Rate this book

Second Ship, The (2006)

by Richard Phillips(Favorite Author)

3.66 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

1469219387 (ISBN13: 9781469219387)

languge

English

genre

Science Fiction

publisher

Brilliance Audio

series

The Rho Agenda

review 1: In all the mentions of this novel and peripheral encounters I had with it prior to reading, it somehow eluded me that it’s what I would consider ‘YA’ material- the polarizing Young Adult label that either terrifies or ensnares readers in droves. Fortunately, it is undoubtably SF as well, and carries the theme of danger lying in wait alongside graciously given gift-horses. As stated in the publisher’s jacket summary, it is about the recovery of alien technology from crash-landed UFOs. There’s some promising conflict set up between two opposing alien civilizations from which the two crashes originate, but it is largely deferred to subsequent novels. The teenage trio of protagonists take on some superpowers, as they tend to do in YA stories, and struggle to save the... more world while keeping their secret from Mom & Dad. The challenges they face all played out very over-and-done quickly, even after some heavy foreshadowing, and so the victories seemed unearned. The three teenagers are also all written fairly interchangeably I thought, and I never full distinguished them in my mind. I will leave it to younger readers to judge whether Phillips successfully captured teenage thought and dilemma adequately, although I suspect his characters a bit over-matured. One satisfying technique used here successfully was to slowly weave together plot threads from disparate characters which at first seemed unrelated. With a number of unresolved questions and troubling character disappearances, we seem well positioned for a follow-up story, though I hope it expands the stage settings and characters.
review 2: The first sci-fi book in awhile to hold my interest, a real page turner with a unique premise, and I can't wait to read the next book in the seriesThat said, it's not without flaws. The story requires a willingness to roll your eyes and go along with some technological leaps of faith that stretch the bounds of believability. And the author includes a few characters that are unnecessarily sick and brutal as compared to the general tone of the book and other characters less

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