Space Traders Unlimited

Eking out a desperate existence as a renegade with the other Portkids who hide in the old tunnels under a spaceport on Mars, the teenager known as Streak stumbles on clues to the sabotage plaguing the entire solar system.

Grade 5-9 An exciting science fiction novel which is a cross between Blade Runner and Oliver Twist, Space Trad ers Unlimited concerns the adventures of Streak, a teenage ``portkid'' who drifts and scavenges his way from space station to space station, one step away from the Child Protection Ser vices which seized him after the deaths of his wealthy trader parents. In his wanderings, he discovers and thwarts a plot to sabotage the operations of some wealthy traders. He is captured by the anarchist Professor Leverett and his Frontier League, but escapes and deac tivates the bomb intended for the Trad ers Tower. He is finally accepted as an ``indent'' apprentice space trader and leaves the life of the portkid. Streak's life as a street kid in future Martian space gang society is grimly realistic, complete with a portkid vocabulary and code of ethics. Although the number of coincidental encounters between him and the evil Frontier League is some what hard to accept, the futuristic soci ety that Riding creates is carefully con structed and plausible. The ending of the story is a bit unsatisfying, however, for Streak, who has been a fiercely in dependent ``portkid,'' accepts without a backward glance the life of the wealthy trader. In spite of its flaws, this is the type of fast-moving science fic tion that will be popular even with re luctant readers.Yvonne A. Frey, Peo ria Public Library, Ill.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

An old-fashioned Dickensian setting extrapolated into a futuristic life on Mars lifts this British import above standard YA science fiction. Streak, 16, is a Portkid, living on the fringe of Martian society, borrowing food and oxygen to survive as part of the Portkid code and avoiding both the brutal Billy, king of the Portkids, and the equally terrifying Child Protection Services. But Streak's own nature disqualifies him as a Portkid for long, and when he offers to help rescue a worker trapped in a bizarre explosion, he sees a mysterious man in black leaving the scene. This one incident leads him inexorably into the lives of the Reynolds family, of Space Traders Unlimited. When Mrs. Reynolds asks Streak for help in decoding the series of violent explosions that have occurred across space, he reluctantly agrees. But to Streak's horror he realizes that his own life is imperiled by the mysterious man in black. The repressed memories of the accident that left him orphaned resurface and, oddly, Mrs. Reynolds seems to know who he really is. Fast-paced writing, likable characters and a richly constructed world contribute to an entertaining American debut. Ages 11-up.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.