In five(ish) words: space opera, young adult, aritificial intelligence, romance, violence.
I don’t read a ton of YA but was on the hunt for a good audiobook and this one was recommended by two people as the best audiobook they had EVER listened to. Bold claim? Yes. But now that I’ve read it, I’m on board. It is really that good.
It was a complete audio experience, like listening to a play or an old timey radio show (or I guess a new-timey podcast?) with different narrators for main characters and sound effects. This is not your average audiobook. Also, if audio isn’t your thing, I have heard that the book is just as creative and interactive. In fact, it seems like they are two entirely different experiences, because having listened to it I can’t imagine how it could be a book, but I know someone who read the book who can’t understand how it works in audio. They have really done something unique with this story.
The whole story is being shared via leaded documents, maps, files, and private communications, with a mysterious narrating sharing the timeline as it unfolds. At the start of the story, there are two high schoolers who had broken up right as the conflict started and they had to escape their planet, and we are following their separate journeys as they try to survive. What I thought was going to be a YA romance in space, maybe something light and fluffy, turned out to be so much more.
There are some twists and turns that left me absolutely floored and made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, even going to some gruesome places that I did not expect. I don’t want to say too much about the conflict or plot, but I will say that this book took all my fears about the advancement of AI (born from the first Terminator movie) and cranks them up to 11.
There is at least one, maybe two sequels that I want to read, maybe in another format, but I’m not sure if they will live up to the hype of this one.
Also, sidebar, maybe do not, like I did, listen to this book on an airplane. But maybe do, as it’ll add to the suspense and intrigue.