From School Library Journal
Grade 7 -10 Lissa feels drawn to leave the safety of her artificial planet in the 21st Century and join those trying to decode the alien communication signal that is reaching our solar system. Against her parents' reservations, she applies to and is accepted by the prestigious Interstellar Institute on Earth. Zebrowski constructs a valid SF novel by using realistic science and believable characters whose fate captures readers' interest as the search for the signal's origin and meaning moves out into space. The one major touch that keeps the book from being just another science fiction YA, however, is the introduction of a serious and complex love story, clearly showing that the process of adjusting to the challenge of sharing one's life with another can be just as hard as that of interpreting messages from an alien life form. When Lissa is selected for more advanced training by the Institute, while Alek is not, she faces tough decisions and reassessment of her feelings. Her choice of career versus romance climaxes in a dramatic scene in outer space, followed by an open-ended but satisfying conclusion to this absorbing tale, depicting the same kind of curious, optimistic, hard-working young people found in the author's Sunspacer (Harper, 1984). Lyle Blake Smythers, Lib . of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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