However, set against all the fun, thrills and wonder this book creates, it is a minor grumble, though I do wonder how newly independent readers might cope. Inevitably, it was translated anyway and trying to decode it convincingly was something of a pain, as well as holding up the narrative. While there aren’t quite so many laugh-aloud moments in Space Hostages as occurred in Mars Evacuees, Frankie and I still found ourselves giggling at the antics of the goldfish and Alice’s dust-dry sarcasm.Īny niggles? Reading this aloud, meant I had to negotiate the strings of weird lettering representing the alien’s language and frankly, I could have done with less of it.

The planet is vividly evoked in delightful detail, without holding up the pace of the narrative, giving us a sense of wonder and difference the best science fiction provides.

There is none of the sloppy nonsense in the name of science fiction we endured in that dreadful film Home, I’m delighted to say. While the adventures Alice and her companions undergo are all out of this world – McDougall ensures that their progression through the alien space ship and experiences on the planet are plausible. While McDougall ensures there are plenty of laughs in both books, she never disguises the wrenching fear and grief that children caught up in war have to deal with. She also has the hard edge that comes with having to deal with the privation that comes with war and its subsequent hardship. Alice is a tween, one minute behaving like a snarky teenager, while the next seeming a whole lot younger which is spot one for the age-group. Sharp and snappy, with just enough information to tempt without providing too many spoilers, it also exactly captures the flavour of Alice’s first person narrative. Easy, right?įirstly, huge kudos to the blurb. But as it turned out, that was just the start of my adventures… Because very soon it became clear that if I was ever going to get back home, not only would I have to NOT DIE, but me, my friends and our floating robot goldfish would have to SAVE THE WORLD. After all, I’d just been THROWN OUT OF AN AIRLOCK by a horde of ALIENS had about three minutes left to live. You can’t cry in Space, but I was giving it a good go.

So we were all excited and looking forward to reading this next instalment.

Mars Evacueesis a solid family favourite – not only loved by Himself and me, but also by the grandchildren, who loved listening to the story of Alice and her adventures on Mars.

Mars Evacuees by Sophia McDougall