This is probably my favourite YA trilogy for now. Beautiful final installment.
Liked it even more than the first book; and I am grateful that there is the happy end for Jarra without syrupy "happily-ever-after". I was left wondering, how the others will do in a few years: Playdon, Dalmora, Raven, Amalie, Drago, Lolette... And I am curious, what exactly happened on Persephone? On Gymir? In other words, I am longing to return to the Jarra's world, if not to Jarra herself.
Would be eagerly waiting for the next books by Janet Edwards, whenever she sets them - in 2789 or not, and wherever she will take us to.

Ну вот, всё вроде хорошо. Но жаль, что трилогия закончилась.
Что с инопланетянами поговорить не удастся, я угадала. А вот почему - нет, хотя всё ж выстроено и подготовлено, но вот догадаться - никак. За что Эдвардс и люблю.

Хочу книжку про прадедушку Фиана. Или про Лолетту. Или про детей Амалии.
Хотя по-хорошему, конечно, не надо ни продолжений, ни приквелов.
Но мир классный, жалко расставаться. ( )

Earth Flight (Earth Girl, Book 3)
By Janet Edwards
Pyr
Reviewed by Karl Wolff

In the 28th century, humanity has colonized the stars. Through interstellar portal technology, colonization occurred at a rapid pace. But it wasn't without costs and controversy. Earth Flight, by Janet Edwards, humanizes the personal tragedy of those left behind on Earth. The third novel of the series, following Earth Girl and Earth Star, it follows the life of Jarra, one of the Handicapped, as she strives to overcome her disability and her status as a celebrity.

The third volume throws in several complications to Jarra's situation. These include an alien sphere orbiting above Earth, causing all manner of anxiety and fear. Jarra wants to be part of the Alien Contact team, but her disability prevents her from portalling beyond the confines of Earth. Throw in a controversial romance, abstruse planetary clan rituals and political factions, and the novel has plenty of balls in the air.

The action moves swiftly as Jarra gets attacked from those who don't want her to succeed. Janet Edwards captures the everyday inconveniences of disability and the costs of bigotry to a developing individual. Edwards also creates a plausible slang and a variety of different cultures in her world-building. While I have not read the first two installments and YA fiction really isn't my thing, I did enjoy reading Earth Flight. It was nice to read about teens facing challenges in a science fiction setting without it being yet another garden variety dystopia. What is like when your own immune system prevents you from exploring the stars? Earth Flight struggles to solve that question.

Out of 10/8.5

http://www.cclapcenter.com/2016/04/book_review_earth_flight_earth.html ( )

If you ask me, this trilogy couldn’t have ended more perfectly. Earth Flight is a great example of a feel-good conclusion, a bright beacon in the darkness illuminating a path of hope for the disadvantaged and forgotten. It may be an imperfect galaxy, but this story still makes me want to celebrate progress and cheer for the future of humanity. I’m so glad I got to finish this journey, because I’ve been in love with this series ever since reading the first book.

After all, who could forget Earth Girl especially if you picked up the US version and the first thing you saw was that gorgeous cover? In case you haven’t seen it, the image shows a striking image of a girl embracing the world, a world that is also on a chain shackled to her ankle. Because for a girl like Jarra, that’s what the Earth is – her home, but also her prison.

Even in this far-flung future, children can be born with hereditary diseases and genetic conditions. Novak-Nadal Syndrome is an immune disorder that confines those it affects to Earth, and Jarra has it. Humans have developed portal technology at this point; with a few easy steps, you can find yourself in any of the many worlds they have colonized, except Jarra can’t visit any of them. If she traveled anywhere beyond Earth’s atmosphere, she would go into anaphylactic shock and die in seconds.

Unsurprisingly, everyone who could leave Earth has already done so, hundreds of years ago. It is now mostly home to those “Handicapped” with Novak-Nadal, though worse terms have sprung up over time to describe those with the syndrome: Ape, Neanderthal, Throwback…as an Earth girl, Jarra has heard it all. Earth and its citizens have mostly been forgotten, discriminated against and left behind. About a year ago though, Jarra changed it all when she joined an off-world university archaeology program that was doing its excavations on Earth. That decision has led to where she is today, showing first her class and then the entire galaxy that the Handicapped aren’t ugly, smelly, or any of the other horrible things that have been said about them. But for the condition that keeps her Earth-bound, she’s just like everyone else. Human.

By the start of this third book, Jarra has already affected much political and social change for the Handicapped and for Earth. But there are still those who reject her humanity and despise everything she stands for. They hate the fact she’s dating her boyfriend Fian, a norm. They hate that she’s been awarded with medals for all her accomplishments. They hate her for being part of the program preparing for humanity’s first ever contact with an alien civilization. Now Jarra’s life is in danger because these factions have already proven they are willing to do anything to silence her.

I enjoy science fiction with powerful social messages, and I love that the one in the Earth Girl trilogy is prominent but at the same time not beating-it-into-your-face-with-a-sledgehammer about it. It is first and foremost concerned with telling a story, one which has also gotten a lot less predictable since book one. So much has happened since then; among these events is Jarra learning more about her ancestry and a freakin’ alien sphere at showing up on Earth’s doorstep. Anything can happen. For a Young Adult series, it is also refreshingly free of the familiar tropes and clichés of the genre. The first book breathed new life into YA for me, and Earth Flight continued to do so.

My one regret is seeing less archaeology play into the plot of this book. But I’m an archaeology nerd, so don’t mind me. It was, however, another reason I immediately got sucked into these books, because it amuses me to imagine researchers almost a thousand years from now happily digging up and studying our trash. But while its themes are mostly centered around the far off future and beyond, this sci-fi series is unique in that it also shows a love for human history and respects the lessons we learn from it.

In the Earth Girl trilogy, Janet Edwards has created a stunning futuristic world with realistic and loveable characters. I absolutely adore it. In fact, I’m a little sad that it has ended. If this gives rise to a spin-off series, I certainly wouldn’t complain; there are lots of characters I’d like to meet again, especially in Team 1 – Playdon, Dalmora, Krath, Amalie – but really, I would be thrilled to see anything, as long as we get to return to this universe.

Bottom line? This third installment Earth Flight is fantastic, a beautiful and heartwarming conclusion to a trilogy that is deserving of so much love and attention. If the premise sounds interesting to you, be sure to check it out, and I hope it will enthrall and move you as much as it did me. ( )

I had never heard of this trilogy. In fact, I did not know that this was the final book in this trilogy until I went to read it. Which does somewhat account for the lack of action in this book. Yet, at the same time as I see this book being the final one I would expect more action then there was portrayed in this book. Nothing really happened until the last half of the story. However what did keep me reading was the world and the characters, particularly Jarra and Fian. They were evenly matched both as a couple and as fighters. With this series, the author shows that not all space themed books are kooky and far-fetched. They can really be good and make you believe that there could be other life out there. ( )

Earth Flight is the third book in this series featuring Jarra, a feisty, junk food loving, slang savvy, far-in-the-future girl who’s handicapped by having an immune system that won’t allow her to portal off of the home planet, so if you haven’t read the first two books, this isn’t the place to start, but if you’ve enjoyed the others it would be nardle to miss this one because it’s a totally zan conclusion. At least I think it’s the close of a trilogy, but I’d love another book and this one ends with Jarra still having lots left to do. If this is the end I’m going to hate leaving this totally amaz universe behind.

In the previous book Jarra and her twoing partner Fian managed to send a message to the alien ship parked just above Earth, which keeps the young couple involved in the government’s first contact project, so now Jarra is juggling military duties, history of early humanity classes, dangerous dig site field work at the ruins of once magnificent Earth cities, and her relationship with Fian, which goes through a lot of changes in the story.

One of the things I’ve loved best about this series is how thoroughly Janet Edwards has developed the diverse cultures of the far flung off-Earth settlements, and we learn more them all in this book, especially the somewhat notorious Beta clans since Jarra has discovered she’s one of them. This isn’t a perfectly written series, but it’s “flaws” have actually seemed to enhance my pleasure. There’s info dumping, but it’s fascinating since the future Edwards imagines is so detailed and interesting, and Jarra can be a bit of a Mary Sue (though that’s less in this third book), but she’s utterly charming anyway because she’s so good natured and full of enthusiasm.

If you love this series check out Janet Edwards’s website for 8 free prequel stories that further explore all the off-Earth colonies. ( )