I don't know what I was thinking when I requested this book. I've not been a fan of science fiction novels since I was a teen; I'm not sure why. Probably nothing wrong with this one, but I just can't get beyond Chapter One...

Studying history, during World War11, five bombers disappeared near the Bermuda Triangle. Other similar unexplained occurrences happened in earth's history.
Could the discovery on Europa in 2168 be somehow linked with these disappearances?
Mac felt this was an opportunity to "walk in her father's footsteps" and maybe even find him, or at least learn of him? What appeared to be an unique, yet exciting opportunity may not be as it appeared. Was this mission designed for discovery or failure?
The action never stops, the next adventure never ceases, and the surprises steadily come. Along with a large amount of graphic violence is a touch of romance. This is quite well written, The only problems I had with it was the graphic violence and it lacked the "smoothness" in the flow of the story formulating in the beginning chapters. I felt somewhat confused at first as to what time period I was reading and how it pertained to the story. It needed to be slightly clearer.

*This book was a gift. There was no suggestion of a positive review. This is my honest review. ( )

The Europa Journal tells the stories of two strong leaders thrown into situations beyond their understanding. The first story focuses on a World War II fighter pilot the second on a team of future astronauts. This book took me a while to get through putting it down for months at a time but I did read the second half much more quickly than the first. A lot of heavy handed foreshadowing and over exaggeration of the impact of the events of the story made it a little over the top in places. Overall the hard science fiction drifted into some deep theology that I wasn't expecting and I am not sure if it helped the story or not. ( )

Harry Reed was part of a US military training flight that left Florida in December 1945. It vanished in the Bermuda Triangle. How did his body end up inside a submerged pyramid on Europa about two hundred years later?

Commander Mackenzie O'Bryant is called in, because she has a prominent place in Reed's journal, which she pockets. A member of her crew accidentally pushes the On button. They just manage to escape the flooding of the pyramid, but they don't escape the suddenly-created wormhole that sends them Somewhere Else.

After crash landing on an alien planet, their attempts at First Contact do not go well. They eventually meet up with Reed, who is the only survivor of his flight. He has been accepted by several awumpai (think of a samurai crossed with a yeti). The planet is ruled by a very powerful being called Atum-Khaos. He knows of Earth's existence. His ultimate objective is to take an entire floating city back through the wormhole, and kill or enslave all of humanity. Can he be stopped by a handful of humans, and a couple of World War II-era bomber aircraft? How does Reed's body get to Europa?

I totally enjoyed this novel. It's very easy to read, with heart and emotion along with very alien aliens. It also has lots of action, with a rather high body count by the end. This is another case where just as a novel, this is excellent. Considering that it is the author's first SF novel brings it to the level of Wow. ( )

Is it a rule of writing that anything involving the Bermuda Triangle sounds good but ends up being shite? In this case, not only do we have turgid writing "'I have a visual line of sight,' Leo announced." but technical goofs that should never have been drafted, let alone survived through editing (the shuttle wasn't designed to land on an Earth-like planet, why in Spock's name not). The crash landing in Chapter 1 is an essay on how not to write.

I could not bear to read this thing.

I received a review copy of "Europa Journal" by Jack Castle through LibraryThing.com. ( )