Melina Olenberger's Review of "Cosmic" by Frank Cottrell Boyce

Cosmic proves rather successfully that the most ludicrous premise can turn into a wonderful, believable story in the hands of a competent writer:

Liam Digby is only 12 but he is VERY tall. He is so tall that people actually think he is an adult (the fact that he has Premature Facial Hair also helps). For most part, Liam enjoys the benefits and advantages of being regarded as an adult: he goes to places he is not supposed to; he gets to drive a Porsche; and after passing the height restrictions, enjoys the scariest rollercoaster ever: the Cosmic. On the downside, being too tall and adult-like somehow creates unreasonable expectations and it’s not unusual for Liam to hear the words: “a big guy like you, you should know better” .

Still, the perks outweigh the disadvantages especially when – by pretending to be an adult AND a father (to his friend Florida Kirby) – Liam manages to win a competition to go to the world’s newest, most exciting theme park IN CHINA, The Infinite Park. Whilst their parents think they are going to a school trip to the Lake District, celebrity-obsessed Florida and Liam along with 4 other winners and their kids travel to China, where they learn that the five kids will actually be going to SPACE in the Infinite Possibility Rocket “ride” and only one of the adults get to accompany them; this adults will be voted by the kids after going through a series of tests that sort of come across as Survivor Meets Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Which is how 12 year-old Liam ends up in a rocket. Lost in space. With 5 kids. As the sole responsible ADULT. Where he is recording a message to his father explaining how he ended up there – which is actually the book itself.

Do you see what I mean by a “ludicrous” premise? But the thing is, and I can’t stress this enough: Cosmic is less about how Liam ends up in Space and more about what it means to be an adult or a child and about unreasonable expectations and about ones too by exposing in a wonderful, funny and moving fashion the intricacies of the relationship between fathers and sons or daughters.

I think Cosmic would be enjoyed by just about everyone in the world and in the words of Gob Bluth: “What you need to know… [dramatic pause] Is that it’s magic” or more to point: it is totally cosmic. Read it.