himself in an environment where his wealth and pampered status mean nothing. Another well-written coming-of-age adventure story in the new Jupiter series. For large sf collections. In the hard-science Tomorrow & Tomorrow, Sheffield explores changes in the solar system and the theory of a closed vs. open system wrapped around a tale of a musician's fanatical love for his wife. Drake Merlin has his dying wife Ana and himself cryonically frozen so they can be together once a cure for her disease is found. Several times over 15 billion years he is awakened only to find no cure and, one time, he accidentally causes Ana's death. But if the theory of a closed system is true and the universe shrinks, he and Ana can return to a point when she is alive. This fascinating story is recommended for most sf collections.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

The second Jupiter novel apparently takes place in the same future as Sheffield and Pournelle's Higher Education (1995), one and a half centuries later and much farther from Earth. A spoiled, very rich teenage boy, Shelby Cheever V, accidentally passes through the interstellar travel nodes and ends up aboard a starship that mines interstellar gas clouds for rare elements. He quickly develops the skills to be a useful member of the crew, survives the perils of space and would-be kidnappers, and is thinner, smarter, and much more of a mensch by the time he is reunited with his father. Any resemblance between this plot and Kipling's Captains Courageous is almost certainly intentional. Sheffield skillfully puts his own stamp on the familiar elements, providing first-rate scientific and technical extrapolation, brisk pacing, and a more plausible depiction of his young hero's maturation than is typical of this sort of coming-of-age adventure. Roland Green --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Turtleback
• Publisher: Demco Media (August 30, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0606311009
• ISBN-13: 978-0606311007
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Solid if unspectacular, May 16, 2003

By 

E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Billion Dollar Boy (Starscape) (Mass Market Paperback)

Shelby Cheever is the kind of kid that everyone, at one point or another, has run into and wished they hadn't. Adapted from a story by Rudyard Kipling and now reprinted for a juvenile crowd by Starscape Books, "Billion-Dollar Boy" is solid if unamazing SF journey.

It's the future, when Earth is impoverished except for a tiny number of corporate big-shots. And Cheever heir Shelby has everything a boy could want and more: insane amounts of money, a staff to wait hand and foot on him, and a dimbulb mother who lacks the brains to tell him "no" sometimes. In short, he's spoiled rotten. And when he wants to take a space cruise, his mum says yes. Unfortunately, Shelby gets drunk on the voyage, and decides to take a small jaunt OUTSIDE the spaceship -- where he gets literally lost in space.

Fortunately, he's picked up by a mining vessel. Unfortunately (depending on your viewpoint) the family on board has never heard of the Cheevers, and they certainly don't believe that he's wealthier than all the miners put together. So for the first time, Shelby is forced to use his brain and his body, and pitch in on actual work. That would be fine -- until someone recognizes him, and plans a ransom demand to his father.

Like "Putting Up Roots," this book is not an amazing, groundbreaking piece of SF, but it's readable for both adults and kids. It has a pretty simple, straightforward plot: Go from A to B, where C will happen. And Sheffield does a good job of shifting Shelby from a bratty, overweight, obnoxious teenage boy to someone resourceful, skilled, and if not smart, then at least trying to be. The writing is fairly ordinary, with some good descriptions of life on a gritty mining ship.

This novel is far from flawless, though. One of the biggest problems is the technobabble that the characters launch into, or the idea that Shelby's smart "salt of the earth" dad would marry an idiot socialite and let his son run wild. Or, for that matter, how there could be a mere few hundred rich elite on Earth; why this is so is never explained, since that sort of scenario wouldn't last long.

Shelby is a pleasant oasis in a sea of kid characters who either know it all, or are just plain annoying. He's meant to be annoying, and the means by which he STOPS being annoying is what makes him interesting. Grace is a pretty good character, although I had trouble figuring out if she was a love interest or not. Most of the supporting characters are okay, not stellar, except for the dryly amusing Logan (a robot).

Despite the odd implausible points, "Billion-Dollar Boy" is a solid enough read, with a very flawed lead and a solid, action-filled story. Nice job.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I enjoyed it, AND my kids enjoyed it., July 1, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: The Billion Dollar Boy (Jupiter) (Hardcover)

One of the reasons I loved reading science fiction as a kid was the spirit of adventure and exploration that sci-fi offered. This book, with its fast-moving and clean plot (G rated, but more enjoyable because of this, not in spite of this), reminded me of the thrill of my youth when I discovered a new Asimov novel in the library. This book does not pretend to be 'literary'; instead, it sparks your imagination and leaves you with a bit of envy that you aren't able to join a deep space mining expedition

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars For the boy who gets what he wants, not what he needs., May 12, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: The Billion Dollar Boy (Jupiter) (Hardcover)

In the Jupiter Novels, Tor Books has good intentions and bold goals of presenting a new line of original novels featuring all the virtues of classic science fiction--fast adventure, colorful characters, rigorous scientific accuracy, and thought-provoking ideas. The first Jupiter Novel, HIGHER EDUCATION by Charles Sheffield and Jerry Pournelle, was a predictable and not very engaging novel for young readers (ie: no sex) that fell short of the series' goals. It read more like a piece of propaganda arts from the far right wing (ie: social welfare undermines personal initiative), and if the story is allegedly a satire on the Education process, I found no humor and the message was lost. Frankly, it left me cold. Sheffield has much improved in sticking to the classic science fiction "feel" in THE BILLION DOLLAR BOY--which is a bit like a cross between Catcher in the Rye and an episode of the 60's TV classic "Lost in Space". Shelby Cheever V is one of the richest young men of the 22nd century when a careless mistake finds himself on a mining ship 27 light years from Earth. [Hoo boy, what a premise to start with] Cheever finds himself having to rely on his own wits, working his passage off while learning a lot about what it is to be human. His trials and tribulations are filled with action and emotion; knowledge is gained in both his character and mind. He even slims down from the fat, spoiled, rich kid to a muscled, brainy and appreciative young adult. [reserving a rude comment here--I'll let my own sarcasm remain silent] The plot is entertaining despite its predictability--and lack of characters of true depth. The hard science is delivered in a no nonsense manner--no bug eyed monsters, "rubber science" or anything without plausible basis in today's known sciences. However, there are a few social leaps that one must buy into (like Earth being overrun by starving hordes of the poor, and ruled by an extremely minute group of rich elite) that may be a bit hard to stomach. And don't get me wrong, I'd definitely rather have my kid reading this than some of the real trash out there. But I truly wonder whether there are any "young readers" out there that would fit the bill as to the intended audience--more likely it is oldsters like myself looking to recapture a bit of the "innocence" of our youth