Zero G

Title: Zero G

Author: Dan Wells

Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller, Margaret Ying Drake, Josh Hurley, Eddy Lee, Jennifer Van Dyck, Allyson Johnson, David Shih, Betsy Hogg, Chelsea Spack

Genre: Science Fiction

Length: 4hrs 8mins
Awards: N/A

Grade Level: 4 - 8

Twelve years old Su-Shu "Zero" Huang, his family, and 20k other people are on the Pathfinder to form a new colony on the planet Kaguya in the Murasaki System 20 light-years away from Earth. It would take them 105 years to arrive, but they would be in stasis pods the whole time. Once the ship passes the Kuiper belt and enters deep space, the ship would go into hyperdrive. The spaceship is controlled by Sancho the navigational artificial intelligence and Jim the pilot, who is in charge of clearing asteriods before going into hyperdrive. Due to the pod malfunction, Zero is the only one to be prematurely awoken. He discovers that a family of space pirates, which includes Jim, plan to hijack the ship and enslave all the passengers. Zero has to not get caught, get the pirates off the ship, and get Sancho back online before he accelerates to his death. He manages to hide from the pirates and foil their plans long enough for him to befriend Nyx, the youngest pirate. In hopes for a better life in the Kaguya colony, Nyx decides to betray her family and help Zero get the Pathfinder back. Sharing a stasis pod, Zero and Nyx successfully arrive on Kaguya.

I would recommend this audio book to a student that is reluctant to read but may be interested in sci-fi. The full voice cast with the sound effects and background music made the story come alive. It was enjoyable to listen and immerse myself in the action. Because an audio book does not have printed text, I sometimes had difficultly focusing and following the story. I had to solely rely on my listening skills and it did not always go at the pace I needed to comprehend the narrative, so I personally think having both the physical book and the audio book would enhance the reading experience. An audio book is good to use when I am unable to hold a book, on the go, and feel like I do not have the time to read a book for myself.