Ship's Boy

Phil Geusz’s book Ship’s Boy is about a young bunny person in space, who makes a human friend amidst many people dying horribly. In Space. Also, he is a slave and people have a fondness for touching his ears.

This book has only a few faults. First, the sequels are hard to find for free online, which is a major problem because one book about slave bunnies in space is not enough. Second, the author does not expand too much on the appearance of said bunny slave. Is he just a giant bunny, or is he a horribly disgusting mutant creature that just looks more like a bunny than anything else? Does he have any cute patterns on his fur? I certainly will never know, for I cannot find the sequel. This may just be intentional, so that the audience just pictures a generic cute rabbit, but I personally want to know specifically how cute this rabbit is.  

The story itself is interesting, as it explores the topic of prejudice in a unique setting. I really sympathized with the protagonist David, as I could just imagine this sad little bunny going through all this danger and suffering. The author literally took one of the most defenseless and cute creatures and put it in space, one of the most dangerous places imaginable (just behind Walmart on Black Friday). Not only is this poor bunny in space, with people dying all around him, but on top of that people are mean to him BECAUSE he is a little bunny. This of course immediately evokes utter hatred and contempt for any of the characters that dare show prejudice against this little rabbit, because only monsters could be mean to this defenseless creature. This is interesting in itself, because we are led to take the side of the non-human creature against that of humans, which most of us are.

Phil Geusz creates an interesting story filled with contrary elements that work together in a way that makes the audience see things in a new, interesting way. By putting a cute, weak creature in one of the most dangerous environments possible, and then manipulating the audience to take the creature’s side over that of humans, Geusz overturns all of the audience’s preconceived notions of space stories in a fascinating way that leaves them wanting more.