In a sequel just as goofy and sweet as the original book, Hakata Soy and the team at Astronaut Academy return for another semester of school in the middle of space, but love keeps getting in the way.
Soy and his friends want to focus on going to class and, more importantly, winning the Fireball championship, but someone is eating the hearts of the students. (This is less gory than it seems; students need their hearts in the same way video game characters do.) While the series launch hinted at some love stories, including romantic triangles and a heaping adolescent helping of unrequited love, here love takes the main stage. Finding love in high school is complicated enough, without the threat of having one's heart literally stolen. Scared of losing too many students, the school bans love altogether. Though the students have other things to occupy them, like Fireball and MonChiChiMon cards, they must figure out who is taking the hearts before it's too late.
Roman's use of flashbacks fills readers in on the origin stories of many favorite characters. The manga and video game references will appeal to teens, as well as many younger readers, who will love the book just as much (if they're ready for a lot of crushes and smooching). Hakata, and many of the characters, must come to terms with some painful truths, and once again Roman's deft handling hides some deep thoughts under the bubbly panels, and brings the action-packed story to a satisfying conclusion. --Stephanie Anderson, head of readers' advisory at Darien Library and blogger