Book Review - Space Affair

Young-Dae Jang

The book's name is Space Affair. The author is Peter Viney. I thought this book is a kind of fantasy, but it isn't. It's a kind of love story. I don't like this book.

The main character's name is Gareth Palmer. I think this book's time is the 24th century. The starship is going to go to the star Orelia. It is a very huge starship. I guess the people find out the new planets for human life. Almost 9,000 people are living in the starship. The starship has a lot of facilities, such as sports centers, coffee shops, library, computer rooms and garden. The garden is a very important place, because it makes oxygen, ingredients of food and the necessaries of life. Gareth is working in the starship. He is a garden technician. It is a very important job. Also, they have two groups of workers. One group is called Alpha. The second one is called Beta. His number is Beta 4297. One of the starship’s regulations is when Alphas are working in the starship, the Betas are sleeping in the freezer rooms. Every two weeks they change to work.

Gareth woke up from the freezer room and went to his room. Alpha 3461 and Beta 4297 (Gareth) are using this room, but now just Gareth is using this room. Alpha 3461 is still sleeping in the freezer room. When he arrived in his room, he really wanted to take a shower. When he was taking a shower, he found a little piece of gold metal. It is a small gold earring. So he wanted to know whose earring it was. He asked his Alpha friends very carefully, but of course, they don’t know. The starship’s second regulation is people can’t know each other. If the person violates the regulations, a police man arrests him and kills him. It is a very strong law. He finished all work and went to the freezer and slept. After 2 weeks he woke up again. He went to his room. At that time, he was really thirsty. Te turned on the tap. Nothing happened for a second, then the water came out suddenly. A piece of paper came out with the water! That is a message from Alpha 3461. Her name is Sara. She is 23 years old and an education technician. They knew it is illegal, but they keep in touch by a small piece of paper message every two weeks very carefully. When Sara made a program in a compact disk and hid it in a library, the program is a heart picture and love letter. Their love grew with the times.

One day, Gareth woke up in the freezer. The starship doctor woke him up early because there’s been an accident tin the garden. There was n explosion in the pipes to the orange trees. He is the best gardener in the starship, so the other Alpha gardeners wanted his help. Gareth worked for nearly twenty hours on the orange trees. There wouldn’t be any oranges for a few months, but he was able to save the trees.

The chief of the garden technicians recommended to him to change to the Alpha shift for three or four months because there’s no one else that knows about oranges and lemons on the Alpha shift. Gareth of course consented because Sara is working the Alpha shift. Finally, he met her.

I really wanted to read a fantasy book, but it is kind of a love story book. I don’t like this book, but I guess you like this story. I heard you like a love story. This book just has 19 pages. Just 30 minutes, you can read it.