Earth Girl by Janet Edwards

Genre: YA Science Fiction
Format: Hardcover
Publication date: March 5, 2013
Publisher: Pyr (Fantasy imprint of Prometheus Books)
Page count: 350
Star rating: 5/5

Jarra is Handicapped, or an ‘ape’ (although, she’s not supposed to call herself that derogatory name), and she wants to prove everyone wrong about her limitations. Unlike all the normal people in the galaxy, or all the ‘exos’, Jarra is forced to live on Earth with the other Handicapped humans. Being Handicapped means that you lack the gene that allows you to portal to other planets. Jarra has lived her whole life surrounded by other Handicapped students, because exos are often scared or disgusted with them. This is silly, because you can’t ‘catch’ this lack of gene, and exos certainly are no different than humans sentenced to live on Earth. Jarra has a dream of attending a university for exos, but in order to achieve this dream, she has to go in undercover. More than anything, Jarra wants to become a successful historian and she wants to go to a university that isn’t specifically for Handicapped people. What happens when she gets to a university and is faced with exos? Will she blend in or will they discover her secret right away? Can Jarra show them that she’s the same as every other human who can visit other planets?

YES. YES. YES. This is the first book I’ve read in a long time that I couldn’t stop thinking about. Whether I was in class, at the gym, or falling asleep, I couldn’t keep Earth Girl off my mind. I was genuinely excited to wake up in the morning because it meant that I could read again that day. I’ve read a lot of really great titles in the past few months, especially sci-fi ones, but this book really had me on the edge of my seat. For that reason, I can’t give this book anything less than 5 stars.

I originally bought Earth Girl at BookCon this past June. I told someone working the Prometheus Books booth about Hedgehog Book Reviews and what types of books I focus on. He recommended this title because it reflects on ideas involving racism. When I read the back of the book, I didn’t quite believe him. Jarra’s story seemed interesting, but I didn’t get the connection. Well, I was very, very wrong. The way Jarra is treated by exos is essentially how people of color are treated by white people. Some exos even see Handicapped people as less than human and less deserving of rights than themselves. This is extremely sad to read because Handicapped people are literally no different from exos, except that they lack the one gene. This is exactly how PoC are treated, still, in modern day society. I read the entire book as a comparison to the systematic oppression that PoC face and it made it a very powerful title.

Earth Girl is classic sci-fi. Janet Edwards builds an entire futuristic world complete with civilized planets and portals that can send people through space. This book was so creative that I wish the author could release a novella that just describes this world a bit further. I want to know more! I usually am a sucker for sci-fi books that have cool alien species, but Earth Girl was still amazing despite it only being about humans.

I’m so glad I picked up this book at BookCon. I’m only halfway through (maybe not even?) all the titles I got, but I feel lucky that I randomly decided to start this one. I hope to read more Prometheus/Pyr books in the future. Thank you to Janet Edwards for writing such a great sci-fi novel with a cool, strong female character. I think Earth Girl is very powerful in the sense that it touches on themes of racism.