Friday Old Favourite

"Everyone knew about the terrible epidemic raging in the Costrmax Cluster. Everyone knew there was no cure, no defence, no pattern to its deadly advance."

"As you're probably aware, genetic engineering has enabled the human race to colonise a great many planets where we would have been killed off pretty swiftly ... It's allowed us to specialise in ways that would once have been impossible."

Paula is snatched from her garden late one day and taken to another planet called Gnosis-10 and it is 5000 years into the future. Why? In this future world genes are manipulated to create "humans" suited to different environments and different jobs. The researchers need some genetic material from an Atomic Age human. Paula is only a child. The officer called Julz has made a mistake. Paula will need to be held captive for up to twelve months and because her body will change over time she can never return to her home, her family, her friends or her real life.

Luckily one person is on her side. In this future world no one speaks human languages like English.

"Sellian felt strongly about his job, because he was very good at it. He knew that. As a professional communicator he'd spent his life wandering through space-ports and shuttledocks and interplanetary conferences, enduring the discomfort of space travel for the sake of a varied and interesting career. sometimes his job simply involved translating from language to language ... but sometimes it became more complex."

There are wonderful invented names and places in this book:

Sellian is a Roh - his home planet is called Roh
Julz, the Ironclad is an Arean - he is on a three year tour of duty to Gnosis-10
Llassa Bomet is a Marin - he is the Project manager
Ty Porrix is a Pacifan - he is a journalist working for Co-Stellar Productions

I saw this book in a charity book bin. I had a strong memory of really enjoying this Science Fiction story when it was first published in 1993 so I picked it up to read. I read the whole book in one sitting and thoroughly enjoyed this invented futuristic world. I do hope you can find a copy in a library perhaps. I highly recommend this book for readers aged 11+.

The final scenes in this gripping book might remind you of an old movie called Logan's Run from 1976.

Image Source: Wikipedia

Here are some other books by Catherine Jinks I have talked about previously. If you can find copies of her Pagan series I highly recommend them for readers aged 13+.