Roman Antonio’s review:

This novel will appeal to a variety of teens. The novel is a first person narrative which puts reader’s right into the thoughts and ambitions of Melinda Ashley, a recent high school graduate who thinks she knows what she wants in life. Melinda receives a roundtrip ticket to Mars from her father but there’s one catch, she doesn’t want to go. Melinda says all she wants is to become a teacher and marry her boyfriend Ross, but after an argument ensues with Ross, Melinda decides to set aside all her insecurities about life elsewhere and sets off for Mars, a world she knows nothing about. Through her travels to Mars she encounters new surroundings and people. Melinda realizes that what she thought she wanted in life was apparently dictated by the influences of other and through this journey she is discovering more about herself and turns that fear of uncertainty that was once inside of her and realize that there is more to life than what she has always thought. Mars has brought out the honesty in Melinda and from that she knows who she is and why.

I enjoyed this sci-fi novel because it wasn’t all about action and technology. Even though space travel and other areas of sci-fi literature do exists throughout the story, it was more of romantic novel which touched upon many issues that young adults go through. The novel touched upon the ideal of self-doubt, rediscovering self, maturity, making decisions, and following one’s heart, and being honest to “you.” I would recommend this novel because it offers a different approach to sci-fi literature which tweens can appreciate.

Reviewed by Lynn Crow for TeensReadToo.com

Melinda doesn't want to go to Mars. Why leave Earth when everything humans are meant to enjoy is there? But when her father, whom she's only seen sporadically over the last ten years, asks her to join him on a business trip to one of the Mars colonies after she graduates from high school, she can't bring herself to refuse him. Little does she know her months on Mars will change the way she thinks about life, love, and humanity.

With JOURNEY BETWEEN WORLDS, Sylvia Louise Engdahl has written a science-fiction story that will appeal to a variety of teens. Melinda faces many of the same problems today's young adults do, only in an otherworldly location. The first person narrative puts readers right inside Melinda's head and allows them to see through her eyes. Her struggle to overcome her fear of change and to examine her feelings and beliefs honestly should resonate with anyone uncertain of exactly who they are and want to be.

The story, of course, is not only about Melinda, but also Mars. The descriptions of Mars and its colonies are fascinating in their detail and realism, providing an exciting setting for Melinda's personal conflicts. The colonists, with their pride and passion, will make readers wonder if they, too, would have the pioneer spirit.

I would recommend JOURNEY BETWEEN WORLDS to any teen looking for a thought-provoking read. Unlike many science-fiction novels, this is not a story of action and technology, but rather of wonder. I'll admit, at times I wished there was more excitement, but overall it was a satisfying read. Both Melinda's problems and the issues raised by the colonization of another planet will give readers much to ponder long after they've finished reading.

re-read Feb 14

This is a difficult one to rate. I can't say I particularly enjoyed it, but it's hard to separate my opinions from the fact that this was written FIFTY YEARS ago. And while spaceship/space colonization romance books are common now, was there even a sci-fi YA romance before this book? I almost think not? But it's hard not to compare it to similar modern books, which are heavier on the plot and action (plus way more smooches).

It was really good. I find myself reading it over and over on some days. It just needs aliens.

I enjoyed the book. It would have more stars AND my respect if they broke up and she went back to Earth simply because they wanted different things from life. It pisses me off that of course the female character has a change of mind for seemingly no reason and happily gives up on her dreams. It doesn't matter that he asks her a few times if she's "really sure".

It was such a good dilemma, so real. But nothing changed at the end yet the dilemma was solved. "Love matters more than where you live", ok why did he not move to Earth and live with her then?

All along she's just getting manipulated by everyone to like Mars and to do stuff she doesn't want to. Everyone knows her "better than she knows herself". That sounds like getting pushed around, not being enlightened.

Journey Between Worlds by Sylvia Engdahl

Sylvia Engdahl is an American science fiction writer who has been publishing books since the early 1970s, principally in the Young Adult or Juvenile Fiction category. Her most well-known story is probably Enchantress from the Stars, which was nominated for a Newbery Medal in 1971. I have read several of her works, including the more mature sequel to Enchantress, The Far Side of Evil, as well as the Children of the Star Trilogy, and have found that Engdahl is an author who possesses a unique voice, and who writes carefully and thoughtfully on issues affecting both individuals and humanity as a whole. One of her staunchest beliefs is that we must colonize space as soon as possible if there is to be a meaningful future for humanity. The fact that Sylvia Engdahl is relatively unknown even among readers of science fiction is rather unfortunate, I think.

Although Journey Between Worlds is set on Mars, it is not primarily about technology or exploration, and the author classes it more as Romance than as Science Fiction. It was first published by Atheneum in 1970, but a new edition was issued by Putnam in 2006, with updates to descriptions of Mars and added references to computer technology. Another reason for the revised version was to remove phrasing that would appear sexist to most people reading it today. A few more modifications were added to the 2015 and 2021 ebook editions, including the Kindle version which I read. However, the story itself is overall just as it is in the 1970 edition.

Engdahl says that she wrote this book in 1967, which was of course before the Apollo missions and Mars probes had changed the public perception of space exploration, so in subsequent editions she altered some details based on discoveries made by the Mars landers and the photographs taken by them. References to the use of computers (both terminals and handheld devices, as well as etexts and long-distance electronic data transfer) by the public were also added. (The author states that in 1967 she did not envisage such things, even though she had served as a computer programmer for ten years!)

Although the romance between the central characters is admittedly the backbone of the story, the book also serves to showcase Engdahl’s advocacy of the colonization of the solar system, and to refute popular arguments which are often raised against it. As she says herself on her website, “…most people today cling to the idea that confinement to Earth is ‘natural’ and see no necessity for the human race to go beyond the limits of the world where our ancestors evolved. But this outlook needs to change. That's the theme underlying the story, and it depends on my characterization of the heroine.”

Journey Between Worlds could also be classed as a ‘coming of age’ story, and the way the heroine matures as well as her personal introspection on many points are presented with realism and sensitivity. I consider it a wise decision on the part of the author to have written the book in the first person and from the female protagonist’s point of view, for this definitely makes it more poignant and incisive.

In conclusion, the avid reader of hard science fiction or exotic space opera probably would not enjoy this book very much, but young adults (especially girls) would likely relate to it quite well.

(Incidentally, I think the best cover art was on the original 1970 edition. The 2006 edition is perhaps too cartoon-like, and the 2015 ebook cover is in my opinion pretty awful. The 2021 ebook cover is marginally better).



Below are some key quotations from the narrative of the story:

You can’t ever plan everything out in advance, I guess. But I used to think I could. I don’t think I wanted too much; the trouble was, I didn’t want enough.

Isn’t it funny how you can accept one thing as a perfectly natural, inevitable risk of living, and be all upset over something else just because it’s less common?

“It was the conquest of space that helped to bring about peace,” Alex interrupted. “Energy went into that which would otherwise have gone into war.” Like in the poem, I thought. Nightmare, endless wars . . . then we turned spaceward. “More than that, though,” the professor went on, “for the human race to stay cooped up on one world would lead only to a terrible sort of stagnation. It would create problems, not solve them.” “Stagnation or something worse,” said Alex darkly, “with the population situation the way it is. Without a frontier for expansion, neither today’s living standard nor freedom could last—and there’d eventually be violence.”

The idea that the human race will keep on moving, that we’ve got to expand or perish.”

How foolishly romantic the old astronomers were! Utopia, Eden, the Fountain of Youth, the Sea of Pearls. I wonder what they would think if they could take a close look at some of the drab, uninteresting places they christened, and hear those idealized names in everyday use.

You can imagine a thing, and see pictures of it, and still not have any conception of it at all.

“Seriously?” “It’s a very serious matter.” “But look, Alex, I wasn’t much on science in school, but even I know that it’s not considered feasible to go to the stars. Not ever.” He laughed. “You also know enough about history to know that there was a time when it wasn’t considered feasible to go to the moon.”

“We don’t know,” said Paul. “I have faith that it will, because colonization is the only truly long-range hope I can see for humanity. There isn’t any other answer. The day will come when Earth cannot support its population

You can never see what’s coming, I suppose; and with some things, it’s very lucky that you can’t.

It would have been a pity not to have come; it’s true enough that you miss a lot by setting limits for yourself. Especially since whatever bounds you set don’t really make you secure.

There are some things you can never be safe against, no matter how well you plan your life. Change is one of them; how young I was when I thought I could live forever at Maple Beach, and never change! Fear is another. And still another is grief.

Having a plan for your life is all very well, and even when it’s disrupted temporarily you can hang on tight and see it through. But once you begin to suspect that you might care about things that don’t fit into that plan, or into any plan that you’d ever want . . .

“Is that your reaction to being hurt—to strike out, without caring what you strike at?”

It’s funny how people who think they don’t have emotions are the very ones who get trapped by them.

“ ‘They cannot scare me with their empty spaces,’ ” he quoted softly, “ ‘Between stars—on stars where no human race is—’ ” “Robert Frost!” I took it up. “ ‘I have it in me so much nearer home, To scare myself with my own desert places.’ Oh, Alex! That’s true—so true.” With a sudden flash of understanding I burst out, “It’s not really space that scares me, is it?” “If you know that,” Alex told me, “you’ve already taken a big step.”

The laws that govern survival in space are inexorable; and unrealistic as I may have been in some of my feelings, I was practical enough to know that.

“I think so. Shutting out reality—telling yourself that a thing isn’t going to hurt when it is—is just asking for trouble, right?”

“But details like whether we live on Earth or on Mars aren’t as important as you think they are. The unchanging, real things are in people’s hearts.”

A civilization that can’t expand will turn to violence, I’m told. Or at least decay. How paradoxical that the only way to assure the future for Earth is to leave it!

A very good story of a young lady coming to terms with what she thinks she wants (to stay on Earth) to what she eventually really wants (to continue living on Mars) There was a very nice element of romance too!

It was a fine book...

3.5

Dated, and a bit dry (so unlike Enchantress from the Stars, which is rich and timeless!). And Alex borders on emotionally abusive, honestly.

The good stuff: I quite liked the cover illustration, by Craig Phillips, which has a sort of Nausicaa/Moebius feel to it, very suitable. The book was an easy read, reminiscent of those 1960s career guides for girls that were disguised as novels. Only instead of becoming a tour guide at the UN or a fashion illustrator while finding love and possibly solving a mystery, Melinda emigrates to Mars.
The not-so-good stuff: The gender politics are firmly of their time. Melinda doesn't have much agency, and the male characters seem to make the important decisions. Comparisons are made between the American pioneers and the colonising of Mars, and the frontier spirit of ancestors and descendants. Mars has no aboriginal inhabitants, so that less comfortable parallel isn't much examined. The only opponent to colonisation is portrayed as misguided and unreasonable, which was rather disappointing.