Hatching the Phoenix Egg (Mare Tranquillitatis: Book 2) by Joel Horn

4 Stars

Publisher:

Date of publication: September 24th, 2016

Genre: Thriller, Suspense, Science Fiction

Series: Mare Tranquillitatis

Lost Coast Rocket – Book 1 (review here)

Hatching The Phoenix Egg – Book 2

Where to find: Amazon

Book synopsis:

Would You Travel a Half-Billion Miles to Escape Your Past?

That’s exactly what Ken O’Brien does in this sequel to Lost Coast Rocket.

Driven by a broken heart and a mysterious compulsion he can’t understand, Ken launches himself into space. During this one-way trip, he has just ten years to answer as many cosmic questions as he can before his body succumbs to the hostile space environment.

But he’s given an unexpected gift and his life is extended. How he spends this gift, however, makes him the most hated man in history. Will the world absolve Ken of his extreme sin? More importantly, will the green-eyed girl who broke his heart forgive him for what he was driven to do?

˃˃˃ Hatching the Phoenix Egg is Book 2 in the epic Mare Tranquillitatis Series

The adventure began in Lost Coast Rocket, the first book of the series.

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My review:

This book starts after the launching of the Tranquility and Ken narrowly avoiding being arrested by the FBI. He goes off into orbit around the earth and the moon and starts his journey to Jupiter.

While he is on his way to Jupiter, his friends are left behind to pick up the pieces. Akira breaks the news to Carol and Mary that he will not be coming back and that he was the boy who Dawn was looking for. The FBI investigates them and finds nothing but does take all of Ken’s rockets that were at the clubhouse. Which was no big deal because they didn’t get anything important.

I found Ken’s travel to Jupiter fascinating and very intriguing. It definitely made me wonder when we’ll finally send manned expeditions to Jupiter and its moons. I also thought that him choosing a school to share his journey with was fantastic.

The comet, Ken wanting to save the world from it and how people reacted is totally what I would think people today would act if something like that ever happened. The riots, the food shortages, everything was written about how I expected people to act in an apocalyptic situation.

I did find Ken a bit self-absorbed in this book. But, he was dealing with his own issues and facing his own death. So I understand why he acted that way.

The end of the book was great. So many things were wrapped up and so many storylines, carried over from the first book, were resolved in a satisfactory way. I am wondering if there will be a 3rd book. From the way this one ended, I can see a 3rd one being written.

I will warn everyone, this is not a YA book. The first one, yes. This one, not so much. It is so much darker than the first one. I will also mention that I didn’t get the title until the end of the book.

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I would give Hatching the Phoenix Egg an Adult rating. There are sexual situations. There is language. There is violence. I would recommend that no one under the age of 21 read this book.

I would reread Hatching the Phoenix Egg. I would recommend it to family and friends.

**I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book**