My Thoughts: 172 Hours On The Moon, by Johan Harstad

• Age Range: 12 and up 
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• Grade Level: 7 and up
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• Hardcover: 368 pages
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• Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; 1 edition (April 17, 2012)
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"It's been decades since anyone set foot on the moon. Now three ordinary teenagers, the winners of NASA's unprecedented, worldwide lottery, are about to become the first young people in space--and change their lives forever.

Mia, from Norway, hopes this will be her punk band's ticket to fame and fortune.
Midori believes it's her way out of her restrained life in Japan.
Antoine, from France, just wants to get as far away from his ex-girlfriend as possible.
It's the opportunity of a lifetime, but little do the teenagers know that something sinister is waiting for them on the desolate surface of the moon. And in the black vacuum of space... no one is coming to save them.

In this chilling adventure set in the most brutal landscape known to man, highly acclaimed Norwegian novelist Johan Harstad creates a vivid and frightening world of possibilities we can only hope never come true."- Goodreads

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My Thoughts:
I really wanted to love 172 Hours On the Moon. The premise sounded so great! There were countless paths the plot could go down. But alas... behold my list of utter improbabilities.

No. 1: I am dumbfounded, as to what parent, would willingly allow their child to go to the Moon. THE MOON! Its one of the most dangerous places we know of, with an infinite number of things that could go wrong. I find it ironic, that parents who claimed to care so MUCH about their child's "future" and "success", would allow (and in cases ENCOURAGE!) this expedition.

No. 2:  The fact that NASA is Holding a space-contest, is stretching my suspension of disbelief. To put it simply, There's just too much left to chance. Like for example, what if one of the candidates were to be a narcissistic, loud mouthed, guy w/ an agenda? That would defeat the purpose of the of the moon mission. (Which is good publicity!) *groans* 

*End of List*

"Finances weren't the only reason the moon program was terminated. The truth is that... what we found up there is not the type of discovery for which one receives money for further research. We would have been asked to leave it alone. So we pretended it never existed."

If we were discussing 172's writing calibre, I would say that it's fairly high, showcasing erratic bursts of genius. Unfortunately, the "Skippy" nature of writing a near-present day space story, ruined all of that. I am aware, that the plot of the novel would inevitably require jumping, however you really can't graze over a of space-training. Seriously...

***** I could go on about a few nitpicks I had, but that would be redundant. (and boring!) So why don't we fast forward to the intention of 172 Hours On The Moon. Please?*****

When 172 Hours On The Moon finished jumping around - it was surprisingly good. I of course, Haven't read TOO much horror, so an experienced reader might beg to differ - nevertheless, I stand by my opinion. Personally, (because I was reading this late at night), Johan's "things" on the moon were intriguing, though not fully fleshed out or explained. It would have been awesome if we got some sort of origin story behind them. 

I'm still not sure what to make of Harstad's YA debut. I both loved and hated it, occasionally at the same time. My suggestion would be to check it out at the Library. If you're a fan of classic moon-tales, Who knows? This may be your cup of coffee.

My Rating: 2.9/5 

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