Customer Reviews

Lucky Starr and the Moons of Jupiter

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Though Isaac Asimov, one of the principal forces behind modern science fiction, wrote this book under a pseudonym (Paul French), he eventually tired of the pseudonym and began putting all sorts of clues into these books that should have led most readers to figure out who the actual author was. I will leave a reader to learn those clues for themselves.

In this book, the fifth in the Lucky Starr series, Lucky and his friend Bigman journey to Jupiter to visit the site of a highly important experiment for a new space drive system. The new system, called Agrav, for anti-gravity, is a target of spies from another solar system. Lucky tries to keep the spies from revealing the secret of Agrav while finding the spies.

The plot thickens as we meet a varied cast of characters and wonder which of them might be the spy. Lucky has yet to find the spy when the first Agrav ship is tested. During the test the drive fails and the ship begins to hurtle toward Jupiter and certain death! Can the day be saved? Who is the spy? I leave the exciting conclusion for a reader to discover.

Isaac Asimov originally wrote the Lucky Starr books in the 1950s. By the time the books were reissued, our knowledge of our solar system had changed dramatically. Many of Asimov's descriptions of Jupiter's moons and Jupiter itself have been invalidated by flybys from various space craft, as Asimov explains in a forward to the revised books.

Look for this book also collected in a single volume with "Lucky Starr and the Big Sun of Mercury" and "Lucky Starr and the Rings of Saturn." That book is titled "The Further Adventures of Lucky Starr." This book is also collected in "The Complete Adventures of Lucky Starr." Other collections may exist.

The Lucky Starr books are a casual read and perfect for readers who enjoyed the Tom Corbett, Space Cadet series of books and Heinlein's juvenile books. There is a lot of logic in each of the books, and just enough hard science fiction to tantalize a reader and hopefully cause the reader to learn more. These books do have a flavor of Asimov's other books, but are less sophisticated. I enjoy these books, but some other readers may find them too mundane. I recommend these books carefully, because I do not know which category of reader you may be. Good luck!