Genre: Sci-Fi

Age: Adult

Format: Paperback

I was really excited to read this one, but admittedly it was a bit of a slog to get through. It did pick up a fair way in, and once the women reach Mars it was, overall, much more engaging. Through the novel, we get two timelines – Naomi’s pre-mission life, centring around her relationships with Valerie, Evan (Naomi’s kind of but not quite stepbrother), and Naomi’s ex-husband. The other timeline is the novel’s ‘present day’, focusing on the women who were supposed to be the first mission to a planet in the Goldilocks Zone, spearheaded by Valerie Black, Naomi’s surrogate mother. With things growing steadily worse on a doomed Earth, including increasing restrictions on women as climate change fully wreaks havoc, the women are kicked off the mission. So, they steal the ship and take the mission back.

My main issue with the first part of the book was the heavy handiness. Like as readers we had to keep being told about the themes over, and over, and over. And yes, we’re told about them – we see a small amount of the impact on the women and planet, but it feels like it could have been more effective if we did get to see more, rather than getting it in bits and pieces, in retrospect, and with the narration pointing out how it’s just like this historical event in a kind of clumsy, forced hand way.

There are a lot of ideas scrambling for space here, and it pushes some of the most interesting aspects to one side. The actual crew are fairly interesting characters, when we get to spend time with them, but Naomi spends a considerable amount of time on her own or thinking about her ex-husband or talking to Evan back on Earth. When things do start going wrong on the ship, it really picks up, and we get more of a tighter story once we’re past the backstory element of the novel.

It’s a solid premise that doesn’t quite deliver, and at times it does get fairly bleak, but as things start to ramp up on the ship and on Earth, it definitely gets more interesting. It’s fun trying to work out how, exactly, things are going to end for this collection of women. For me, it was a 3.5 rating, but more time exploring the other female characters – rather than concentrating so much time of Naomi’s marriage – would have pushed it up even more.

I think Lam is a good writer, but in this book there’s too much explicitly spelled out, and there was too much fighting for space with different elements, meaning some stuff felt underutilized, while other elements took up more of the focus when they didn’t need to. It starts with a ‘Handmaid’s Tale’ feel, but ultimately ends in a bit of an odd, rushed way, where things feel like they maybe work out a little too neatly?

Not necessarily one I would recommend, but can totally see why others would love this.

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Review by Elle Turpitt

Twitter: @elleturpitt

Bluesky: @elleturpitt.bsky.social

www.elleturpittediting.com

I purchased this book.