The Disasters (M. K. England)

The Disasters
M. K. England
HarperTeen
Fiction, YA Sci-Fi
***+ (Okay/Good)

DESCRIPTION: Like many kids on Earth, Nax Hall dreamed of going to the colony worlds, even knowing that it's a one-way ticket off planet - and getting there means passing through the Ellis Station Academy on the moon. Washing out inside twenty-four hours was both a crushing disappointment and inevitable; after all, his life has been one disaster after another, and he just can't seem to keep himself from pushing that one step too far.
He and three other academy rejects were heading back to Earth when something goes terribly wrong. Unknown attackers take over Ellis Station and vent the atmosphere, killing everyone - everyone except for four teenagers who manage to steal a shuttle and make a break for the colony worlds, chased by bullets and enemy fighters. Nax and his new companions are now wanted fugitives, framed for theft and treason, and they may be the only ones who can stop a conspiracy that would kill millions and end the colonies once and for all. The whole thing is a galactic-scale disaster... but if there's one thing Nax has experience with, it's disasters.

REVIEW: This has the vibe of a pilot episode for an action-oriented science fiction series, with a misfit crew thrown together by happenstance, framed for crimes they didn't commit, who bond while turning the tables on the baddies and foiling a nefarious plot. There's nothing inherently wrong with that formula - but, as with any formula, it can be done well, done poorly, or simply done as expected, ticking boxes off the checklist. The Disasters wavers between "done well" and "ticking boxes."
Narrator Nax, a bisexual teen whose prowess behind the stick of a spaceship is balanced by insecurities fueled by a disastrous incident in his youth, is a mixture of hubris and hormones. He's joined by: Ryan, a natural diplomat fleeing an overbearing father who has groomed him for a political career; Vee, a medical specialist rejected for being a transsexual from a nation that refuses to acknowledge it (creating a paperwork loophole for the academy to kick her out through); and Case, a technical genius whose panic attacks were considered a deal-breaker to academy staff, plus the daughter of a crime boss itching to rebel whom they pick up at the first planet they flee to (and crash-land on.) Each one has a specialty that makes them an invaluable addition to the crew in addition to a weakness that explains why the academy rejected them; this doesn't make for the most rounded characterization, but in a story like this it generally does the job. They cohere fairly rapidly into a crew, accepting Nax as their leader with little question, a fact that makes some of his insecurities feel a little overplayed (and repetitive.) There's also an attempt at a love triangle as he's attracted to both Ryan and Case, but it's really not a contest who will "win," making for more ultimately wasted page count as Nax drools and angsts. For all that hormonal distractions cloud Nax's narrative more than once, there's generally little down time in which to contemplate potential crushes; from pretty early on to almost the end, the foursome are being hunted down, shot at, stalked, or caught in life-or-death dogfights in the upper atmosphere and spaceways of various worlds. There's an odd emphasis on them using nonlethal weapons that fire a sleep-inducing chemical agent, even as their enemies freely mow down innocent bystanders and are plotting the murder of millions... an emphasis that leads to a climax that almost had me rolling my eyes as it went out of its way to minimize body count in a desperate firefight. Why the kid gloves, here? It starts to feel incongruous, how they keep bringing rubber knives to gunfights, making me too aware of an author doing their best to make sure we readers know that the characters don't like killing, don't want to kill, and aren't killing anyone. For that matter, some of the technology and rules start to feel plot convenient, but this is much more action-driven space opera than hard science, so some fudging and blurring is pretty much expected.
In any event, things move at a fair clip and rarely slacken pace from the start to the end (save a slightly drawn-out and inevitable finale), and it ticks the usual boxes. There's even sequel potential, which adds to the "pilot episode" vibe that permeates the whole book. Something about it just fell shy of that solid four-star Good rating, though. I was just a little too aware of the formula behind it, manipulating everything from plot events to fight outcomes to characterizations, and was never able to just lose myself in the story itself for long before it reminded me of that formula.

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