[QW1]⋙ Download Free The Incredible Origins of the Onyx Sun Christopher Mahoney Rudy Hall 9780979520259 Books

The Incredible Origins of the Onyx Sun Christopher Mahoney Rudy Hall 9780979520259 Books

Download As PDF : The Incredible Origins of the Onyx Sun Christopher Mahoney Rudy Hall 9780979520259 Books

The Incredible Origins of the Onyx Sun Christopher Mahoney Rudy Hall 9780979520259 Books

Awaiting a sequel!! As a teacher, I know of at least four groups of boys, in various states who loved reading this book.


Tags : The Incredible Origins of the Onyx Sun [Christopher Mahoney, Rudy Hall] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Zack Goodspeed is a perfectly normal 11-year old boy, about to embark on an incredible adventure. For when he discovers his grandfather has invented a source of unlimited power,Christopher Mahoney, Rudy Hall,The Incredible Origins of the Onyx Sun,Pariah Publishing,0979520258,Children's Books 9-12 Years

The Incredible Origins of the Onyx Sun Christopher Mahoney Rudy Hall 9780979520259 Books Reviews

When I was Zack Goodspeed's age, I met Captain Kirk and his merry band of crew members on the good ship Enterprise. All science fiction/spaceship/boldly go where no man has gone before type tales always bring me back to the Enterprise. It's a character flaw, or perhaps an endearing quirk. Who knows.

In this story, we have young Goodspeed, and his pals boldly going to the moon aboard Grandfather Goodspeed's amazing ship, powered by his even more amazing energy source, the Onyx Sun (a nice oxymoron to call this jet black cube sun. It pleased me.) At first, I found myself a little distracted by things such as calculating Grandfather's approximate age (Hey! He and I were probably litter-mates! I wonder if he was really the brainiac in my 6th grade class who won the science fair?) But I settled in, fastened my seat belt and sent on a onyx sun charged ride.

The basic story is entertaining, and fun, if a tad predictable. (I mean, come on-- if you meet a character named Dr Machvel, how can anyone who has ever been exposed to The Prince not suspect he might be a bad guy. But, since most of the readership probably won't have read that particular book yet, it's probably okay.) I won't go into a plot summary, because that can be read elsewhere. I did get a little eye-glazy with some of the descriptions of how things worked or looked. It made me realize that probably a lot of authors, myself included, may write more towards how things would look in building a set or on camera than in a person's head. Or maybe you need to be a 10 year old boy to picture it in your mind. My view of the ship kept looking like the Enerprise But again, I digress.

Grandfather's version of mad-scientist is charming -- I tended to see him as a cross between Mark Twain and Columbo, but with a peculiar hairdo, described early on in the book. Zach is a basic boy, with a bit of extraordinary skills that become more apparent as he moves through the story. One of his more endearing characteristics for me is that he gets motion sick pretty easily. It's his Achilles heel, or the kid version of Indiana Jones and snakes. Nice touch, from a reader who pukes on roller coasters. Made him more real. There's lot's of room for his character to expand and fill out in sequels, for yes, I would bet there are sequels in store. Angelina is a great character -- a bit of a wildcard and daredevil. I enjoyed her somewhat callous, yet vulnerable view on the world. Sanjay rounds out the kid trio with down to earth geekiness.

I longed to get my hands on some of those learning files, and enjoyed the learning process the kids went through about the ship. As a neurological nurse, I worried about all the head injury/trauma Zach particularly seemed to suffer with all the blackouts. And there were a few other parts where my practical adult/parent mode kicked in, until I reminded myself to go back to a kid-reading-this mode. I also want to explore the website and wish I had access to some of the interactive stuff alluded to on the final page of the book.

I recently read another book by another author geared at the same target audience, but found myself turned off by the author trying to appeal to all reading audiences with his cleverness and allusions. Christopher Mahoney didn't forget his target audience, which is good. He stays true to them, but allows the rest of us to come along for the ride. I think kids will enjoy this, especially because it's other kids not so much as outsmarting adults, but in leading adults. It's not an us-against-them situation, as much as teamwork, where the generations work together. Again, nice touch.

I have a suspicion my nephew might enjoy this book, so will probably snag a copy for him to read. Think of him as Zach, but with Sanjay's skill set. He'll probably have no trouble picturing how the ship looks, and will tell me all the ways my mental image is wrong. Beam me up, Scottie!
The first half of the book is really a fun and intriguing read that both young and old will like. A 5 all the way. Two kids make an alliance to figure out what Zack's crazy (in-genius) inventive grandfather is up to. It results in some great adventures ending up on a space ship his "crazy" grandfather has created and going to the moon and beyond. It holds a promise of really a great adventure into space.

Suddenly after landing on the moon the story changes and an evil man with an evil plot pops on the scene out of the clear blue and the story changes from an adventure in space to espionage and killing and deception. The fun and exciting part of space travel slips away and it becomes more a battle of survival. In fact the rest of the book is really trying to survive against the evil who has tried to destroy them and in turn plans to destroy the world. Sort of a batman type story.

There are interesting science fiction aspects from unlimited power cubes to giant robots and 15 second learning files but they are grounded on the moon now and so the promise of space travel and all that never comes to fruition. The last half of the book revolves around now three kids, one being a true part of the crew, and a great friendship ensues. And the bond between Zack and Angelina grows into something very precious. These three take on the evil one practically on their own with virtually no help from his grandfather or the rest of the crew who seem to want to ignore the evil and work on establishing a base on the moon. This whole separation issue seems very unreal and when the three actually save the ship and the crew from what would have been sure destruction they get punished by his grandfather and the rest of the crew which takes on a lack of true reality.

This second half of the book has some challenging issues and great adventures but now it is not against space as much as fighting a crazy evil person bent on destroying the world. The direction of the story changing in the middle of the book changed the enjoyment of the read and the plausibility of the story. It is still good but seems to loose the great writing of the first half and becomes more of just another good/evil story and not all that much of plot anymore.

I was disappointed in the ending which of course is not a real ending but set up for the next book. But I felt like I was torn away from what the whole book had been building up to which left me cold. Adults really come away as pretty stupid and uncompromising which takes a little away from the reality of the whole book. But There are some good science items of interest and I think most young readers will enjoy the adventure.
Can't wait till the next one!!! Cherry Chase Elementary School. This is a really good book. I really want the next one!
Terrific book for teens and children! I bought it and shared it with my fifth grade class! Highly recommended!!!
Awaiting a sequel!! As a teacher, I know of at least four groups of boys, in various states who loved reading this book.