TEST
Have I mentioned lately how much I am loving the current YA market? While not every book I am picking up is a winner (I recently finished a crop of C/C- novels that left me wondering if the days of the greats were behind us), this genre continues to surprise, amaze and delight. And novels like this one, by a debut author no less, are what fuels that happiness.
Amy Martin was cryogenically frozen, placed aboard the ship Godspeed and expected to be defrosted when it landed on Centauri-Earth. Instead, someone unplugs her unit and she is violently awakened fifty years before they expect to land. She can’t be refrozen and has to accept that she may very well be dead before they make it to the new planet. At the very least her parents will arise to find their daughter a decade older than they are. In addition, she faces a ship’s culture that is unlike that of the Earth they left. Here the humans are ruled over by a grouchy old man known as Eldest; they are seemingly vacant and unable to act independent of his commands. She is regarded warily because of her red hair and white skin in a world that has become mono-ethnic. And her only real friend is the young man training to replace the all powerful leader, a boy named Elder.
Elder has never known any life other than the one he has on the ship. But he knows there is something wrong here, deeply wrong. The awakening of Amy simply reinforces what he is already suspecting – that whatever secret Eldest is hiding is dark and bad. Elder is defined by the love he has for the people who are in his charge. He will die for them if necessary. But is dying actually the worst thing that he can be asked to do? Or are more dreadful possibilities, crimes he can’t even imagine, what will be asked of him?
When other cryogenic chambers become unplugged Amy and Elder must work together to solve the myriad mysteries of the ship. But each moment is a ticking time bomb as they find themselves working against the adults in charge and against a humanity that seems determined to stay in servitude. As the Godspeed hurtles through space growing ever closer to its destination, Amy and Elder find themselves struggling desperately for their own survival and that of those frozen a hundred years ago, in a place all but forgotten.
There is a lot to love about this novel, most especially its characters. The author did a perfect job of blending youth with maturity, independence with practicality, intelligence with the need to be educated. Amy is a feisty young woman who is like a lightning strike in the darkness that is the bulk of the ships crew. What was terrific about her was that she didn’t sulk at the truly heinous thing that had happened to her; she grieved but moved on. She didn’t blend in perfectly but she was the kind of person who recognized a mistake when she made it, learned from it, and moved on. Her rebellious actions are needed to get the action flowing, and could have easily had a TSTL feel to them but didn’t. It was obvious that she was feeling out her boundaries, that the testing was needed to get to the bottom of the events occurring on the ship. I also liked that Amy behaved in the manner I would want someone establishing a needed human colony to behave; she took the weight of what she was doing very seriously. She put the survival of the colony before her personal needs. She also didn’t subjugate individual freedom and the rights of people to rule themselves to the need to survive. She worked toward the balance she believed possible.
Elder is pretty terrific too. Moments after we meet him, we see him put the needs of others before his own life. This is pretty much the defining trait of this young man. But we also see him have his childish and impetuous moments. He was believable as a future leader – but also as a young man. Brilliance with flashes of teen thrown in. Elder is also our “onion” character. While Amy is who she is and wears it all on the surface, we get to know the real Elder very slowly. It’s okay – he’s worth waiting for.
The ship was populated well, in terms of who they choose to freeze and crew. The problems that have come up in the population occurred because of issues on the ship, natural when you think of hundreds of people locked together on a box hurtling through space. I couldn’t help comparing this to another recent sci-fi/YA novel I had read where the creators of the ships actually segregated people by religion before shipping them out. I found that ridiculous. Here I am happy to say the people who planned the mission planned for success. There were problems but they are the types of problems that crop up when you put a bunch of humans together. I also really enjoyed characters like Doc. Part of the regime and yet – well, that is for you to find out.
The mystery of what is happening on the ship is interesting and handled well. I liked that the problem was big, it was real, and it wasn’t just politics or jockeying for power. The author shows us how humanity falls back on old tricks to deal with new problems while at the same time shaking it up enough to keep it fresh. She also threw in the lessons on genetics not forming us and the importance of choice. We weren’t battered over the head with them; they were just there.
Were there flaws? Of course. I think it was pretty easy to figure out who the mystery character flitting around the ship was. I didn’t like that we didn’t meet the pilots, engineers, or scientists. I understand important people like that wouldn’t normally hang out with teens, but when things were happening toward the end I would have liked to have seen them involved.
But overall this was a terrific read – easily my best science fiction book of the year. I would recommend to any YA fan or sci-fi fan out there. There are some adult themes in the novel but I think they are age appropriate for today’s YA audience. Honestly, you probably see worse on TV.
Grade: A-
Book Type: Young Adult
Sensuality: Subtle
Review Date: 27/09/11
Publication Date: 2011/01
I've been an avid reader since 2nd grade and discovered romance when my cousin lent me Lord of La Pampa by Kay Thorpe in 7th grade. I currently read approximately 150 books a year, comprised of a mix of Young Adult, romance, mystery, women's fiction, and science fiction/fantasy.
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Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.