Operation Earth (Project Ark 2) by L.T.Gibbons
Can a team of teenagers from another planet help change the world?
Six months after fifteen year old Mia McAdams lands on the secret planet Usonia, a shipment of Earth’s most brilliant individuals descends on the colony. Tasked with speeding up progress on the utopic planet, the determined and ambitious new arrivals aren’t afraid to ruffle a few Usonian feathers.
Meanwhile, Mia is preparing to say goodbye to her idyllic new life on Usonia, leaving her boyfriend and first love, Noah behind. Joined by her best friend Stella, her devilishly charming new teammate Kale, and a host of Usonians, Mia is set to fly to Earth on a mission to change the world. But will they succeed?
Operation Earth is the second book in the teen sci-fi trilogy, Project Ark.
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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.
Shari Sakurai 