Every time I look at other people's reviews on here, I'm always curious about the contents before I read. I don't want to get caught halfway through and stumble upon a steamy scene, a plethora of cursing, or a graphing and disgusting description of some bloody battle, so here's my best estimation of this book's "cleanliness".

Language: None (0/10)
Violence: Mild, for a sci-fi book. One person in particular is killed, several others suffer certain bodily harm. No graphic or prolonged descriptions. (2/10)
Other (e.g. steaminess): None. One person is called "sexy", but nothing more than high school crushes here. (1/10)

To be honest, I'm not much of a science fiction fan in general. I prefer fiction and fantasy, but this book was pretty good. I enjoyed the references to "old" culture (e.g. the Harry Potter series and the Houston Astros) as well as some of the offhand parodies for famous pop stars and whatnot. If you're looking for a clean sci-fi read, this book's for you.

Tully Harper longs for a just three things during his stay at his aunt's house deep in (no joke) Nowhere, Alaska: to get back to his hometown of Houston, Texas, to load up on something other than moose steak and asparagus, and most importantly, to see his dad again.

Commander Harper serves as an astronaut for the Star Alliance, whose current mission involves finding a secondary water source on Mars for colonization. Sound boring? Yeah, maybe. But then a breaking news story pops up during Tully's class saying that Tully's dad has supposedly been pulverized by an asteroid. Interested now? Yep, I thought so.

Turns out, Commander Harper is alive and well, but after his experience in the presence of a strange, alien sphere during his mission, Tully notices that something is different about his dad. Something suspicious seems to be happening around every corner - all of it somehow connected to that weird little ball.

When Tully's dad is called back for service - during an official vacation - Tully knows he has to investigate. Even if it means sneaking onto his dad's ship and traveling farther into space - and deeper into a dangerous adventure - than he would dare to go. ( )