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3.32 AVERAGE
3.32 AVERAGE
Parte Hogwarts para astronautas, parte The Martian, entretenido libro de aventuras con la ciencia bastante creíblemente metida en la ficción. Entretenido, con suspense y una protagonista que llama a preocuparse por ella, a pesar de lo perfectamente capaz que es de cuidarse por sí misma. Claramente, el final anuncia que habrá una segunda parte.
I don't think I would like Jane Eyre very much based on this retelling. The age gap was a huge no for me and I just cannot look past it.
I read the first 100 pages quickly and was really intrigued by the character of June and the situation.
But then it felt like nothing much happened somehow? The romance was weird and barely present. Many things seemed to happen for no reason. I liked the writing most of the time but felt like there were holes in the narrative. I did enjoy picturing all the space and astronaut stuff but was overall underwhelmed.
But then it felt like nothing much happened somehow? The romance was weird and barely present. Many things seemed to happen for no reason. I liked the writing most of the time but felt like there were holes in the narrative. I did enjoy picturing all the space and astronaut stuff but was overall underwhelmed.
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
3.5 stars.
I’m not going to lie — I book this book on a whim based solely and completely on the fact that the pink astronaut cover grabbed my attention in a bookstore and wouldn’t let me walk away!
Much to my surprise, while In the Quick is a science fiction book about a young engineering prodigy whose obsessive need to understand the why of things leads her into a fiercely competitive astronaut program and ultimately, into interplanetary exploration… it’s also a retelling of Jane Eyre. How wild is that?
In In the Quick, June’s beloved uncle, a renowned pioneer in spaceship engineering, dies when June is twelve. He raised her to think, to question, to seek answers, and she delighted in hovering in the background while his students worked with him on challenging prototypes and design projects. But after his death, June is lost in her aunt’s house, unloved and misunderstood — and when the spaceship Inquiry goes dark after a fuel cell failure, June’s worldview is thrown into chaos.
The fuel cells were her uncle’s greatest achievement. What could have gone wrong, and why? Even past the point when the world seems to have concluded that the Inquiry and its crew are lost, June is compelled to seek answers. She soon enrolls at the National Space Program school, determined to forge a path for herself that takes her into space and gives her the knowledge to understand and unravel the mysteries of the failed fuel cells.
June’s journey ultimately takes her to a moon called the Pink Planet, where swirling silt creates a permanently pink atmosphere, and where exposure to the silt results in a hallucinogenic, numbed state. The Pink Planet is an outpost developed as a jumping off point for the vast voyages intended for the Inquiry and its sister ship, but once the Inquiry mission failed, the Pink Planet stations were left in a state of minimal use and shocking disrepair. Once on the Pink Planet, June reconnects with her uncle’s former student James, who is similarly obsessed with June’s uncle’s work. Together, they begin an intense creative phase to finally solve the puzzle of the fuel cells… and to figure out if there truly is any hope still of finding the Inquiry after all this time.
In the Quick is a fairly short book, and it’s a quick read. It’s oddly compelling — the forays into engineering and design are kept to lightly descriptive passages, so the science is never overwhelming for those of us without advanced degrees. The story of June’s growth and education is interesting, although she’s a somewhat hard character to love. We don’t get very deep into her inner life, apart from her never-satisfied quest for knowledge. We know she experiences loss and loneliness, but the friendships she forms along her journey always feel secondary to her scientific obsession.
It’s entertaining to see the Jane Eyre storylines woven into In the Quick. We’re not beaten over the head with them — if someone reading In the Quick hasn’t read Jane Eyre, they’re not going to feel lost or confused in any way. Instead, there are some basic patterns and motifs built into the story (I had to giggle over the opening scene of June reading a book while hidden away in a window seat), and it’s surprising to see how well it all works in a novel of space exploration and interplanetary travel!
I did find the overall plot to have a somewhat flat effect by the end. There are pieces that are never fully explained — in fact, given how central the Pink Planet is to the story, I don’t believe we’re ever told where it is. We know that it’s a moon, despite being named the Pink Planet, but a moon of what?
The book ends, in my opinion, on a very abrupt note, and left me feeling frustrated. Without saying exactly what the ending is, I’ll just say that I wanted more explained about what had transpired over the years since the Inquiry was lost. June’s obsession with the Inquiry leads to her conviction that the crew was still out there somewhere, alive but unable to power their ship or communicate — but if that’s true, how did they survive all these years? The lack of an explanation felt very unsatifsying to me.
If I had to categorize this book, I’d describe it as “literary science fiction”. It’s an interesting, ambitious novel, with themes of classic literature woven into a space story. Overall, I enjoyed reading In the Quick, but for me, I prefer my sci-fi with a lot clearer grounding in the science of it all. I want to understand the details and marvel at how a work of fiction can make it all seem possible. In the Quick is more about the moods and passions and human drives involved, and while it was a good read, it wasn’t 100% my style of science fiction.
Still, I’m glad I gave in to the impulse to grab a copy! In a year where much of my reading is planned well in advance, it was a treat to read on a whim and experience something unexpected. Jane Eyre in space? Well, that was definitely a new, unexpected twist for me, and I’m happy that I gave it a chance.
I’m not going to lie — I book this book on a whim based solely and completely on the fact that the pink astronaut cover grabbed my attention in a bookstore and wouldn’t let me walk away!
Much to my surprise, while In the Quick is a science fiction book about a young engineering prodigy whose obsessive need to understand the why of things leads her into a fiercely competitive astronaut program and ultimately, into interplanetary exploration… it’s also a retelling of Jane Eyre. How wild is that?
In In the Quick, June’s beloved uncle, a renowned pioneer in spaceship engineering, dies when June is twelve. He raised her to think, to question, to seek answers, and she delighted in hovering in the background while his students worked with him on challenging prototypes and design projects. But after his death, June is lost in her aunt’s house, unloved and misunderstood — and when the spaceship Inquiry goes dark after a fuel cell failure, June’s worldview is thrown into chaos.
The fuel cells were her uncle’s greatest achievement. What could have gone wrong, and why? Even past the point when the world seems to have concluded that the Inquiry and its crew are lost, June is compelled to seek answers. She soon enrolls at the National Space Program school, determined to forge a path for herself that takes her into space and gives her the knowledge to understand and unravel the mysteries of the failed fuel cells.
June’s journey ultimately takes her to a moon called the Pink Planet, where swirling silt creates a permanently pink atmosphere, and where exposure to the silt results in a hallucinogenic, numbed state. The Pink Planet is an outpost developed as a jumping off point for the vast voyages intended for the Inquiry and its sister ship, but once the Inquiry mission failed, the Pink Planet stations were left in a state of minimal use and shocking disrepair. Once on the Pink Planet, June reconnects with her uncle’s former student James, who is similarly obsessed with June’s uncle’s work. Together, they begin an intense creative phase to finally solve the puzzle of the fuel cells… and to figure out if there truly is any hope still of finding the Inquiry after all this time.
In the Quick is a fairly short book, and it’s a quick read. It’s oddly compelling — the forays into engineering and design are kept to lightly descriptive passages, so the science is never overwhelming for those of us without advanced degrees. The story of June’s growth and education is interesting, although she’s a somewhat hard character to love. We don’t get very deep into her inner life, apart from her never-satisfied quest for knowledge. We know she experiences loss and loneliness, but the friendships she forms along her journey always feel secondary to her scientific obsession.
It’s entertaining to see the Jane Eyre storylines woven into In the Quick. We’re not beaten over the head with them — if someone reading In the Quick hasn’t read Jane Eyre, they’re not going to feel lost or confused in any way. Instead, there are some basic patterns and motifs built into the story (I had to giggle over the opening scene of June reading a book while hidden away in a window seat), and it’s surprising to see how well it all works in a novel of space exploration and interplanetary travel!
I did find the overall plot to have a somewhat flat effect by the end. There are pieces that are never fully explained — in fact, given how central the Pink Planet is to the story, I don’t believe we’re ever told where it is. We know that it’s a moon, despite being named the Pink Planet, but a moon of what?
The book ends, in my opinion, on a very abrupt note, and left me feeling frustrated. Without saying exactly what the ending is, I’ll just say that I wanted more explained about what had transpired over the years since the Inquiry was lost. June’s obsession with the Inquiry leads to her conviction that the crew was still out there somewhere, alive but unable to power their ship or communicate — but if that’s true, how did they survive all these years? The lack of an explanation felt very unsatifsying to me.
If I had to categorize this book, I’d describe it as “literary science fiction”. It’s an interesting, ambitious novel, with themes of classic literature woven into a space story. Overall, I enjoyed reading In the Quick, but for me, I prefer my sci-fi with a lot clearer grounding in the science of it all. I want to understand the details and marvel at how a work of fiction can make it all seem possible. In the Quick is more about the moods and passions and human drives involved, and while it was a good read, it wasn’t 100% my style of science fiction.
Still, I’m glad I gave in to the impulse to grab a copy! In a year where much of my reading is planned well in advance, it was a treat to read on a whim and experience something unexpected. Jane Eyre in space? Well, that was definitely a new, unexpected twist for me, and I’m happy that I gave it a chance.
So many things in this bugged me, but the book not having any quotation marks was, surprisingly, not one of them. The book should never have admitted that it was inspired by Jane Eyre. It completely ruins the third half and gives away the reveal. And this is not a romance. I am baffled by the blurbs that say it's a "charged love story" and a "coming of age romance". No the fuck it is not. They spend 50 pages getting together and they have no chemistry at all. Do people even know what coming of age is? They are adult colleagues when they get together. There is no romance between them before that. They barely even speak to each other in the first half of the book.
I will say that the reason this is 3 stars and not 1 is that I really enjoyed the beginning. (before any of the romance started). June was a great protagonist and I loved being in her head during her childhood and time at school. I loved the scifi-lite type of story and the writing was simple and lovely. It's really just the romance and Jane Eyre aspect that ruin it. You can have a retelling without sticking exactly to the original. Sometimes, sticking to close to the source material can make the story feel jarring when the rest of the book is so different. Big disappointment.
Pretty cover though.
I will say that the reason this is 3 stars and not 1 is that I really enjoyed the beginning. (before any of the romance started). June was a great protagonist and I loved being in her head during her childhood and time at school. I loved the scifi-lite type of story and the writing was simple and lovely. It's really just the romance and Jane Eyre aspect that ruin it. You can have a retelling without sticking exactly to the original. Sometimes, sticking to close to the source material can make the story feel jarring when the rest of the book is so different. Big disappointment.
Pretty cover though.
The two good things about this book were that it was short and June was an ok character. The high school for astronauts was unique. There were some interesting ideas in this book but it didn't have the world building to support it. For example, why did the NSF have an agricultural post on the planet, and why was it shut down? It was odd that June never interacted with NSF officials directly, just in reference, even though she works for them. I don't mind science fiction that is more philosophical and less technical, but this just didn't work.
The reason I'm giving this book one star is that I think it's a waste of time to read. There are better books out there about geniuses in space. This book didn't do anything new.
The reason I'm giving this book one star is that I think it's a waste of time to read. There are better books out there about geniuses in space. This book didn't do anything new.
I surely read the book blurb at some point, but I didn't read it again before starting the book. All I remembered was that it had an LGBT tag on goodreads. This is unfortunate, because there was only a queer side relationship that was barely in the book. It's hard to come back from the hope of a queer main character. That's definitely on me. (But also the people who tagged it, I guess? Haha.)
That being said, I did not like the dynamic of the actual love story the main character got. I know now the author was drawing inspiration from Jane Eyre, which made everything make MUCH more sense, but it didn't help me like the love interest more. I am not a Rochester girly. Anyway. I was ultimately disappointed in this book. I enjoyed its understated nature, but that did cause things to feel distant at times. I had a lot of problems remembering which characters were which. Maybe 2.5, but I'll round up. The cover is gorgeous, after all...
That being said, I did not like the dynamic of the actual love story the main character got. I know now the author was drawing inspiration from Jane Eyre, which made everything make MUCH more sense, but it didn't help me like the love interest more. I am not a Rochester girly. Anyway. I was ultimately disappointed in this book. I enjoyed its understated nature, but that did cause things to feel distant at times. I had a lot of problems remembering which characters were which. Maybe 2.5, but I'll round up. The cover is gorgeous, after all...