Line #29 Literature/WorldEater


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9	[[quoteright:346:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screenshot_2018_10_18_at_175358_5.png]]
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11	A 1983 novel by Creator/RobertSwindells.
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13	Late one night, eleven-year-old pigeon breeder Orville Copperstone wakes to find a tree having blown into the house of elderly neighbour Mr [=McDougal=], who speaks fearfully of a strange new presence in the night sky. Recent worldwide freak storms have in fact been caused by the sudden, unexplained arrival in the solar system of a small planet between Mercury and Venus. While the Copperstones learn through news updates of the solar drama, Russian physicist Professor Valentina Petrova has an ominously pertinent new theory about black holes.
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15	Meanwhile, Orville befriends local journalist Brian Fox, to whom he submits a theory that the new planet, whose smooth surface is made of calcium carbonate, is some kind of egg...
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17	!!''World-Eater'' provides examples of:
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19	* ABoyAndHisX: Orville takes fond, diligent care of pigeon Susie.
20	* AlienInvasion: Of a sort - a gigantic intergalactic predator wants our solar system for breakfast.
21	* BigDamnHeroes: Brian makes short work of [[spoiler: Orville's kidnappers]].
22	* BewareTheNiceOnes: On having been kidnapped for information, Orville suddenly flies into a rage at the thought of his distraught parents.
23	* DeadpanSnarker: Orville has some good ones.
24	-->'''Orville:''' ''{on the proposed need to insulate the orbital egg}'' What are you going to do, turn off the sun?
25	%%* EurekaMoment: "It's an egg."
26	* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: If the new "planet" hatches, whatever's inside will devour the entire solar system.
27	* ExtremeOmnivore: These things eat stars, planets and ''light''.
28	* FriendToAllChildren: Brian has an easy rapport with Orville, of whom he's quite protective.
29	* HordeOfAlienLocusts: Although more like some kind of bird species, which raid independently.
30	* ImprovisedWeapon: A shield assembled from space junk to [[spoiler:insulate the space egg from the sun's incubation]].
31	* IntelligenceEqualsIsolation: Orville's pigeon fascination draws ridicule at school.
32	%%* IntergenerationalFriendship:
33	%%** Orville and Mr [=McDougal=] share a kindred love of pigeons.
34	%%** Orville and Brian.
35	%%** Brian and elderly Professor Hayle.
36	* ImmoralJournalist: Chris Thelwell and Toby Vance, who suspect Orville to have realised something about the new "planet," kidnap him for information.
37	* IntrepidReporter: When searching for additional news material, Brian meets Orville.
38	* OopNorth: Evidenced by the occasional "aye".
39	* PlanetEater: They also eat stars, light, and ''time''.
40	* TheProfessor: Astronomer Professor Jim Hayle has just the right connections to circulate a persuasive new theory...
41	* StarfishAliens: Some kind of intergalactic species which has wings, lays eggs, and is very, very big.
42	* TearsOfJoy:
43	** Orville, his mother, and possibly his father, [[spoiler:when the crisis has passed]].
44	** Orville, on being presented by [[spoiler:the Royal Pigeon Fancier with a pair of dordins as successor to his cat-slain Susie]].
45	* UnrealisticBlackHole: Black holes are revealed to be living things, [[OhCrap one of which has just laid an egg in our solar system]].
46	%%* WeirdWeather: On arrival of the new "planet."
47	* WouldHurtAChild: Two unscrupulous journalists, having realised Orville to know something, kidnap him.

Context Literature / WorldEater