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ebralz's review against another edition
1.0
Maybe listening to this book has skewed my opinion but I felt this book was boring, redundant, and overdone. I also take huge issue with the language the white author thought the person of color main character should use. It didn’t sound accurate at all and was actually quite annoying and took away from the story. I found myself zoning out for most of the book.
cjmedinger's review against another edition
3.0
Not sure if this is a genius redo of "enders game" or an over-wrought teen drama.
doctormon's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
laralibrarian's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
travelinglibrarian07's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
raerae133264's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
This book was fun! As an adult reading a YA sci-fi I didn't have the highest of hopes, but I was surprised.
The beginning does a great job of pulling you right into the action: ten teenagers chosen to go to space for a mining mission on another planet but surprise they have to compete to get there. I loved the diversity of the characters and each of their distinct personalities. The actions scenes written well in my opinion, especially when a lot of novels drag them on longer than necessary.
There was a point where I was starting to lose interest and felt like the training/competition was never going to end. Even when Kaya dies after finding one of the mentioned aliens trapped within the ship it was kind of meh. I didn't feel like it made that big of an impact on the plot, but kept reading and I'm super glad I did. The ending was fast paced and I flew through the last 150 pages.
The beginning does a great job of pulling you right into the action: ten teenagers chosen to go to space for a mining mission on another planet but surprise they have to compete to get there. I loved the diversity of the characters and each of their distinct personalities. The actions scenes written well in my opinion, especially when a lot of novels drag them on longer than necessary.
There was a point where I was starting to lose interest and felt like the training/competition was never going to end. Even when
lostintomes's review against another edition
5.0
4.5 Stars
This checked so many boxes for me...
Secret Space Mission ✔️
Male, POC as Main Character✔️
Diverse Side Cast ✔️✔️
Cool Technology ✔️
Intriguing & Mysterious Plot ✔️
I don't know why I didn't pick this up a couple months ago, because I loved it! It seems like I don’t get the chance to read from the male perspective very often in YA. Don't get me wrong, I love all the novels featuring strong female leads right now they're wonderful and we need them. But I can't help getting excited when we get a male POV. Don't young men deserve to be able to read new books about themselves as more than just love-interests? I think so and I'd love to read more of them.
I was hooked from the get-go, Scott Reintgen is a wonderful writer. Emmett's narration has a great voice and authenticity to it. Just excellent. He's a great character, that I thought was easy to connect with (regardless of how vastly different we are). I loved him right away. I feel like almost all the characters were interesting and well-developed. We have a large amount of side characters, that are all diverse in a very organic kind of way. That can seem forced in some books, this one doesn't. The friendships that grow throughout the book are the best. It can feel a little overwhelming at first since there's so many to keep track of. They all come with their own history and talents, it doesn't take long to get to know them all and they aren't too hard to keep straight.
While this takes place in space, on a spaceship heading to an alien planet. We really don't experience a lot of "space" or "alien" aspects in this book. Nor a lot of world building because well ... we're on a space ship. (I am sure we'll get more of that in book two, as that one will actually take place on an alien planet.) It focuses mainly on the challenges, technology, character development and moral conflict. There's also a very mysterious air over the entire book, that adds a lot of intrigue to the story. I am looking forward to what comes next and learning more clues about their mission, Babel Corporation and all the new obstacles Emmett will have to face in the book to come.
Recommend for fans of:
- Science Fiction / Dystopian
- The 100
- The Hunger Games
- Ender's Game
- Great Audiobooks (the reader is wonderful)
This checked so many boxes for me...
Secret Space Mission ✔️
Male, POC as Main Character✔️
Diverse Side Cast ✔️✔️
Cool Technology ✔️
Intriguing & Mysterious Plot ✔️
I don't know why I didn't pick this up a couple months ago, because I loved it! It seems like I don’t get the chance to read from the male perspective very often in YA. Don't get me wrong, I love all the novels featuring strong female leads right now they're wonderful and we need them. But I can't help getting excited when we get a male POV. Don't young men deserve to be able to read new books about themselves as more than just love-interests? I think so and I'd love to read more of them.
I was hooked from the get-go, Scott Reintgen is a wonderful writer. Emmett's narration has a great voice and authenticity to it. Just excellent. He's a great character, that I thought was easy to connect with (regardless of how vastly different we are). I loved him right away. I feel like almost all the characters were interesting and well-developed. We have a large amount of side characters, that are all diverse in a very organic kind of way. That can seem forced in some books, this one doesn't. The friendships that grow throughout the book are the best. It can feel a little overwhelming at first since there's so many to keep track of. They all come with their own history and talents, it doesn't take long to get to know them all and they aren't too hard to keep straight.
While this takes place in space, on a spaceship heading to an alien planet. We really don't experience a lot of "space" or "alien" aspects in this book. Nor a lot of world building because well ... we're on a space ship. (I am sure we'll get more of that in book two, as that one will actually take place on an alien planet.) It focuses mainly on the challenges, technology, character development and moral conflict. There's also a very mysterious air over the entire book, that adds a lot of intrigue to the story. I am looking forward to what comes next and learning more clues about their mission, Babel Corporation and all the new obstacles Emmett will have to face in the book to come.
Recommend for fans of:
- Science Fiction / Dystopian
- The 100
- The Hunger Games
- Ender's Game
- Great Audiobooks (the reader is wonderful)
justinbaumann71's review against another edition
5.0
My first 5-star read of 2023! How fun! This book was such a compact, but well structured and thoughtout space exploration YA adventure. It balanced the appropriate levels of being appropriate for teen readers, but also feeling very engaging and having characters that had believable rationales and motivations as an adult reader.
Pros: Amazing pacing that consistnely introduces new mystery elements, while providing answers along the way. The battle royale esq inspiration taking place over a year really allows for the morality of the situation to seep into the novel and make it difficult for the characters to navigate their reality as they need to be the best to make it to Eden, but also become attached to their fellow competitors. Also the diverse cast feels both genuine and integral to the story instead of just feeling hollow and thrown in for diversity sake.
Cons: The cliffhanger was brutal and I would be so upset if I was reading this when they originally came out.
Overall - I highly recommend this series. I have already moved onto book 2 and am having a great time with it.
Pros: Amazing pacing that consistnely introduces new mystery elements, while providing answers along the way. The battle royale esq inspiration taking place over a year really allows for the morality of the situation to seep into the novel and make it difficult for the characters to navigate their reality as they need to be the best to make it to Eden, but also become attached to their fellow competitors. Also the diverse cast feels both genuine and integral to the story instead of just feeling hollow and thrown in for diversity sake.
Cons: The cliffhanger was brutal and I would be so upset if I was reading this when they originally came out.
Overall - I highly recommend this series. I have already moved onto book 2 and am having a great time with it.
3mk4y's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
creedmk's review against another edition
4.0
Listened to this on audible and really enjoyed it, the storyline is engaging and the narrator is pleasant to listen to.