Book Review:Lost Coast Rocket (Mare Tranquillitatis Series Book 1) by Joel Horn

This is a fun and engaging coming of age, YA, Science Fiction.

Lost Coast Rocket (Mare Tranquillitatis Series Book 1)

by Joel Horn

File Size: 3036 KB
Print Length: 259 pages
Publication Date: July 5, 2016
ASIN: B01I27IR2A
Genre: Science Fiction
My Rating: 4.25 of 5.0

Plausible Science Fiction, Adventure, Mystery, Love, Danger...
This story has it all!
Rockets are in Ken's DNA. At an early age, he develops a friendship with Akira, a boy who shares his passion for astronautics. While both are child prodigies, Akira does well in private school but Ken rebels against structured education. The unlikely duo draws together a small group of rocketeers, meeting in the shop behind Ken's house.
A tragic event at eight years of age haunts Ken through his growing-up years and shapes his destiny. As fate would have it, the girl at the center of the traumatic experience joins Ken's rocket club, unaware of their shared history. Will Ken tell Dawn that he is the boy she seeks?
As the group reaches their teen years, their rocket designs start pushing legal boundaries, culminating in an event that puts them in the crosshairs of an FBI investigator. To protect his friends and seek refuge from his past, Ken devises an escape plan that confounds the authorities and the world.
˃˃˃ Lost Coast Rocket is Book 1 in the Mare Tranquillitatis Series
The adventures continue in Hatching the Phoenix Egg and underlying mysteries are resolved.

Review:
Ken’s Grandfather was a NASA engineer and rocket builder. Even as a two-year-old Ken was fascinated helping Grandpa in his workshop. As toddlers Ken and Akira, another astronautic prodigy, meet in the park and become fast friends. Ken and Akira allow a handful of select friends in their ‘rocket’ building club: Carol, Ed, Jose, Kate and later, as teens, Dawn. Ken first met Dawn when he was eight and suffered through a tragic catastrophe. Ken feels guilty and refuses to tell Dawn that he is the boy that she has been seeking for years.

The activities of the teens exceed the legal requirements of the local rocket club but that doesn’t stop their efforts. Ultimately, they launch an unauthorized rocket to test the engine, based upon Ken’s Grandfather’s original design, and built in secret by Ken, Akira and their friends. The young rocketeers narrowly escape the FBI and begin to move off to college and their own dreams.

Ken is stressed and wandering but soon recognizes another key discovery. He makes arrangements to continue to protect himself and his friends. The group meet again for Akira and Carol’s wedding and this is the first time in several years that Dawn and Ken have been in touch. None of his friends really know what Ken has been up to although Akira and Carol soon learn the truth. Still, Ken refuses to tell Dawn and they separate again after misunderstandings which result in a terrible consequence.

Although some might think a story about young people and rockets would be boring, it is not at all. I was pulled in by the first chapters and the adventure held my interest. The science and technical details are explained sufficiently to follow implications even if I don’t understand quantum physics. The launch was exciting, just like a real rocket launch. The characters are interesting and the story is engaging and fun. There are some relationship messages that were presented well. Surprisingly I found the entire package captivating.

I received this title from the author.