EIGHTH GRADE VS. THE MACHINES

The students of Public School Spaceship 118 face threats both new and continuing as they get set to hunt for the rest of the human race—which has mysteriously vanished.

Though he barely gives the main plotline set up in Seventh Grade vs. the Galaxy (2019) a nudge forward, Levy does pitch his three main characters—Jack, Becka, and Ari—into a nonstop whirl of captures, escapes, betrayals, exchanges of blaster fire, racing hoverbikes, and fresh tussles with both interstellar queen bee the Minister and school bully Hunter. Repaired at last and outfitted with upgraded weaponry, the school lifts off from the depopulated Earth…and is immediately hijacked by rebellious robots who have taken over a gigantic space mall and declared independence. Along with tucking in clear signs (from a robot buccaneer complete with peg leg to encounters with a furry alien and her moms from the planet Meerkat Prime) that despite all the gunplay none of this should be taken too seriously, the author closes with a broad hint that either someone has a hidden agenda or it’s all been just a VR simulation. Curiosity about which it is, plus the nonstop action, may keep readers forging on as cryptic clues lead from a library planet to a second uninhabited world yet to be visited. Aside from occasional name cues, markers of race or ethnicity are minimal; the three leads read as White.

Thin on character and plot development but action aplenty.