If you’re a fan of The Martian or Gravity, then this book will certainly be for you.
Here’s a question: have you ever wondered what space travel would be like in the future? Have you wondered what solo space travel would be like? Well, that’s the question that S.K. Vaughn approaches in this new space-themed adventure.
The story follows May – the commander of a space crew – charged with the task of landing on Mars for the first time. However, this doesn’t go to plan and May is suddenly expected to not only survive on a space station thousands of miles from home but get back home as well. There’s another small issue – she has amnesia so she can’t remember the layout of the ship or any of her crew…
What follows is a thrilling turn of events. Whilst May struggles in piecing together her memories and what happened on board the ship, her friends back home begin the troubling task of trying to bring her home. S.K. Vaughn effectively uses a split-time narrative to give the audience context, as well as add an element of mystery to the story.
As a big fan of The Martian, the story feels largely recycled from that, only with a woman at its centre instead opening up a few new possible storylines and emotional elements that writers always seem to avoid when it comes to male leads.
Image credit: The Armstrong Hotel
May is an emotional but intelligent protagonist, who occasionally makes a choice that makes you want to throw the book across the room. Largely though, the story keeps the reader hooked throughout and made me finish this book in a single day. I was desperate for answers to all the questions Vaughn had posed in the narrative, but some went unanswered. Whilst the story reaches a somewhat satisfying conclusion (albeit confusing and slightly unrealistic), elements of this story remained frustrating and lacked an adequate conclusion.
Halfway through the novel, the narrative starts alternating between May and her husband Stephen’s perspective. This makes following the storyline slightly more confusing, but it also allows for an extra element of drama. If you thought the drama only existed in space, that would be incorrect because Stephen is facing issues of his very own.
The mystery intertwined with the nature of space travel makes this novel unmissable for anyone with a passion for science fiction and murder mystery.
And the best part? It’s being adapted into a film by Universal Studios. Personally, I cannot wait to see how this story is adapted for the big screen in the next couple of years because this novel just simply feels like a movie.
Rating: 7/10
By Faith Pring
Feature Image: Twitter