I'm not sure how this happened, but somehow the concluding book in this series snuck past us. And, I need to disclose, I bought this entire series. I don't do this often, but it's an excellent set of mentor texts to have on hand and study for my own writing.
I read and reviewed the first three Space Runners books a while ago, summer of last year (2019).
To recap (quickly!):
- Book 1 -- Benny meets his fellow scholarship winners on the moon and they're promptly attacked, bombed, by the Alpha Mauradi, an alien species that's decided Earth's the place to go to because their own star is on the brink of blowing up. Benny and his friends successfully ward off the attack, but lose their brilliant mentor, Elijah West, to the aliens and specifically, a commander with an axe to grind against humanity, Commander Tull.
- Book 2 -- Benny and the Moon Platoon split from the Pit Crew, Elijah West's original scholarship winners. They go looking for back up from the elusive Dr. Bale, once Elijah West's research partner, now a sworn enemy, on the dark side of the moon. They get more than they can handle, and Dr. Bale, with the support of Earth's limited forces, takes over the Taj moon resort. The Moon Platoon's forced to seek refuge on an Alpha Maraudi ship with a surprisingly receptive Commander Vala.
- Book 3 -- Benny and the Moon Platoon and the now receptive to a change-in-plans Alpha Maraudi commander Vala take back the Moon Base, negotiate a peace / ceasefire (which disintegrates, but...) and Benny stops Dr. Bale's super weapon by sinking it deep into the Moon's core and gains a modicum of trust from the Alpha Maraudi.
Phew! Ready for the last book?
In The Fate of Earth, Benny and his Moon Platoon reunite with the Pit Crew over keeping Earth safe. Benny pulls Dr. Bale's super weapon back out of the moon and of course, it'll now be pointed at the Alpha Maraudi's home planet's sun -- but not as a weapon, rather as a way to power a battery, to keep feeding the star for a few more centuries. Until they can come up with a more permanent solution.
But first, they've got to get word to the aliens this is the new plan, to stop the next attack on Earth, and that's a problem with a vengeful Commander Tull on the hunt to spoil any hope of the Alpha Maraudi and Earthers working together.
Benny and the Pit Crew get word to the aliens, and manage to stop Tull's attack on Earth directly, only to find Tull pointing a weapon at him ... in the desert southwest, on Benny's home turf.
I won't spoil how it ends, and not all the loose ends are wrapped up, but the ending's very satisfying. A fantastic wrap-up to a great series my son loved!
