Operation Earth (Project Ark 2) by L.T.Gibbons

Can a team of teenagers from another planet help change the world?

Operation Earth is the second book in the teen sci-fi trilogy, Project Ark.

Purchase Link: Amazon.com

Operation Earth on Goodreads

Review

*I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review *

Rating: 2.5 Stars

Operation Ark picks up where Project Ark left off and Mia McAdams is about to leave her new home on Usonia for Earth together with fellow Usonians who are tasked with assisting with the  migration.

I was looking forward to reading about Mia’s mission and hopefully how she could bring together two planets with very different views and ways of living. Unfortunately the direction was lacking somewhat and too much time was spent on ‘filler’ scenes and not enough on the important ones such as their time in Scotland and Japan.

Whilst it was good to see some more of the friends that Mia had left behind it just felt to me that she was looking down on them and didn’t really care about them at all. Her treatment of her best friend Ellie, whom understandably was a bit upset that she hadn’t seen Mia for a long time and when she finally does Mia’s brought someone else along (Stella who has also taken Ellie’s place as Mia’s best friend), was really horrible. Mia should have tried to put herself in Ellie’s shoes but instead she just wrote off the friendship like it meant nothing. Mia’s mother’s advice about their friendship was the worst advice I have ever read and I hope that no one’s parent ever really encourages their child to give up on a friend like that! That being said I do wonder if this was what the author intended as Mia’s mother is a pretty poor parent and example; after all she dumped Mia with a relation Mia hardly knew in favour of her career! Mia’s father’s presence was felt a lot more in Operation Earth and it was great to see his character developing further and also the much more positive example he set for Mia.

For me Operation Earth suffered most from missed opportunities. I think it’s a great idea that on Usonia everyone gets to have a say and that being a teenager doesn’t automatically exclude Mia and her friends from getting involved in the migration and helping to unite both planets. I really enjoyed the parts that were mission-focused and seeing young people make such a difference. It was amusing reading Stella’s adjustment to life on Earth and Operation Earth was a great opportunity for her character to shine and develop further. Ideally Operation Earth should have been longer so that more time could be taken on all aspects of the novel; Mia’s former life and the mission. Despite aspects for me feeling somewhat flawed, Operation Earth is a well-written read and the cliff-hanger leaves me wanting to know how the series ends.