This YA science fiction tale set in humanity's far future, is heavy on the science as we follow our heroine Asako through her education on a far flung planet or two. THE SECRET OF THE URNS will remind readers a little of a famous movie Avatar, in that human explorers and scientists are established on a planet in another solar system, and miners want to exploit some of the resources, to the dismay of the native inhabitants. Forget flying and dragons though; the life here is much more down to earth and sometimes quite obnoxious.

If I have a complaint, it is that we are told too much of humanity's spacefaring history, which sometimes is and sometimes isn't relevant to the tale. This is similar to how today's kids are told about Napoleon, Washington, Pasteur, Elizabeth I; I can't think life would be so different in the future that famous people would not be discussed. Yet it does slow down the action. Some readers want to get on with the story. This adventure is best for teens who are well enough read in various sciences to grasp terms used. For instance, we learn about the rotation of this world, a large moon, around a gas giant planet, which circles a star.

Asako loves exploring and playing with her friend Marcello from the Fistian village, who looks something like a centaur and gives her rides. As the planet has been named Hard Fist, the people here first were dubbed Fistians. The locals lead a simple life, mostly growing produce but sometimes hunting or fishing. Just because they don't seem to use high tech, though, doesn't mean they don't have any. Asako is the only person who wants to study their culture, and she decides to come back from college and prove whether they are pre-technological or post-technological. When she returns from years of study, tensions have erupted on the backwater planet, and even she can't be sure of a welcome.

THE SECRET OF THE URNS is written by A.B. Carolan from Ireland and is based on a short story by his collaborator Steven M. Moore from America. The previous book in this YA sci-fi series is called THE SECRET LAB and features a mutant cat, so I like it already. The books are called the ABC Sci-Fi Mystery series and this one is certainly entertaining and informative. It also provides a good sidelight on environmental issues today.

Book Summary

Set in the same sci-fi universe as A. B. Carolan’s The Secret Lab, this new young-adult sci-fi mystery explores a Jupiter-sized planet’s satellite in a faraway solar system where human scientists are studying local flora and fauna but behaving badly until a teen who wants to study the satellite’s ETs comes along. She shows that cooperation is better than xenophobia. In the process, she discovers that the ETs’ beliefs go far beyond ancestor worship.