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Mentor Academies shines as the brilliant innovator among the network of organizations dedicated to exploring the stars. Revitalizing its curriculum to stimulate an individual work ethic, the school challenges its students to care about their world. The results are uplifting: seven years later, students once thought of as deadbeats by the old establishment have become scientists, pilots, and military leaders crucial to the program's success. Planks, small spaceships, frequently orbit the Earth, their cost of maintenance greatly reduced, and industries expand to deal with the rapid progress. The accomplishments of the students and the conglomerates are a testament to what can happen when the world buries its political and ethnic differences.
But the "Goal" attracts a formidable host of enemies. In an atmosphere of fear and betrayal, Mariesa must convince her peers about the benefits of space travel. Students, environmental groups, and jealous rivals all rally in oppostion to van Huyten industries. Despite this hostile political and social climate, and a personal tragedy, Mariesa fights for her dream, one crucial victory at a time.
Flynn's high-tech prose is mesmerizing, filled with dazzling imagery and emotion. Firestorm blends the technical complexities and hazards of space travel with the human desire to explore and succeed. The real issue lingers after you reach the final page: Where will our society be in three years-still warring over insignificant issues, or reaching for the stars in a coordinated effort?
David J. Corwell is a freelance writer in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
©1996, ProMotion, inc.
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