Originally released as part of the Jupiter series, described by author James Hogan as “a line of upbeat, hard-science, space adventures intended for young-adult readers, in the style that Robert Heinlein and others made popular in the fifties and sixties,” The Cyborg From Earth has been rereleased under the Starscape imprint. It’s the story of Jeff Kopal, the latest scion of an obscenely rich and powerful family that’s left its mark both in industry and in the military. The Kopals expect certain things out of their children: everyone serves the military, and everyone distinguishes themselves, if they want any say in how the family business is run. Jeff, unfortunately, is no military genius. So when he screws up on the naval entrance exams, he finds himself summarily assigned to a tiny ship with a captain who hates him, on a mission that’s pure foolishness.

Marooned deep in the heart of Cyborg Territory, Jeff must learn to stand up for himself, and to rally his new friends and allies against a bizarre conspiracy aimed at his family’s company, and at Cyborg Territory itself. He may not be Navy material, but he’ll make a name for himself in another way: as a hero … or a martyr. Either way, someone stands to gain, and it’s not necessarily Jeff.
The Cyborg From Earth is a fun, clever read, hearkening back to the Heinlein juveniles I grew up with, evoking the same spirit without losing the complexity and characterization expected of a more “modern” book. Jeff Kopal faces a traditional coming-of-age as he learns to distinguish moral shades of grey and take responsibility for himself and his actions. Like its predecessor in the series, The Billion Dollar Boy, this is the good stuff, young adult science fiction with a classic atmosphere.