Book Review: Europa Journal, by Jack Castle

This is a particular type of science fiction story that I enjoy.  Humanity finds something unexpected, followed by something that would seem to be impossible, and then people are on a quest to find the truth of what they have found.

In Europa Journal, humanity finds something very mysterious indeed.  In the year 2168, out on the moon Europa, which orbits the planet Jupiter, a five-sided pyramid is discovered on the ocean floor.  The pyramid seems similar to those found on Earth.  Within the pyramid, the body of a World War II pilot is found - a pilot who disappeared in 1945.  The pilot is holding a journal which details what happened to him after he and his crew were abducted by aliens.  To make things more complicated, the names of some people currently present on Europa are mentioned in the journal.

Shortly after this discovery, Mac O'Bryant and her team are transported through a wormhole to a strange planet, where they encounter many strange things.  As the book progresses, two stories unfold simultaneously:  the events which take place involving the pilot after his abduction, and the events which take place involving Mac and her companions, and eventually their paths cross.  There were times when it was initially not clear to me what was happening, or even *when* it was happening, at the start of a new chapter started, but this usually got resolved pretty quickly.

Elements of this book are reminiscent of stories I have read in the past, or even movies that I have seen.  The world that Mac and her team end up exploring reminded me very much of the book Helix, by Eric Brown, where the characters encounter some very interesting forms of life.  From a strangeness perspective, I would say that this story has some elements of Larry Niven's Ringworld as well.  There are also some elements that reminded me of the film Stargate (and the 11-season TV series spinoff).  And, of course, other familiar story elements like alien abduction and the Bermuda Triangle play a part as well.  All of these elements come together to weave a somewhat different story.

This was a refreshing twist on these familiar elements, and was an engaging read throughout, and I was pleasantly surprised that I could not see where the story was heading.  If you are looking for some different treatment of familiar science fiction themes, I would check this one out.