Scan barcode
A review by 100pagesaday
Alone Out Here by Riley Redgate
4.0
It's the year 2072 and the world knows that in the near future there will be a massive volcanic eruption that will mean the end of life on Earth. A global plan is in place to build rockets to send some people to the nearest inhabitable planet. When an eruption happens months too early, 53 of the kids whose parents are working on the rocket prototypes are the only survivors. They boarded the prototype Lazarus that they were there to tour and launched into space on a journey of over 1000 years. Luckily, Eli, the pilot's daughter, is onboard along with Leigh Chen, First Daughter of the US President. Leigh is well trained as a politician, to say the right thing at the right time, to give answers that aren't really answers and calm everyone's nerves. Eli, who has never had friends her own age, relishes her position of power and becomes the de facto leader of the group of kids from around the world. Leigh is appointed Chief of Staff, a voice to Eli's one-sided decisions based solely on survival. However, as tensions rise within the group over everything from time in the VR simulator to food to turning around to rescue an astronaut that may still be aboard a space station, Leigh begins to question her decisions and find a voice of her own.
Alone Out Here is a suspenseful and realistic young adult science fiction story of survival. I loved the premise of Earth's political leaders being woefully underprepared for a climate catastrophe and unable to come to consensus on how to solve it without greed and corruption taking hold. A bunch of teens and pre-teens aboard a spaceship alone goes about as well as anyone would expect as they try to survive with limited resources, constant power struggles, differences in opinion and trying to manage the grief and disbelief of their planet and everyone on it being destroyed. The characters were a very diverse group since they were children of Lazurus' engineers, scientists, pilots and World Leaders. Leigh and Eli's characters were focused on the most as their seemingly similar personalities diverged as they discovered who they truly were aboard the Lazarus. I enjoyed watching Leigh develop from a people pleaser into a person who could still help others while being true to herself. Her relationship with Anis was also well done, helping her realize her potential while not overtaking the story. Eli's character is interesting, at first it seems like she is the only one willing to make difficult decisions and have a plan, but as she becomes more powerful, her decisions seem more and more self-serving. While being set in space in a not-so-distant future, Alone Out Here still deals with very real teen issues such as depression, addiction, friendship and romance in thoughtful ways. With a thrilling and unexpected ending, Alone Out Here is an exciting young adult science fiction drama.
This book was received for free in return for an honest review.
Alone Out Here is a suspenseful and realistic young adult science fiction story of survival. I loved the premise of Earth's political leaders being woefully underprepared for a climate catastrophe and unable to come to consensus on how to solve it without greed and corruption taking hold. A bunch of teens and pre-teens aboard a spaceship alone goes about as well as anyone would expect as they try to survive with limited resources, constant power struggles, differences in opinion and trying to manage the grief and disbelief of their planet and everyone on it being destroyed. The characters were a very diverse group since they were children of Lazurus' engineers, scientists, pilots and World Leaders. Leigh and Eli's characters were focused on the most as their seemingly similar personalities diverged as they discovered who they truly were aboard the Lazarus. I enjoyed watching Leigh develop from a people pleaser into a person who could still help others while being true to herself. Her relationship with Anis was also well done, helping her realize her potential while not overtaking the story. Eli's character is interesting, at first it seems like she is the only one willing to make difficult decisions and have a plan, but as she becomes more powerful, her decisions seem more and more self-serving. While being set in space in a not-so-distant future, Alone Out Here still deals with very real teen issues such as depression, addiction, friendship and romance in thoughtful ways. With a thrilling and unexpected ending, Alone Out Here is an exciting young adult science fiction drama.
This book was received for free in return for an honest review.