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A review by danaurrrr
Satellite by Nick Lake
1.0
This book is a disappointing mess. I hate to rate it so harshly since the premise looked very promising and the first act kept me relatively invested before the rapid decline in quality... Unfortunately these details pale in comparison to the infuriating and almost unreadable chatspeak ("silly orthography"), erratically paced plot, and tone-deaf racial/ethnic stereotypes that make up the rest of this book.
If you want proof that I really wanted to give this book a chance, I was so worried that my unabashed hatred for the "how do you do, fellow kids" writing style was making me a biased reviewer that I went in and rewrote the entire first act in regular English to see what I thought then. The results? It was much more readable, but all my other problems with the book remained. So if you're reading this book and not enjoying it, this is your sign not to do what I did and try to translate the entire novel in the futile attempt to make it a good read. It's at best tolerable. You'll have better luck training your brain to just ignore the stupid way everyone talks.
Frankly I still don't understand the "silly orthography" choice. It's more intrusive than anything and it also didn't make much sense in the context of the story, either. Is it because they're in the future? Because they're in space? Because they're teenagers? I first read this book when I was very comfortably within the target age range (I probably still am) and I remember showing it to my friends who agreed that it felt arbitrary and pandering.
If you want to read a science fiction novel about space written in silly, informal prose that actually makes sense in the context of the story and isn't painful to read, try [b:The Martian|18007564|The Martian|Andy Weir|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1413706054l/18007564._SY75_.jpg|21825181] by Andy Weir.
My complaints about the language of this novel are mainly a personal grievance. What actually truly disappointed me was the tasteless presentation of the LGBT+ storyline and stereotypical depictions of Asian characters. I was so excited to see that this novel had queer POC representation, only for my excitement to slowly morph into dread as the story went on and it was revealed to me that the author was definitely not equipped to be telling these kinds of stories. The details I can give without spoiling anything mostly pertain to the ethnic stereotypes/misrepresentations scattered throughout this story, of which the main ones go as follows:
- The half-Japanese character named "Soto?" Not only is this not a Japanese name, I can't find any evidence that it's a given name at all. Also I cringed internally at Leo guessing Soto's racial heritage. Why even include that? He's blond and green-eyed, too, which is possible though very genetically improbable. Is it just so we arbitrarily know he's half white? It mainly bothers me because it's another installment of a nonwhite character made more palatable by being given Eurocentric features.
- The Russian character that the other characters spend a lot of time poking fun at and whose entire personality is that he likes vodka.
- A man described as having an "Asian accent?" And his name is "Ku," continuing the theme of made-up Asian names. Also, where in Asia? Is there some pan-Asian accent that nobody bothered to tell me about?
My criticisms of the LGBT+ content will contain spoilers, so feel free to skip this section if you still want to read this book for some reason and would rather go in blind.
After all this Leo does eventually end up in an (implied) relationship Soto...a man about three or four years his senior whom Leo met when he was 15? So, yikes.
This last part of my review concerns the plot and pacing of this book, so I've marked all of it for spoilers. Feel free to skip to the TL;DR if you still want to go in blind.
Satellite had many individual moments of intriguing drama and beautiful prose. I just wish they could have been in a better book than this one, which somehow managed to make both the interesting premise and nice writing style into two little husks in a dull, annoying, unremarkable teen read.
If you want proof that I really wanted to give this book a chance, I was so worried that my unabashed hatred for the "how do you do, fellow kids" writing style was making me a biased reviewer that I went in and rewrote the entire first act in regular English to see what I thought then. The results? It was much more readable, but all my other problems with the book remained. So if you're reading this book and not enjoying it, this is your sign not to do what I did and try to translate the entire novel in the futile attempt to make it a good read. It's at best tolerable. You'll have better luck training your brain to just ignore the stupid way everyone talks.
Frankly I still don't understand the "silly orthography" choice. It's more intrusive than anything and it also didn't make much sense in the context of the story, either. Is it because they're in the future? Because they're in space? Because they're teenagers? I first read this book when I was very comfortably within the target age range (I probably still am) and I remember showing it to my friends who agreed that it felt arbitrary and pandering.
If you want to read a science fiction novel about space written in silly, informal prose that actually makes sense in the context of the story and isn't painful to read, try [b:The Martian|18007564|The Martian|Andy Weir|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1413706054l/18007564._SY75_.jpg|21825181] by Andy Weir.
My complaints about the language of this novel are mainly a personal grievance. What actually truly disappointed me was the tasteless presentation of the LGBT+ storyline and stereotypical depictions of Asian characters. I was so excited to see that this novel had queer POC representation, only for my excitement to slowly morph into dread as the story went on and it was revealed to me that the author was definitely not equipped to be telling these kinds of stories. The details I can give without spoiling anything mostly pertain to the ethnic stereotypes/misrepresentations scattered throughout this story, of which the main ones go as follows:
- The half-Japanese character named "Soto?" Not only is this not a Japanese name, I can't find any evidence that it's a given name at all. Also I cringed internally at Leo guessing Soto's racial heritage. Why even include that? He's blond and green-eyed, too, which is possible though very genetically improbable. Is it just so we arbitrarily know he's half white? It mainly bothers me because it's another installment of a nonwhite character
Spoiler
(particularly a love interest)- The Russian character that the other characters spend a lot of time poking fun at and whose entire personality is that he likes vodka.
- A man described as having an "Asian accent?" And his name is "Ku," continuing the theme of made-up Asian names. Also, where in Asia? Is there some pan-Asian accent that nobody bothered to tell me about?
My criticisms of the LGBT+ content will contain spoilers, so feel free to skip this section if you still want to read this book for some reason and would rather go in blind.
Spoiler
I was so hyped when I realized early on in this book that Leo was supposed to be gay. I'd originally gone into Satellite only with the expectation of a teen sci-fi novel, so the idea that there'd be a queer storyline was a very welcome surprise! Unfortunately, 'twas not to be. Turns out the romance between Leo and Orion that was hinted at towards the very beginning of the story ("or if he felt it too") was just a massive bait-and-switch, since Orion is revealed to be completely straight with no reciprocated feelings for Leo. This wouldn't be so much of an issue if Leo's coming-out scene wasn't transformed into a massive "fuck-you" complete with a kiss on the cheek followed by "i imagined u were ur mother." I'm sorry, but Orion seriously used his dying words to make a "your mom" joke? The tone here incomprehensible.After all this Leo does eventually end up in an (implied) relationship Soto...a man about three or four years his senior whom Leo met when he was 15? So, yikes.
This last part of my review concerns the plot and pacing of this book, so I've marked all of it for spoilers. Feel free to skip to the TL;DR if you still want to go in blind.
Spoiler
If you were to read the first part of this book up until the section where they make their landing back on Earth, you'd probably expect this novel to be very action-oriented. After all, a man literally dies during an EVA in one of the first chapters. You might be surprised to discover that the rest of the book is largely a slow-paced medical drama with a few action scenes in the mix. Not that I wouldn't enjoy a slow-paced medical drama about kids returning to Earth after spending their entire lives in space—but that's not what I thought I was getting into. It's a little jarring to go from a man dying a brutal death and a chaotic space shuttle landing scene to twenty chapters of Leo getting his bones examined while he settles into Earth life. I don't know, maybe that was the point, but it kind of just felt like the story built up a lot of momentum in one area only to suddenly shift gears into a different focus altogether.Satellite had many individual moments of intriguing drama and beautiful prose. I just wish they could have been in a better book than this one, which somehow managed to make both the interesting premise and nice writing style into two little husks in a dull, annoying, unremarkable teen read.