World's Fair, 1992.

No cover

Robert Silverberg: World's Fair, 1992. (1970, Follett Pub. Co.)

248 pages

English language

Published Dec. 12, 1970 by Follett Pub. Co..

ISBN:
978-0-695-40089-7
Copied ISBN!
OCLC Number:
77643

View on OpenLibrary

2 stars (1 review)

A high school boy's essay discussing the possibility of life on Pluto wins him a job at the 1992 World's Fair, held aboard a gigantic artificial satellite, and an unexpected trip to Pluto.

4 editions

This is a very pedestrian YA story.

2 stars

This is a very pedestrian YA story. Teenage male protagonist wins a competition to work for a year on the 1992 World's Fair - held on a space station above earth. There's scratchings at the morals of exploration and exploitation, and while I recognise the novel was written in 1970, I'm still not convinced by the arguments from a 1970's viewpoint, especially in a YA novel.

Silverberg can very much write better. This was intended to be a YA novel, and is voiced like a Tom Swift novel. It talks down to the reader, makes the protagonist over-clever and puts him on a rollercoaster. He suffers a small heartbreak, but very quickly moves on, because he's going somewhere.

Possibly over-harsh, but they don't write them like this anymore, for good reason.

Subjects

  • Science fiction.