Book Rating: ★★★★✰ (3.75 / 5 stars)
Zero and his family, as well as his new friend Nyx, have just arrived on an alien planet after a voyage that took over 100-years (in stasis). Coming off the high of defeating space pirates, Zero cannot wait to explore this new world! But this new planet, Kaguya, is not quite Earth. With low gravity, strange animals (with a predator reminiscent of a dragon), and huge plants…this is a dangerous new landscape. Yet…that might not stop another heist from occurring…that only Zero and Nyx can stop!
A fun audible original story, Dragon Planet takes us on an adventure filled with a new planet, a bit of science…and well…dragons! It’s fast paced, with memorable and fun characters, and a new mystery that needs to be solved! What’s not to love? Really, I had a fun time listening to this audiobook…and considering I’m not the target audience, that’s all you can really ask!
Granted, as an adult reader, I was left with a few questions that made it hard to suspend disbelief. Wouldn’t they have sent out probes to tell them more about Kaguya before they landed? And for something so important, wouldn’t there be more safe fails to hopefully prevent someone from stealing equipment? What about cameras that might have seen what happened during the windstorm? While some of these are addressed, a lot of answers are simplistic – which is fine for a children’s book! But, it was a little unbelievable to an extent.
Overall, while I enjoyed Zero G much more than this book, Dragon Planet is still a fun adventure for the whole family! I’ll be listening to the next book in the Zero Chronicles, Stargazer, in the near future!
What’s it about?
The much-anticipated sequel to Zero G and the middle grade debut by Dan Wells.
The colonists from the Pathfinder have arrived on Kaguya, a planet with low gravity but a very dense atmosphere. It’s fun to jump around, but the air makes you loopy. Even worse than that, the heavy atmosphere means that wind storms, although rare, are absolutely devastating.
Zero and Nyx help to get everything locked down before the first big storm, but they stumble onto a group of thieves who have stolen some mining equipment. Before the kids have a chance to get away and tell anyone, the storm hits and the massive winds carry them far away. Zero and Nyx are stranded on an unknown planet with no way to communicate, being chased by thieves, and with another storm bearing down on them.
And, oh yeah, this planet has dragons.
It will take more than just good luck to get back to the colony. It’s going to take science.
E.S. Barrison 