Review: Eudora Space Kid: The Great Engine Room Takeover by David Horn

A precocious little rebel with her eyes on the stars makes a name for herself in dramatic fashion in The Great Engine Room Takeover by David Horn, the first book in the Eudora Space Kid series. A fun-fueled tale of a young girl chasing down her dreams at light speed, this is an accessible and entertaining start to the series.

With a gentle bipedal wolf for a mother and an octopus-headed humanoid father, Eudora Jenkins’ family is anything but normal. She also lives on Athena, the flagship of AstroFleet, and has a very hard time staying out of trouble, meaning that she spends a decent amount of time in the brig. Whether Eudora is rigging up her next clever prank or blowing up asteroids with the plasma cannons, this charming and mischievous protagonist is original, memorable, and undeniably fun.

Eudora’s ultimate dream is to be a Chief Engineer for AstroFleet, and her plan to supercharge the ship to break the space speed record might just earn her a spot on the team, meaning that she would be able to skip the rest of elementary school. Before she can do that, she needs to find her lost dragon-bunny hybrid pet, Bologna, and trick the entire engineering department into gathering for a made-up surprise birthday party. Filled with hilarious hijinks, narrow escapes, clever schemes, and an incorrigible little genius at the controls, this cosmic caper is a delightful gem.

As human children adopted by aliens, Eudora and her older sister Molly have grown up around the colorful, out-of-this-world officers onboard their astroliner, and young readers will enjoy the creative, silly, and mind-bending characters scattered across this whimsical tale. There is rarely a moment of downtime in Eudora’s adventures, and the pace of this story is quick and easy to follow. At times, this can make the text feel rushed, and some characters are undeveloped beyond a brief physical description or a passing anecdote. Eudora’s sister, for example, is mentioned and introduced, but doesn’t play any other significant role in the story.

In such a wildly creative story, it is assumed that readers will have to suspend their disbelief, but there are some coincidences and series of events that feel too convenient or outlandish to believe – accessing, aiming, and firing powerful weapons in a matter of seconds, while someone is briefly distracted, for instance. That said, there is an implicit silliness to the narrative, and younger readers likely won’t mind the cut corners of storytelling. Thematically, there are important scenes and exchanges centered around honesty, responsibility, faith in oneself, family, and friendship, giving this surprisingly thoughtful read even more meaning and impact.

On a technical level, the writing is charmingly informal – it is written from the first-person, but also breaks the fourth wall and speaks directly to readers, creating a comfortable, conversational mood from the very first line. There are occasional grammatical errors, and some transitions that can be abrupt and unexpected, but these issues are minor in what is a well-crafted and original story overall.

Aside from some slight tweaks, The Great Engine Room Takeover is a wonderful launchpad for this unique and inspiring central character to go on more interstellar adventures.