Journey Between Worlds

"Journey Between Worlds" tells the story of Melinda Ashley who receives a largely unwanted trip to Mars from her father as a graduation present.

Melinda is the narrator of the story and the author uses a very authentic voice for her character. At times, she seems much younger than her eighteen years, and those times when her maturity slips are appropriate from both the character standpoint and the plot. Very often an eighteen year old doesn't have the first clue what they want out of life, which might come as a complete surprise to the teenagers who are probably going to be reading this book. Melinda seems to know exactly what she wants, though in the course of the book the reader discovers that Melinda's carefully laid-out plans are mostly the result of a lack of life experience. She wants to stay where she feels comfortable and that involves, almost exclusively, all that's familiar to her.

The book is very heavy on the human experience of an uninitiated tourist visiting colonies on Mars, rather than the technology involved in sustaining humans in a hostile environment. The practicalities of living with an extremely limited water supply and the limitations of rudimentary space travel are addressed very well and realistically. Mars is colonized utilizing technology that will probably be developed in the not so distant future and the descriptions of the materials used is very convincing without bogging down the story in superfluous details that the protagonist wouldn't be interested in in the slightest. She is not an engineer or a math whiz, or any type of a scientist and she doesn't become one overnight to clue the reader in on how far the human race has really come to make cities on Mars feasible.

It isn't difficult to see where the plot is going, though the power of the story is really in the strength of the characters. They aren't stock cardboard standees from the Trusty Sci-Fi Stereotype Store, they're characters that have some depth to them, and there's not even a Yeoman Jones in sight. The one seemingly thin character is Janet, a scientist who goes to Mars because it's the only way for her to advance in her field. Janet mostly seems to be there to be an antagonist and stimulate Melinda to think rather than blindly follow along. She serves as a catalyst for the story and she seems to be a truly necessary evil in order to drive things along.

Sylvia Louise Engdahl, the author, has written a Newberry Honor book, "Enchantress from the Stars."
While I wouldn't put this book in the Newberry running any time soon, it was a good, quick read that I did enjoy. This book is one I'd recommend to girls who are frustrated with the almost exclusively male playground of sci-fi and are starting to feel alienated from the genre. It's not some fluffy chick-lit plot that could take place just anywhere, the journey to and stay on Mars are integral to the plot and character development in the story. It's light on technobabble and ridiculous sounding made-up gadgetry without sacrificing belivability. There's more here for YA readers who are wondering if it's okay that they haven't made up their minds what to do with their lives and are searching for a character to identify here than for hard sci-fi geeks.
This is not a bad thing at all, rather it's a refreshing change of pace. Surprisingly enough, it was originally printed in 1970 and the story is still very fresh and relevant today.