Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by vyhurz
The Deep Sky by Yume Kitasei
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
I’m struggling with rating The Deep Sky because many people think a 3-star rating is bad, terrible, worse than a 1-star. They think it says a book was average and unremarkable. In some cases, that can be true. However, 1 to 5 is a scale. There were many good things about this book, and I almost rated it 4 stars, but there are other things that bring the rating down. I say all this because of that voice blaring in my head about how bad a 3-star rating is. I’m not saying this book is bad at all. I think it’s worth reading, and I do recommend it!
The Deep Sky follows Asuka who is on a generational spaceship. She left earth in search of Planet X, to begin a new society because Earth has so many troubles. She’s on a crew of 80 who competed over years between the ages of 12 and 18 (maybe, I’m not completely clear on the ages) to beat out hundreds of others. Asuka secured an “Alternate” spot, which means she doesn’t have a specific role. She fills in wherever needed.
The story picks up when an explosion occurs on the side of the ship, pushing it off course by a few degrees. The crew does not steer the ship in any way as the course has been mapped from point A to point B in a straight line, so this could be deadly. The book is about discovering who caused the explosion and how they will survive. Of course, it’s also about Asuka. The chapters on the ship are split up by chapters set back at the “school.” The school felt like Hogwarts and Hunger Games combined where all of these children are pushing so hard to get a spot, to prove they are the best, to learn as much as possible.
We learn much about the relationships between Asuka and the crew. They are incredibly intimate, and not in a romantic way. Imagine spending the rest of your life in space with someone you went to school with when you were 12. And that school was extremely competitive. These chapters were my favorite. There is also so much between Asuka and her mother, which affected me personally. My mother passed away in 2018 and I miss her. Our relationship was not good. Asuka is in space, her mother is on Earth. But even while she was in school, she and her mother didn’t get along because her mother didn’t agree with the mission.
So why 3 stars? Well, I’m sorry to say the majority of the book was all plot and action with no real character development. I can’t say I believe Asuka, or anyone, is much different from the beginning to the end of the book. Some relationships slightly change, but I wouldn’t say they’re significant. In trying to solve the mystery, the crew come up against problem after problem after problem. In the last thirty pages or so, I was getting very tired. This type of story is not my favorite. It pulled me along and I wanted to know what would happen, but I wanted more depth. The overall message of how this small crew left Earth in search of something greater just didn’t hit as strong as I wanted it to. The book was too much of an action movie.
The book is interesting and moving, and I loved being in this world. I recommend it, and I’d probably reread it, and I want to read more by Kitasei. I cried a lot once I finished it, so obviously it affected me. But some parts just didn’t fit quite right.
tinyleafbooks.wordpress.com
The Deep Sky follows Asuka who is on a generational spaceship. She left earth in search of Planet X, to begin a new society because Earth has so many troubles. She’s on a crew of 80 who competed over years between the ages of 12 and 18 (maybe, I’m not completely clear on the ages) to beat out hundreds of others. Asuka secured an “Alternate” spot, which means she doesn’t have a specific role. She fills in wherever needed.
The story picks up when an explosion occurs on the side of the ship, pushing it off course by a few degrees. The crew does not steer the ship in any way as the course has been mapped from point A to point B in a straight line, so this could be deadly. The book is about discovering who caused the explosion and how they will survive. Of course, it’s also about Asuka. The chapters on the ship are split up by chapters set back at the “school.” The school felt like Hogwarts and Hunger Games combined where all of these children are pushing so hard to get a spot, to prove they are the best, to learn as much as possible.
We learn much about the relationships between Asuka and the crew. They are incredibly intimate, and not in a romantic way. Imagine spending the rest of your life in space with someone you went to school with when you were 12. And that school was extremely competitive. These chapters were my favorite. There is also so much between Asuka and her mother, which affected me personally. My mother passed away in 2018 and I miss her. Our relationship was not good. Asuka is in space, her mother is on Earth. But even while she was in school, she and her mother didn’t get along because her mother didn’t agree with the mission.
So why 3 stars? Well, I’m sorry to say the majority of the book was all plot and action with no real character development. I can’t say I believe Asuka, or anyone, is much different from the beginning to the end of the book. Some relationships slightly change, but I wouldn’t say they’re significant. In trying to solve the mystery, the crew come up against problem after problem after problem. In the last thirty pages or so, I was getting very tired. This type of story is not my favorite. It pulled me along and I wanted to know what would happen, but I wanted more depth. The overall message of how this small crew left Earth in search of something greater just didn’t hit as strong as I wanted it to. The book was too much of an action movie.
The book is interesting and moving, and I loved being in this world. I recommend it, and I’d probably reread it, and I want to read more by Kitasei. I cried a lot once I finished it, so obviously it affected me. But some parts just didn’t fit quite right.
tinyleafbooks.wordpress.com
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Child death, Infertility, Miscarriage, Racism, Xenophobia, Vomit, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, War
Minor: Hate crime, Mass/school shootings