172 Hours on the Moon by Johan Harstad

Title: 172 Hours on the Moon
Author: Johan Harstad
Publisher: Little, Brown & Company
Acquired: Received free for an honest review
Age Group: Young Adult
Grade: 93% or A-
Buy It: Amazon

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.

My Thoughts::
After reading this book I realized that I do not read enough books having to do with outer space, which was one of the reasons that I wanted to read it in the first place. I like to say that I enjoy reading science fiction, but in all honesty, I haven't read many books that had their feet firmly planted, almost solely in the science fiction genre. So I might think more things were weird or amazing than people who read this kind of thing all of the time.

Let us start off with the characters. It was very refreshing to read a book with no American characters. Usually getting to know some characters isn't very exciting, but something that can be interesting. But this time it was pretty awesome. I knew barely anything about their cultures and it was cool to see what people around my age might be doing in other countries. It was also neat to see similarities even though they spoke different languages and were from three different countries. I really liked them. We aren't overwhelmed with unimportant details. We just get to know the kind of person they are and choices they would make.

The plot for this book was nothing like I've read before. Based off of the summary we know some bad things will happen, but I had no idea on what level I would be creeped out. During the entire first half of the book I already get a feeling of impending doom, like something bad is going to happen. This was even before the characters mention feeling similarly. Harstad is capable of making you feel that fear without having things jump out at you. It's more like a psychological thriller.

The ending surprised me and the entire concept of what was on the moon really freaked me out. I couldn't stop thinking about it and even told some friends and family about it, who in turn only smiled and nodded, not really understanding.

Overall I think this was a crazy freaky novel that will definitely make you think.