or the Dingillian brothers, who have just divorced their irresponsible, feuding parents, returning to Earth isn't an option. Shortly after their father got them off the planet's surface and onto the orbital elevator known as the Beanstalk (in Jumping Off The Planet, the first book of the trilogy author David Gerrold calls "the Dingilliad"), planetary politics fell apart. A massive economic collapse and a pandemic that might lead to a large-scale population crash have Earth in a global crisis, leaving Luna and the scattered separatist star colonies to make it on their own.
In order to pay their way to the stars, 13-year-old Charles Dingillian and his brothers--bratty 8-year-old Bobby, a.k.a. "Stinky," and too-adult 17-year-old Douglas, a.k.a. "Weird"--need to accept a work contract with one of those colonies. But first they have to make it to Luna alive. Thanks to the unknown something which their father agreed to smuggle off-planet, they're being chased by mysterious forces with the infinite resources required to track them down wherever they go. Figuring out what these forces will do if they catch up to the boys isn't particularly easy, since it isn't clear who they are or what they want. To play it safe, the Dingillians figure they'd better just not get caught--by anyone.
This newfound paranoia makes it difficult for Charles to trust the family's new friend, energetic money-launderer Alexei Krislov, in spite of his extensive, Byzantine efforts to keep the Dingillians out of the unknown enemy's hands. Alexei's plans include a sudden escape into a cargo pod, a bumpy crash landing on the moon and a lengthy trek across its surface, mostly in the name of unpredictability. Most of the book's short length is taken up with their dangerous and sometimes haphazard journey. But eventually, Charles ends up exactly where he was at the end of Jumping Off The Planet--in court, with some key issues to decide and a lot of unresolved issues in place, ready for the next book in the series.
Dingillian deja vu all over again
Bouncing Off The Moon has a bad case of middle-book syndrome. It's a fast-moving, short novel, almost entirely devoted to an extended high-tension adventure, but it still has a slightly disturbing feeling of irrelevance. Its ending both emulates and obviates that of its prequel, giving much of the intervening events a slightly dreamlike quality.
Gerrold compensates for the lack of progress by pouring on the science. The huge expository chunks that dominated Planet are replaced here by huge explanatory chunks that describe lunar physics and geography, Dingilliad-era scientific developments, and space-age sociology. Gerrold's style here once again sharply echoes that of Robert Heinlein's juvenile novels--it's brisk, involving, entertaining, logical, clever, easy to read and absorb, and prone to shunting aside its characters, making them play second fiddle to the author's scientific and speculative agenda.
Charles in particular has grown up quite a bit since the beginning of the series' last installment, but in the process he's become noticeably less distinctive. His bitterness and self-hatred have evolved into a sharp sense of concern for his shrinking family, and Gerrold handles the transition well. But Charles is also growing into a generic point-of-view character who's less and less inclined to put his own emotional spin on events or track his own inner evolution, and more likely to just report on the scenery around him. This is a particular shame, given the unusual narrative strength of his voice in the first book. The colorful, chattering Alexei counterbalances him somewhat, but given that at least half of Alexei's personality is a mask for the other half, it's hard to empathize with him, and at times his merry-prankster attitude and garbled English edge into the realm of parody.
Bouncing Off The Moon is a well-crafted book and an enjoyable afternoon's read, but it's also a weaker book than its predecessor. With luck, the third installment in the trilogy--Leaping To The Stars, due out this time next year--will shift the balance and take the story into the new territory it needs.
