Barlow, Steve & Skidmore, Steve. Outernet. NY: Scholastic, 2002. 170pages. (Sci-Fi)
One of the main characters in my story was Jack, a shy, young boy who receives a laptop for his birthday from his father who worked at an airbase. One other main character was Loaf, Jack’s friend, and is the jokester of the three main characters. Lastly there was Merle, the daughter of the commanding officer at the airbase that Jack’s dad got the laptop from. This story takes place between Earth and other various planets in the universe. Outernet is the story of three kids who discover a special laptop, it doesn’t connect to the Internet, it connects to the Outernet, a server that connects to the whole universe. Unfortunately they are not the only ones who want it. The FOE’s (bad guys) also seek this laptops power. So, Jack, Loaf, and Merle fight to save planet Earth from destruction by fighting aliens and traveling through portals to other worlds. They must not destroy the laptop, but they must also not hand it over to the FOE’s. They have two choices shut it down and not use the server, or return it to its owner so it can be destroyed. What will they do?
I did not like this book very much because it had no real ending. I liked the whole two choices part, but it never told what they actually did. I would not recommend this book to anyone who cannot understand concepts very well, as far as time and space travel, because the book can become very confusing. I am not one of those people who understand space travel very well, so I did not enjoy this book. If I were to give this book a grade, I would give it an 86.
Reviewed by: B-radMagil22
