4 out of 4 stars
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A galaxy full of intelligent fluffy animals with space travel and deadly weapons is the basis of the young adult space opera by Kathleen M. Hamilton called Terralepus. The story is written in the third person and follows the lives and careers of three rabbits in particular, Jackie, Jasmine and Max.
Jackie, Jasmine and Max went to school together. On one school trip the two girls decided that they wanted to go into space, but Max said he wanted to be a doctor. Unusually for these choices made at a young age, these three rabbits all followed through with their dreams. The story then jumps ahead to a time when Jackie is the captain of her own ship, with Jasmine her first officer.
As they are boarding the ship to go on a long mission to another galaxy, the two girls spot a handsome looking rabbit. As they get closer they realise that it is Max. He has signed on as the ship’s doctor. The ship takes off and the mission begins. On the long journey to a distance planet, that they have received transmissions from, the ship has to go through hostile territory, respond to distress calls and get help from allies.
While onboard, Max starts to court Jackie, and Hershey starts an unusual seduction technique on Jasmine. Just as Max and Jackie start to work out how they feel about each other, the ship, in response to a distress call rescue the queen of Ion, a feline type animal. Queen Felicity develops a crush on Max and tries to seduce him. Max’s rejection of Felicity causes her to try to seek revenge, and she pursues him and Jackie from one galaxy to another and back again.
I love the way each animal has its own planet, and especially how out of all the animals to be bad guys the author chose hamsters. In particular, I found the battle machines that they used to be hilarious. The use of rabbits as the good guys, with the help from a fox reminded me of “Zootopia” so not unexpected. The inclusion of full colour pictures every so often helped to bring the story to life.
The part I didn’t like about the book was the interaction between the rabbits and humans. I found this to be totally implausible, as the rabbits are only two and a half feet tall and furry, why did everyone treat them as though they were human adults? Also, when they were confronted by the authorities, the encounter went completely opposite to what was expected from every other piece of literature that I have ever read.
The book appeared to be excellently proof-read; I only spotted one mistake, where the sergeant became a captain and then back to a sergeant again, in one paragraph. The story is very easy to read and the plot is simplistic, not much detail is included during the battles and the interaction between the couples is very light, so I wouldn’t recommend this for older readers. For young adults I think anyone who likes sci-fi or romance novels would enjoy this book. I do think this is excellent so I have no qualms about giving a rating of 4 out of 4 stars.
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Terralepus
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