Reviews

The romance aspect fell short in a couple of places but the plot was really good and I genuinely was shocked and amazed in a couple of places. I cried a couple of times too.

heckingchonk's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

4.75

moiscool's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious tense 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? Yes

5.0

This book was so unexpected and so incredible. I think the cover really does not communicate the levels of depth contained in this book. It started out as a kind of gay YA version of an Andy Weir book, but then it started getting mysterious and thrilling. There were so many turns and surprises that i did not see coming. Overall, a great book and i am excited to read the sequel

ashtonebemis's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective tense 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

4.75

woodslesbian's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful 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? Yes

4.5

Everyone go read this book without knowing anything about it I promise it's worth it!!!!

I went into this knowing that it was in space and after seeing it described as "not reading like YA," and I think that was the perfect amount of context to have for this one. Without spoilers, I started off the book going "well this is interesting, but I don't really care that much about Ambrose ogling this angsty guy, can we please get back to the mysterious stuff happening in this space ship?" and then at 45% my thoughts were just "OH SHIT. OHHHH SHIT!!!!" and remained so for basically the rest of the book--the author knows how to build tension and maintain it like nobody's business. I'm sorry for doubting you Mr. Schrefer!

In terms of feeling dissimilar to other YA, I would say that this is true in terms of contents and the way the book absolutely does not shy away from the full depths of space horror, rather than the actual writing style. The text itself is absolutely shaped by Ambrose being a 17-year old and that comes across strongly in the writing, but not in a bad way! The style feels more like it's just genuinely shaped by his age and his personality than like... trying to be overly-quippy or just sounding like every other YA book, you know? It did take me some time to get used to that, and to be sold on Ambrose's interactions with Kodiak, but again, by the end I was 100% on board and invested in these two characters and their journey.

That's all I have to say about this one, but because I really do feel like going in with very little information is the move for this book, rather than me not having opinions on it! I keep having to pause when going about my day to sit and process the things that happened in here even like two weeks after finishing it, it absolutely packs a punch. Absolutely crazy stuff, very fun! And I'm super excited to read the sequel!

morrism's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional medium-paced

4.0

scarlett24's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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