A review by jayisreading
The Deep Sky by Yume Kitasei

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

2.0

I think this may have been one of the most disappointing reads of this year, which is really unfortunate. I liked the idea of a sci-fi murder mystery, but, really, the only thing that was sci-fi about this novel was that it mainly took place on a spaceship. It lacked the depth that sci-fi novels generally have in exploring the ins and outs of science and technology, which made  the setting rather superficial. As for the murder mystery, it wasn’t especially engaging, and I personally thought the intrigue completely fizzled out halfway through the book.

That being said, my main gripe with this novel was how the characters were depicted. At best, the characters felt half-finished with how barely developed they were. There was never much sense of what the characters’ motives and aspirations were, there were minimal descriptions on what they even looked like, and their personalities felt one-dimensional to me. As for the protagonist, Asuka, I really wanted more from her. Unfortunately, she ended up a character whose entire persona was having major insecurities about being biracial and dealing with something not unlike an inferiority complex about her identity and position in the crew. I initially felt sympathy toward Asuka, but I got increasingly frustrated with how self-absorbed she was, which was exacerbated by the fact that she never grew as an individual over the course of the novel.

Relatedly, I was really bothered by Kitasei’s attempt to create an inclusive cast of characters. A few characters were trans/nonbinary (which was only ever depicted through pronouns use), but it seemed like they were given these identities for the sole purpose of having some kind of queer representation. I found the approach she took particularly harmful, especially considering that the novel centered a crew that was sent to space with the goal for them to have babies (which also had its own problems, but I digress). This isn’t to say that trans/nonbinary people can’t get pregnant, but Kitasei’s failure to develop her characters with care completely erased the complexities of what pregnancy/childbirth might mean for trans/nonbinary people (especially in relation to their gender identity), and, as a result, they ended up reading as “Women Lite.” I can’t help but wonder if any sensitivity readers were involved, and, if so, how this was never brought to attention.

I don’t think Kitasei is a terrible writer when it comes to stylistic choices, but there was so much left to be desired. I really wish she had taken more time to develop the plot and characters, especially the characters.
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