Jules Verne’s sequel to his “From the Earth to the Moon” begins with a short chapter to catch you up, if you missed the first book. Then we join our three adventurers in their huge projectile as they gather themselves after the shock of being fired at the Moon from the Columbiad cannon. Perhaps in a nod to Yankee exceptionalism, Verne permits them an extraordinary encounter in space, and better yet – to survive it! But that encounter has a lasting effect: despite all the careful preparations to deposit the projectile on the Moon, it appears the travelers are destined to miss it! (The book is not called “On the Moon”, is it?!) Careful scientists at heart, the former artillerymen in the projectile note every occurrence faithfully in their notebooks, along with the details of their observations of the Moon as they fly past… and round it. That precision might pay off as they try to figure out what happens to them next: will they fly off into space, become an eternal satellite of the Moon, or perhaps, something else? And do they have any way at all to affect that?

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