Eclipse – George Phillies

This is an ambitious book, whose author has set out to tell a large story. The protagonist is Eclipse - a twelve-year-old super-powered girl who is saving the world from itself, and getting no thanks for doing so. (A number of governments have decided to be serious about “Hanging’s too good for her.”) The star of the book, however, is Eclipse’s world.

(Books with super heroes tend towards superficial world-building. Heroes and villains fight and destroy half of Tokyo, but somehow it has no effect on everyday life. Secret organizations have flying cars equipped with death rays, but civilians are still driving cars. There are labs that can create monsters to spec, but nobody knows how to cure the common cold. It’s a pleasure when an author thinks this through.)

“The Girl who Saved the World” is illuminated by intelligent world building. It is a world that has had thousands of years to accommodate to the existence of super powers and advanced technologies. It is also a world with a several major mysteries. Those thousands of years don’t make sense, and no intelligent person takes history seriously. The ways in which this world is similar to ours doesn’t make sense, and many of the similarities fit awkwardly.

The book’s best strength also leads to a weakness: There are so many things that the author wants the reader to know that they crowd out the story somewhat. The author is good about showing, rather than telling, but he has a lot to show.

The book has four main viewpoints - Eclipse, the Wells family, the League of Nations executive committee, and the Lords of Eternity. This is primarily Eclipse’s book. (Gripe: Did I mention that she is twelve? The cover art portrays someone older and curvier. Why not just put a space ship on the cover and be done?) She has obtained the Namestone - an extremely dangerous artifact that can make the world a paradise - and she did not foresee how unpopular that could be.

The League of Nations Executive Committee for Peace (think Security Council) has representatives from nations with highly incompatible opinions about what making the world a paradise should mean. Through their interactions we see those disagreements turning into a slide towards a world war. We don’t see as much of the Lords of Eternity, but what we see will become important: They appear to be planning to destroy the world in order to save it. The Wells family includes three more high-powered children of about Eclipse’s age, and their stories have intersected. In this book, they provide another window into a culture that looks a lot like ours - and really isn’t. It appears that the second book of the trilogy will be primarily theirs.

It was worth reading - and it repaid rereading.