larklight (ya challenge #4)

[erin]

i heard mixed reviews about phillip reeve's larklight before i read it and could see for sure how it's a sort of love/hate book...though i have to say i was right about lukewarm for it. art and his sister myrtle (young teenagers) live with their father (their mother is dead) in a spaceship/house called larklight. when their cozy home is invaded by gigantic spiders art and myrtle have to leave their father behind to save themselves from the unusally intelligent arachnids. art and myrtle encounter various alarming and alternately helpful and horrifying aliens and a space pirate named jack havock who happens to be a teenager only a little older then myrtle. the siblings, as well as jack and other friends they meet along the way must solve the mystery of the white spiders and save the british intergallatic empire along the way.

the story is written for the most part with arthur narrating the adventure though when he and myrtle are separated, he inserts excerpts from her diary to fill in her story. i think the tale is very clever and big sci fans will probably enjoy it more than i did. i thought art and myrtle's relationship was very believable - overwhelmingly antagonistic but with a little respect and love thrown in too.