I just wanted to write this as a counter to Gig 'Em's review which stated not to read the rest of the series. While I agree that the book can stand on its own very well and is a good story, I feel that Starbound adds a lot of further information to clarify and extend and show growth in the characters from this book. Now I completely agree that Earthbound is not a suggested read. So, I would recommend Starbound as a worthy sequel, but consider it the end of the series.

This book stands pretty well on its own, and on its own it's fairly interesting. That said, it's part of a three-book series, and I would discourage reading the next two books if you want to hang on to a nice memory of the first one.