I am a sucker for a space opera, same as for a good Western. The argument can be made that those are two sides of the same coin, and I can go along with that, too. So when I find a fun space opera, be it television, film, or graphic novels, a story or group of characters that hook me, it’s easy to fall in love with them.

Quantum Mechanics has me falling in love, and wanting to spend more time with them and their new adventures. Jeffrey Weigel’s new universe is diverse, colorful, full of lively details and dialogue, expressive art, and layers of complexity. The very things that make stories fun, and the bonus here are the young female protagonists who are straining against the leashes their guardians hold, making mistakes but also making decisions to pull themselves out of trouble again.

Rox and Zam hone their skills as mechanics and inventors by working in the spaceship junkyard run by Rox’s parents, trying to get broken-down heaps flying again, or using pieces and parts to build new gadgets of their own design.

When Rox’s dad, J’oh, turns down an “request” from his old boss, a pirate captain named Red Myk, Rox sees an opportunity to prove herself by offering to make the repairs herself. What she doesn’t count on is getting herself and Zam kidnapped and taken on pirating adventures, at first being held for ransom until Red Myk realizes they are far more valuable as members of the crew, bringing his ship, the Quasar Torrent, back up to full working order.

Red Myk wants to be able to terrorize the merchant ships traversing the trading lanes through wormhole controlled by Quarkcorp, since it was the corporation’s monopoly on the wormhole that’s led to so many people being out of work along the old trading lanes.

Many shenanigans ensue, with Rox and Zam trying to figure out how to keep the ship running but also how to get their lives back, and the freedom of the other members of the crew who Red Myk has kidnapped into being pirates… all without being captured or destroyed by Quarkcorp’s battle fleet.

The graphic novel itself is a fast read, the story is light and when needed the banter is both dramatic and fun. The artwork is bright, even in the darker panels, and the expressiveness of all the players is a delight. Readers young and old will enjoy this, even though it’s marketed as YA.

I know I did, and am eager to read another chapter in this adventure.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Also, check out our interview with author/illustrator Jeff Weigel!

On a nowhere asteroid on the far rim of the galaxy, two young alien girls-Rox and Zam-spend their days tearing apart and repairing clunkers in a spaceship junkyard. These aspiring gearheads yearn for the chance to test their skills on something besides rusted old rockets and broken-down planet-hoppers. Their big chance finally comes when the captain of a mysterious ship called the Quasar Torrent enlists the kids for some repair work. But what initially looks like a golden opportunity quickly becomes a nightmare when the young friends find they’ve been kidnapped by what turns out to be a band of space pirates!

Rox and Zam find themselves swept up in the astro-buccaneers’ vendetta against a huge intergalactic corporation that’s forced this motley band of working stiffs from across space into a life of crime. Now the girls must chose: do they want the comforts of home and family, or the glamorous adventure of a lifetime-to be part of a crew of colorful misfits intent on plunder, revenge, and excitement? Their lives, friendship . . . and maybe even the fate of a galaxy . . . hangs in the balance!

Quantum Mechanics by Jeff Weigel
Age Range: 9 – 12 years
Grade Level: 4 – 7
Paperback: 208 pages
Publisher: Lion Forge (October 23, 2018)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1941302661
ISBN-13: 978-1941302668