A review by faerietrails
Aetherbound by E.K. Johnston

3.5

Aetherbound uses both sci-fi and fantasy to explore survival, both in an unforgiving environment and growing up in an abusive family.

Pendt’s personality - pragmatic and matter-of-fact - represents her trauma and reality of her upbringing on a ship that spends years at a time away from civilization. It works well against the twins, who have grown up in the same universe, but in radically different circumstances. The three play off each other well, each dealing with responsibilities far beyond what teenagers should have. I wish we got more from other side characters on Brannick Station.

With the themes this book explores (abuse, survival, eugenics), there are times where the plot wanders to more “cozy vibes”. Within only a couple weeks of escaping, Pendt has settled into life without her family, and experiences very few post-traumatic effects. The excess of downtime causes some emotional whiplash once the plot is plotting again, dumping several points within a short period of time. It could have used some side plots to explore Pendt learning how to let her guard down and developing relationships.

The pacing issues continue in-universe as most of the plot happens over the course of a month. For everything that happens, including events that should be big milestones or twists with big payoff, it ends up feeling rushed. It is broken into four parts, which was unnecessary, in order to exposit history and stories that mostly end up being explained in the story anyway.

Nitpicks: Each part comes with random modern song lyrics. I got jumpscared by High Hopes by P!ATD. Similarly, some contemporary humor leaks in. The role that (consensual) pregnancy and marriage play within the plot feels weird. It makes sense in-universe, but I’m not sure what the takeaway is when the reasons behind them are similar in different contexts.

Content warnings: Emotional abuse from family members, counting calories, bioessentialism, ableism, eugenics, graphic medical trauma involving hands, teen pregnancy, teen marriage, human trafficking (mentioned)