Green Tara
A Bosque Family Adventure
A rebellious teen, stubborn Virginia brings charm to this futuristic tale of environmental, technological, and authoritarian dangers.
Virginia Bosque has never set foot on Earth. The only world she knows is the one she was born into, on board a massive ship controlled by the Triumvirate, in deep space. When Earth became uninhabitable, survivors fled to the skies, Virginia’s parents among them. With the discovery that her long-missing mother may have been on an exploratory mission to possibly renew the dormant planet, fifteen-year-old Virginia is determined to find her, no matter how many Triumvirate rules she has to break along the way.
K. H. Brower has successfully created a unique set of worlds in Green Tara. The spaceship on which Virginia lives is filled with distinctive futuristic details. There are the SensEyes, which float around, ensuring that rules are followed and order is maintained. There are personal spaceships, like Virginia’s beloved Galaxy Blast, a privilege she can’t wait to enjoy. Perhaps the most enthralling creation is Dot, a “Personal Information Retrieval and Storage Device,” the humanoid computer system that Virginia converses with, confides in, and brings with her everywhere.
The idea of humanity abandoning a rapidly deteriorating planet is not new, but Brower puts her own creative spin on the thought, effectively describing the effects global warming and other circumstances had on the Earth, without pontificating. Descriptions of Green Tara, propagated with plants and animals that cannot thrive on the wasted Earth, are vivid and realistic.
Rebellious Virginia chafes against the constraints placed upon her, longing to set off in her Blast the way most kids long to get behind the wheel of a car. Her stubbornness gets her into trouble often enough, but her courage and insistence on challenging Triumvirate authority also leads her on the adventure of a lifetime. Green Tara is the beginning of Virginia’s coming-of-age journey, and she learns to alter her expectations and let go of resentments as she comes to understand her destiny.
Green Tara is appealing and imaginative, and Brower clearly leaves the door open to more adventures with Virginia and her family.
Reviewed by
Jeannine Chartier Hanscom
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. No fee was paid by the publisher for this review. Foreword Reviews only recommends books that we love. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
