This was a fascinating exploration of what it means to long for the stars and how difficult it is to truly leave the earth behind. It tells the story of six teenagers as they train for the mission to Terra-Two - an earth-like planet. What I really enjoyed here was the characters, each of which was flawed and human and to me, seemed utterly inappropriate to be participating in a 23 year long space flight. Oh has interwoven the personalities of six highly intelligent and driven individuals and created a really interesting study of the simultaneous frailty and power of the human spirit. There are a lot of technical elements that lend weight to the narrative and ensure an authenticity that is welcome. The true strength here though are the characters and I for one really enjoyed my time with them...although I wouldn't really want to be trapped in a space ship with them for 23 years! All in all, this was an intelligent and well crafted novel and I will definitely be interested to see what Oh comes up with in the future.
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

[Review to be published on March 15th 2019 at http://pagesbelowvaultedsky.wordpress.com/]

So this is an odd, odd book to classify. It's not a sweeping space adventure in the vein of Interstellar. Nor is it quite the thriller that Gravity is (though there are resemblances in the last 1/4 of the book). And if you ask me what happens in the course of 528 pages, I'd be inclined to answer, "Nothing much."

But it's kind of like spending an entire evening plus the early morning hours outside, staring up at the constellations and telling their stories in your head. And next day, when someone asks what you did the other night and you answer, "I did some star-gazing." And they say, "Sooo, nothing much?"

And you say, "No. Everything. I did everything."

And that's kind of what this is.

In terms of plot, not much happens. But beneath that, there's a lifetime of stories that are playing out.

First of all, the writing is absolutely beautiful. It's the kind of prose that's meant for traversing outer space and cataloguing stars, and it's got depth to it that goes beyond sounding pretty--a feeling of awe that I think is so key for space-faring stories; a commanding sense of the moment so that even small, seemingly inconsequential scenes feel important in the grand scheme of things; and a melancholy and intimacy that makes it seem like you've been with these characters for years when it's only been a handful of pages.

It's the kind of prose that teeters between sad and hopeful, and just when you think it's falling into sadness, hope yanks it back up again.

As for our characters, their stories range from heartbreaking to relatable:

Poppy, the gorgeous linguistics genius who so badly wants to escape the bleakness of her home. The linguistics genius who got into languages in the first place because it was a way to bridge gaps between herself and others--to travel distances with only a few words--and a way to be less lonely in this world (this is a detail I really, really loved).

Astrid and Juno, the Kenyan twins. The former an astrobiologist who signed up for the program because the thought of being the first to chart an unknown world was irresistible. The latter a chemist, more serious and pragmatic.

Ara, an Indian girl who delights in the delights of the world and delights the world in turn.

Eliot, the robotics genius. The only one of the group who was scouted by the Terra-Two project leaders.

Jesse, the dreamy boy who weaves broken shells into his hair. The boy who's been told that he would leave this world on his twentieth birthday and is hoping that "leaving the world" literally means leaving the world. On a spaceship, to be exact.

Harry, the pilot and commander-in-training. There's zero doubt in his mind that he was born for this role, and for someone whose life has revolved around being good and winning, this might be the biggest prize of them all.

For a story that's about heading into the future and opening a new chapter for humanity, it's a story that's also about carrying the past. About sifting through the various events in these characters' lives that led them to stand where they are, as who they are, and the hopes and fears that they carry with them. It reminded me a lot of LOST, in that sense.

As wonderful and interesting as the characters are, though, I did have one big problem with them. When they're in their own heads, being all introspective, these guy brim with complexity and their personalities shine like starlight. When they're outside of their heads, interacting with each other, they get decidedly less interesting and complex. Dialogues don't quite fit together, some of the interactions are strangely jagged, and I had trouble differentiating one person's line from another.

The good news is that they spend a lot of time in their heads. And when they do, it's mesmerizing, absorbing stuff.

And for someone who's never experienced a pioneering space mission (presumably), Oh's depictions of dread and excitement and just the whole range of emotions associated with the process feels remarkably real. She draws out the initial pre-launch tensions beautifully for the first 1/4 of the book, and does the same with the last 1/4. Every part of the experience is detailed and organic.

All in all, Terra-Two is a magnificent debut. If you like happy endings and fast-paced space operas and storylines that are neatly wrapped up and handed on a silver platter, it might not be the book for you. But If you want a quiet and provocative character-driven story that muses on destiny and the nature of humans, I wholeheartedly recommend it.

Review copy provided by the publisher via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

Oh My !!

When I saw the front cover I was like okay this could be interesting !! read the synopsis and I was like ok this could be right up my street .....

And Boy was I right!! I really loved this book and never wanted it to end. The book is about 6 young adults training for a life long mission to go to space to reach Terra -Two. And along the way you get a deep inside to each person and why they were chosen to go. A few times I found certain parts to go on a bit and maybe were a bit unnecessary, but don't let that put you off a great story. I really could see more books in the future and I really would love to know what happens next. Even a mini-series on Netflix would be fantastic. I really wanted more and was sad when I finally reached the last page.

This book was a pleasant surprise and I am so glad I was able to read this, and I really hope we see more from Temi Oh in the future.

The UK Space Agency sends a group of teenagers on a decades-long mission to Terra-Two, a theoretically habitable planet, with a view to colonising it. The trip involves saying goodbye to their families forever, decades of confinement, never being outside, isolation, not to mention the ever present danger of travelling through space. The group have been rigorously trained since they were children but nothing can prepare them for a life in space.
This is a fascinating book, looking at sacrifice, determination and the complexities of such a life. I enjoyed that this wasn’t set far into the future but recently in a slightly altered timeline. For instance as the astronauts are travelling they’re receiving footage from the 2012 London Olympics. This gave the book some immediacy.
The relationships between characters was compelling too. What would it be like to know you were going to spend the rest of your life with only the same small group of people? You would never meet anybody new, you would never see your loved ones again. It raises a lot of questions but I certainly consider it a worthwhile read.

I've been on a roll of excellent, character-driven debuts lately. This one is an epic saga that takes the reader on a journey through space, but at it's heart it's an emotional, complex tale of humanity.

The Terra Two of the title is a planet which humans believe has a similar terrain to earth; the only planet they're certain human life can flourish. The Beta is a group of seven young people, primed for space travel from childhood and put through a strict regime of training and tests, ready for the day they set off on the long journey to start life on the new planet.

Each of the seven has their own backgrounds and motivations for being there, but as they're forced to live together in a small ship along with the senior crew, they form a kind of fractured family. Whilst this book is about space travel, it's in the relationships where it really shines.

This book is slow-moving in places; if you're expecting an epic action sci-fi, you may be disappointed. It's more of a slow burner, although it does have more action closer to the end of the story. For the most part, it delves deep into the characters, their relationships, friendships and rivalries. I was so immersed in their journey and their mission that I don't want to touch too much on specifics; I think it's better to let this one unfold naturally and each reader will form their own perceptions of the characters and their choices. However, I will say the story tackles plenty of hard-hitting topics as we follow the group's journey through space, including depression, suicide and the morality of grooming children for a job they're too young to fully understand.

I read that there might be a sequel to this, but I'm not sure whether that's confirmed or not. There's still a lot more which could be told about the group's journey to Terra-Two, but I did find the ending satisfying and complete in itself. I'll be keeping an eye out to see if the story is continued.

The biggest disservice to reading the book would be to go in expecting a completely science fiction setup: space travel, aliens etc.  I am not denying that the science fiction part does exist but it is but a background for intense character analysis. I did not remember much of the blurb when I started reading and later felt that this might have been a big part of why I enjoyed the book as much as I did.

It is the year 2012 and it has already been a decade since an alternate planet similar to our own has been discovered that will take 23 earth years to reach. A group of children have been chosen, trained and six of these chosen get to go first to Terra-Two and get the place ready for more civilians if their mission is a success. The group of six and the adult (more experienced) astronauts guiding them set off on this mission with varying levels of enthusiasm. In order to have them younger when they do reach the planet, the contenders are chosen from a very young age and groomed for this eventuality where they will never see Earth and their family again. In such a drastic setup, things do go wrong but before anything external comes into play the people have to live in close quarters as well as with prior prejudices and newer ones. All of these factors add up to a very stressful environment. How each person attempts to dispel the tensions and how they function is the core of the story. Reading this amounts to a character study to try to predict the next step they would take considering the situations they end up in.

Overall it was a surprisingly quick read, I ended up spending all day with it and only kept it aside once I was done with it

My thanks to Simon & Schuster U.K. for an eARC via NetGalley of Temi Oh’s debut SF novel, ‘Do You Dream of Terra Two?’ in exchange for an honest review.

As an audiobook edition was available ahead of the ebook and hardback publication date, I purchased it to supplement my reading experience. It was narrated by Nneya Okoye.

‘Terra Two’ is set in an alternative version of history in which a habitable planet had been discovered a hundred years ago in a not too distant star system. Similar to our reality the Earth is slowly dying due to global warming. Terra Two presents a new hope for humanity.

An experimental gravity-assist drive will allow a mission to travel the distance between stars in twenty-three years. Once there the astronauts will begin to prepare for the eventual arrival of colonialists.

So in 2012 the interplanetary ship, Damocles, leaves Earth with ten astronauts aboard. These include four decorated veterans of the 20th Century space program and six teenagers, who have trained for years at the exclusive Dalton Academy. It was James Dalton in the 19th Century who had discovered the star system and the wealthy family had continued to help finance the British space program.

Hurrah for a novel in which Britain is taking a leading role in an important interplanetary mission!

I don’t want to say more about the plot in order to avoid spoilers. It is very much a character-driven novel mainly concentrating on the younger crew members and their relationships as well as the challenges they face individually. The novel cycles through the viewpoints of all six, though retains a third-person narration. That took a bit of getting used to though by the end I was very invested in all of their fates.

‘Terra Two’ is a slow burn with a great deal of focus upon the daily routines before and after launch. Perhaps unsurprisingly the actuality of space travel proves harder than it seemed in theory and cracks in personalities start to show. When things do shift into full-on action, it is very powerful and left me physically shaking.

At 528 pages, it’s quite a long book yet I found it totally engaging. I am no expert on the physics of space travel so cannot comment on this aspect but I would expect some creative license in fiction. I loved the alternative history and wanted more.

I would expect this could be a good choice for reading groups if they are willing to venture into SF as it touches on a number of interesting themes, including the ethics of involving teenagers in such a project, bereavement, religion, mental health issues and whether we deserve to populate other planets given how we have messed up Terra One.

I found this a beautifully written and powerful debut and I feel that Temi Oh is going to be an author to watch. I look forward to her future projects and rather hope for more SF from her.

4.5 stars rounded up to 5..

Do You Dream of Terra-Two? by Temi Oh

With time running out for Earth, humanity has been sent a lifeline for its future. Another planet just like Earth but without intelligent life has been discovered, Terra-Two. A new 21st-century space race is underway to reach it first. The best chance lies with the United Kingdom and, after decades of planning, the launch date has arrived and it all seems serendipitous because the year is 2012 and Britain is also hosting the Olympic Games. It’s a time for celebration. An unusual crew will leave Earth on the Damocles for the 23-year journey to Terra-Two – four are decorated veterans of the previous century’s space race, the other six are teenagers, each uniquely skilled, having been trained for years in the famous Dalton Academy.

Each crew member knows that they will never return to Earth. They’ll never see their families and loved ones again. And for 23 years they won’t see the sky, eat tasty food or feel the ground under their feet. There are some big personalities, some are dealing with powerful emotions, a strong sense of loss and, trapped within the confines of a spacecraft for such a long journey, it will not all be plain sailing. One or two of them dream of Terra-Two, with its beautiful coral seas and ancient forests, while others resent it and see nothing but a nightmare ahead.

Do You Dream of Terra-Two? begins with the days leading up to the launch of the Damocles and it’s during these pages, before the voyage begins, that we get to know our young crew members, all in their late teens, on the very edge of adulthood. The decisions they have made are life-changing and affect everything, including whether they will become parents. It’s a mighty burden for such young shoulders to bear and we see how each of them copes with it. For some there is a real sense of destiny about the voyage and this adds such a purpose to their lives. It’s not so straightforward for others. There is real conflict between the characters, particularly between the boys. Harry, the commander in training, dominates, while Poppy, the communications officer, steals attention. Among the others is a set of twin girls and this adds more tension while also continuing the theme of family which plays such a strong part in the novel.

The focus of the book is actually not on Terra-Two, or even really the voyage. It’s on the dynamic of the young crew – their dreams and aspirations, their fears and doubts, their youth. The launch itself happens a quarter of the way into the book but by then much has happened to our young crew. I must admit that I was expecting more science fiction than I was given but I was nevertheless drawn into the story of these young lives, with their squabbles and affections, rivalries and brave deeds. The narrative moves between them, which means that we’re brought into their small circle. We see different perspectives on the same event. It helps us understand a little more about how they behave.

I did find the premise a little unlikely, that teenagers would be given such stress, such a burden to carry and would be left to prepare a planet for the next arrivals, having spent so many years in such a confined social space. It seems unlikely to succeed. But, as I mentioned, the voyage isn’t what really matters here, it’s the teenagers who count. The novel also takes place in a slightly adjusted reality – we learn that rockets were first used during the Napoleonic Wars, Mars and the Moon have been colonised, there are other ships travelling in the solar system. Countries are more competitive than ever. But while the UK, China and Russia are prominent, the USA barely gets a mention. I did find this alternate history slightly under developed and a bit strange. I wondered why the story couldn’t have been set a little into the future instead, avoiding the need for it. Also, the adult crew members receive very little attention and are very much fixed in the schoolteacher mode. This is because the author’s focus is elsewhere, but it did contribute to my feeling that this is a novel mostly intended for young readers.

However, I found Do You Dream of Terra-Two? an engrossing and, at times, exciting read. Despite my issues with the novel I did get carried along by its tension and pace and there are moments of real emotion. The character portraits of the teenagers are very fine and I definitely cared for them. There is also some great writing here, the descriptions of the launch, of space and of the Damocles are very well done and the mood, a good mix of despair and hope, is maintained throughout.

I received this book via Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

I thought this was such a great concept! I really liked the idea of the UK leading this space race, and how it came about - plus the wrapping of the religious side throughout was very cleverly done. I sort of wanted it to be real lol. For us to still be clamouring to develop out into the universe, to come up with new technologies, encourage new ways of thinking, all to allow us to do that.

I found it really interesting how much the trip changed the characters too - ones I didn't like at the beginning really grew on me because of it (Harry and Jesse) and ones I liked turned into ones I loved. I particularly liked Juno's arc - her thoughts on the future and how best to be fair.

I found Poppy's arc quite difficult - I love that it dealt with mental health, but it seemed so sudden in development and in clearing up. I know some of that is done in the time jumps, but I would have liked to see more on that, and with the doctor.

The time jumps and POV changes were hard for me, but I think that was the poor formatting of the galley, sadly. I'd be very interested to read this in final copy, as I think it would be easier when properly formatted.

All in all, I really loved this story of setting out into space, and hoping for a new future for the human race. I am not sure if there will be a follow up, but I'd love to read it if there is.

(review will be posted on tuesday 5th march)

Do You Dream of Terra Two follows the fortunes of a cohort of six young people who have volunteered to train for space travel and fly for 23 years to a distant twin of the Planet Earth.

Terra Two reads like a Young Adult novel. Let’s get that across up-front. Although not marketed as YS, and although the characters are notionally adult through most of the text, they behave like 14 year olds. For the first third of the novel, the Beta astronauts are in fact 14 year olds at the Space Academy, doing lessons, having their free time controlled. It’s basically boarding school – Harry Potter for astronauts. Then, as if by magic, they age six chronological years as they step onto their space craft. Psychologically, though, they don’t seem to mature at all. They are in thrall to Commander Solomon (daddy), Doctor Fae (mummy), Igor (grandad) and Cai (the uncle you only see at Christmas and forget he exists for the rest of the year). They jockey with one another, bully one another, have teenage crushes on one another…

The novel tries to be character led, but the characters are not well developed. There’s too much tell and not enough show. The novel is actually episodic – with a series of mini-narratives that usually point to some kind of moral or social issue in a heavy handed way. Aside from a couple of uber-traits (Harry is haughty, Astrid is religious, Eliot is nerdy) the characters seem quite mutable – if you need two people to get hit by space dust then you just look up the two that you haven’t seen for a while. Each event seems to have a beginning, middle and end before the next event comes along.

This episodic approach makes some of the pacing really clunky. There is way too much time spent on the ground before the space travel. Then, as the 23 year space journey commences it quickly becomes apparent that the remaining pages won’t accommodate the full length of the journey. The ending, when it comes, is abrupt and rushed – a contrast to the languor of the rest of the book.

There are also continuity errors in the text. We keep being fed the same information from different perspectives, even after events have moved on. Key plot developments seem to have disappeared – not least of which is that everyone takes Astrid’s fate as read, even though it is never explicitly shared with the reader.

Yet, for all these failings, the book does generate enough intrigue to keep the reader on the case, and there is enough to think about to keep ideas popping up even when the book has been put down. The reader does care whether the team make it to Terra Two even if none of the team is terribly engaging on an individual level.

And one of the endearing things about Terra Two is how very British it is. All the terminology, the background, the context is British. The young astronauts are representative of multi-cultural Britain; they reference the London Olympics; they watch British TV programs; they talk about the NHS and they drink tea. If the BBC wrote books, this would be one of them.

Do You Dream of Terra-Two? by Temi Oh is a YA book set in a world in which there is a very nearby Earthlike exoplanet and a very fast (compared with reality) spaceship engine has been invented. The story is about a group of teenagers who were trained up from the age of 13 and forced to compete against each other for a place in the British expedition to claim and start colonising Terra-Two.

A century ago, scientists theorised that a habitable planet existed in a nearby solar system. Today, ten astronauts will leave a dying Earth to find it. Four are decorated veterans of the 20th century’s space-race. And six are teenagers, graduates of the exclusive Dalton Academy, who’ve been in training for this mission for most of their lives.

It will take the team 23 years to reach Terra-Two. Twenty-three years spent in close quarters. Twenty-three years with no one to rely on but each other. Twenty-three years with no rescue possible, should something go wrong. And something always goes wrong.

I have mixed feelings about this book overall. (That seems to be a bit of a developing trend with the new British science fiction I’ve read over the past year or so.) It won’t surprise my regular readers that some of the science annoyed me a little bit. But the way it played out in this book, there was only one annoying physics thing in the first two-thirds (or more maybe) of the book, which was some confusion and nonsensical imprecision about the artificial gravity. But I was willing to overlook it since everything else that could have been a problem was vague enough to not be glaringly wrong. Fine. But I should have realised that it was a harbinger of errors to come. These things generally are. The most climactic scene and its aftermath were unfortunately also the most scientifically baffling and inconsistent. I went from being kept awake by the excitement to being kept awake by my annoyance, and had to read something else for a bit.

The thing is, I didn’t hate this book, but there were a lot of other small factors that annoyed me and I want to mention them since they might be relevant to other people. One is that near the start one of the characters was sort of set up as being asexual — or at least on that spectrum — but it’s not really explored or interrogated at all and in the end might not be what the author intended. Another is that the UK Space Agency seemed to have much less regard for mental health than any real-world space agencies. There were sections of the book when I was amazed that they didn’t have proper contingencies in place for depression and the inevitable loneliness of being confined with the same nine other people for forty years. Given the number of psychological studies around long term space missions, this was strange and unjustified.

But overall, this wasn’t a terrible book. There was a focus on the character dynamics and I quite liked how the point of view moved between characters. Rather than rotating in a fixed way, we tended to get a focus on one character while something interesting was going on with them, with maybe a few interludes about other characters, before moving on to focus on another character. It was a method that worked very well for the large cast of six point of view characters. The background details of worldbuilding were also interesting and added flavour to the story. The launch took place in 2012 and there are a few mentions of the London Olympics while they’re on. There was also a pleasing awareness of the space programmes other countries were running, which had some impact on the story, albeit not as much as I sometimes wanted. For example, just as I thought we were going to learn more about the Chinese mission, the book skipped ahead and ended, so that was a bit disappointing, for all that it was a sensible place to end.

Overall, I recommend this book to fans of science fiction, though perhaps not those who get as or more annoyed as I do about physics in books. I’ve called this a YA book at the start and it does focus on young people. But for most of the book they’re around 20, which might be stretching some people’s definitions. The plot structure also differs from a lot of speculative fiction YA, so your mileage may vary if you care about age bracket designations.

3.5 / 5

First published: March 2019, Simon & Schuster
Series: No.
Format read: eARC
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

This book is billed as a mix between The Long Way To A Small Angry Planet and the TV show The 100, but I would suggest it leans more towards the former than the latter. With the exception, I expect (I’ve never watched the show) to melodramatic teenagers who are absolutely no help in a crisis being the main characters.

An action-packed humanist-focused science fiction novel, this book follows a group of young adults who are sent into space to land on a new planet- Terra-Two. The writing is punchy and occasionally cinematic, particularly in the gorgeous descriptions of space. Temi Oh clearly understands the complex science and physiology, and you never feel belittled in her explanations. Much like Andy Weir did in ‘The Martian’, she expertly balances info-packed descriptions with deep, heavy emotions.

So much happens that you find yourself clinging onto every word, wanting to know what happens next, wanting to keep turning the page. It’s a book that would lend itself well to television, perhaps as a new ‘The 100’. I love that it has taken my favourite part of the Wayward Children series, which is the human side to space travel, exploring how human relationships develop and fracture in the strange new environment of the stratosphere.

I’ve taken two stars off this of this book because of how much I hated the young adult characters. For one, the girls are written completely helplessly. They’re selfish, immature and often end up just picking fights with other people than helping run a ship. I can understand that for the ‘drama’ and ‘conflict’, it’s better to have clashing personalities but still. They seem like idiots, even though they’re supposed to be the most qualified young people in the universe.

Moreover, they are completely and utterly not psychologically prepared to undergo space travel. It’s laughable how quickly the women give up on the jobs they’ve LITERALLY BEEN TRAINING A DECADE FOR in favour of screaming, wailing, crying etc. It is so easy for Oh to fall back onto female stereotypes when she writes here, and it’s at a serious detriment to the novel. A lot happens in this book and yet their responses are those of a thirteen or fourteen-year-old, not someone in their twenties. Had I been working for the space station, I would have laughed these six right back to nursery.

Also, suicide is once again used as a plot device, which I absolutely detest. One of the central characters dies in a completely unmotivated manner, and when it’s explained later, it adds nothing but an extra conspiracy. It seems to just be an event that motivates the actions of the other characters, which is abhorrent. Thankfully, it is not grossly over-exaggerated, otherwise I might have stopped reading this book altogether, but seriously? Writers, you can do better than this.

This is very clearly a debut novel. The plot is a little convoluted, the drama a little too melodramatic, it’s saccharine with its emotional handling and Oh tends to spin off into a tangent and flashbacks that have little to no impact on the novel’s overall events. The pacing is off and could do with another edit, but otherwise this is a very competent first novel.

Space. The final frontier?
Joking aside, it basically is for the heroes of Temi Oh's new book, Do You Dream of Terra-Two?, which follows the journey of six young would-be astronauts as they look to the skies and look to set off on a 22-year journey to Terra Two, Earth's distant twin, and hopefully the future of the human race.
You can see from the start that this book definitely does not skimp on ambition, especially as we actually follow them into space. But rather than being the straightforward Star Trek-y space romp that I was expecting, it actually turned out to be something a little bit thoughtful, more melancholy- and a lot more interesting.
It's clear from the start that Oh has put a lot of thought into the world that her characters inhabit. We get a low-down of the history of space travel, some visionaries, a specialist academy where the children are grilled and examined to within an inch of their lives, before we really meet any of the other characters. However, when we do, we're quickly immersed in their lives. This is very much a character-driven book and to that end we're given POVs galore, which is great because it lets Oh get down into their psyches and issues in ways you don't often see in YA sci-fi.
However, this also has its fair share of problems, pacing being the main one. I did wonder how the book was going to pan out, given that the characters are setting off on a twenty-two year journey to their new planet. Were we going to get massive leaps in time, or just stop before take-off (we don't). I won't spoil it, but I will say that it feels like nothing much happens for the first three quarters of the book- and then right at the end everything suddenly gets shoved in, so fast it made my head spin.
The teens we get to know aren't exactly the most likeable bunch either. There's a lot of sulking, some macho jostling for space, and even depression and suicide alongside the angst and romance. All of them seem broken in different ways, and while I applaud Oh for including it, it also makes it hard to really connect with the crew, which is a bit worrying considering that there are six of them, and we get inside basically all of their heads over the course of the book.
That's not to say this is a bad book: I did enjoy it. The worldbuilding included here is fascinating, as is Oh's depiction of life in space, and how humans have adjusted to living out there- for instance, orbiting one of Saturn's moons, or living as an independent state on a colony ship originally intended for Terra-Two. Beautifully written, and almost elegiac in its depiction of human life and relationships, it's inspirational to read, and a lovely book to add to my February reading list.

Highlights

the language

the writing

Jessie

Overall

I really enjoyed this book! The language was beautiful and the characters were deep and very well developed. The story too was a constant surprise and never really went in the direction I predicted. I felt this was mainly a character-focused story which isn't normally something I enjoy as much as a plot-focused story.  However, the book was driven on by both plot twists and characters, so a happy mix :)

I have to say it really felt like a TV show. I could picture them all, I could picture the scenes and the events and the special effects when things go wrong. I would love to see this on TV. 

The Story

The story follows the Beta, the junior crew, on the start of their mission to Terra-Two. Each of the six members has a point of view and will tell you how and why they got there. As the storey gets closer to the day of launch and action speeds up. Disaster happens. But the Damocles take off as planned. They have a few stops within our Milkyway before the 23-year long journey starts. However, not everything goes to plan, and with a bunch of 19 and 20-year-olds, anything could happen.

This story really took me for a ride! I had difficulty expecting the twists and turns of the book which really excited me. When a book becomes too predictable I find the book boring and not stimulating enough. When the book is like Do You Dream of Terra-Two? I keep thinking about the book, the characters, the journey they will be taking and where the book will end, even when I'm not reading it. It's always in my mind. It ended very differently than I expected in the start, but I'm very pleased with the ending. I'm overall very pleased with this book :)

World Building

Its a bit confusing in the start as I wasn't sure if it was an alternate reality, historical fiction or set in the future, but the author keep referring back to 2012. Once you get your head around that it's easy. It's more of an alternative history. 

Science

The author herself has a BSc in Neuroscience and the character arcs and mentality was very fascinating throughout. Also, without knowing too much about engineering and space and physics, I felt the sci-fi science were solid and well researched. Lastly, and my favourite point the number of small details related to space travel was immense. I almost felt like I was there with them. She must have done serious research to get the amount of detail. If she made it up, ill worship her! What a queen.

The Characters

The seven narrators are; Harry, Juno, Astrid, Jessie, Eliot, Poppy, and Ara.

My favourite was Jessie and my least favourite were Harry. I felt Harry were a stuck up, mean spirited, rich kid. While Jessie was meant to be there. Yes, he is pretty weird in the beginning but when it comes to it he is solid. I totally shipped his ship (spoilers) and I'm rooting for him all the way.

Astrid, I found a bit annoying too but fascinating. And I wish there were more from Eliot's point of view.

in this book, every single narrator has a mental issue they are struggling with which made them into clear and unique individuals. I did feel like the senior crew fell a bit into the background and that they were often left behind.

LGBT+?

Not really.

Writing

I love the writing in this book! it contains small bits of fairy dust in it! Small gold nuggets. The author has used words I've never seen used before to perfectly describe something. One example that I really love is this: "his knuckles dovetailed into hers" - basically they are holding hands, but its put in a very visual way. I'm imagining a dove's tail feathers overlaying each other than relating it to the action of holding hands. It makes it so much more effective. It's difficult to describe fully, it's an experience!

I had an ARC of this book and there were a few spelling mistakes and missed capital letters like "eliot" was always pronounced with a small e instead of "Eliot". I expect the final version will have this fixed.

But I did love the writing. I would love to be able to write like Temi Oh. I should start taking notes.

Having said all that, the golden nugget became less throughout the story, or I became more immune to them, I'm not sure which. Maybe I got too caught up in the story.

Summary

I loved this book but it wasn't perfect. It was an adventure and an experience that will stay with me for a long time. My favourite characters are not the type of character that are easy to forget. Also, the level of detail in Temi Oh's writing and research sets a high bar for my writing, but its definitely something I'm willing to aspire to.

Highly recommended!

This book seemed to take over my life whilst I was reading it - if I wasn't actually reading, I was thinking about it. Partly the moral ramifications of training 12/13 year olds to travel in space for 20+ years to get to an Earth-like planet that no-one had ever been to before, and partly - how exciting would THAT be!!
The characters fascinated me. There was a lot of character development, and I enjoyed it all. The lead up to getting on the ship was quite long, but I really think it was needed. We could see how controlled these young people were, what such an intense life created in them, and their own reasons for their overwhelming commitment.
The prose is gorgeous though. The descriptions of Earth and Space, the inner lives of the astronauts, all had me aching to be there to be honest. For the record, I did a reading challenge a few years ago, where one of the challenges was 'a book set somewhere you would like to go'. I chose 'The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber. Space, and people's imaginings of it, has ALWAYS fascinated me.
And that ending!!! I just love an open ended book. Whether there will be more (I would read a follow up to be honest), is immaterial to me. I loved this book!!
Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for my copy of this book.

This was quite an easy and light read, I would love to see this into a TV series.

It's a social aspect heavy science fiction, character heavy, and although I wasn't rooted for all 6 characters, they were mostly intriguing. Would recommend if you like space-based science fiction.

3.5 stars rounded up.
Having resisted the genre for so long as I thought it wouldn't work for me, I am really starting to enjoy sci-fi books. This one was no exception although I did feel it lost its way a bit towards the end. In fact, as we approached the final chapters, I thought it was looking like being part one of a trilogy as it felt like there was much more to come but then the author wrapped it up a bit quickly and it did leave me feeling a bit flat and not as satisfied as I would have preferred.
Earth is dying, we have ruined it, and there is a big need to try and discover more habitable planets out in space in a, hopefully, nearby solar system. One such planet has been found - Terra-Two - although it will take 23 years to travel to. We start the main story 10 years ago when a bunch of gifted children enrol in Dalton academy, its main purpose being to train the 6 astronauts to accompany a seasoned team to travel to Terra-Two to start things off there before the majority leave to join them. Slowly their number is whittled down until only 12 are left, the primary and secondary crews. Long story short and we then follow the 6 chosen graduates and 4 senior crew as they start their long voyage. Apart from a bit of action just before the launch, leading to a crew adjustment, the beginning of the book starts off rather slowly, concerning itself with life at the academy and then, once launched, the way the crew interact with each other and the veterans and how they face their new lives on board the ship that they will be on for the next 23 years. It's not until nearly three quarters through that things really kick off as the story takes a bit of a darker turn.
It's a very character driven book as, for the majority, character development and interaction is really all that is going on and here the author does excel as they are quite diverse and things do change between most of them as the story progresses. We see how their physical and mental health is affected and how these things in turn affect the rest of the crew. What's also interesting is how the younger members of the crew react to the realisation of exactly what they have let themselves in for, being as how they were so young when they decided this was what they wanted. As with all good character driven books, I changed my mind about the majority of the cast along the way, sometimes several times, as they changed and I saw a different side of them.
The ending was a bit too ambiguous for me but I do still suspect that maybe there will be a follow up - maybe not a direct sequel but even if the author just refers to the eventual outcome in future books, I'd be happy to read about it.
All in all, this was a solid character driven rather than plot driven book with a bit of an ambiguous ending that, although kept me mostly engaged throughout, left me wanting more from the end. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

2.5 - 3 stars

This sci-fi appealed to me on a number of levels. The idea of six young adult astronauts trained from early adolescence for the mission of their lives, alongside seasoned and more mature astronauts really excited me. Add that to a one-way trip to Terra-Two in another star system and I literally asked netgalley to sign me up! The concept was pretty amazing but slow to get off the ground, quite literally. I thought at one point they were never going to leave earth.

You’ll be glad to know that they did launch. The young astronauts went from interesting to messed up and somewhat annoying. There actually wasn’t one of them I liked. I did like a number of the mature astronauts and craved more focus on them or more focus on the relationship between the two age groups. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. There was drama, there were unexpected incidents and I just didn’t find it very satisfying. The culmination left me deflated.

I really wanted so much from this story but I found it lacked execution with pacing issues throughout. The story had great potential and some parts were interesting but ultimately it wasn’t enough to satisfy my need to enjoy the read.

I voluntarily read an early copy of this book.

“We have been told that Terra-Two is waiting for us, and perhaps it still is. Perhaps the sand has washed up on the shore in quiet anticipation of the day we set our soles dancing across it.”

Do You Dream Of Terra-Two? is the type of book that knows how to make you keep reading. There's something addictive in the writing, in this set of completely unstable young people stuck together in a spaceship and who are supposed not to kill each other in the next twenty-three years. However, as we all know, addictive does not mean amazing. It does not mean that it's awful either, Terra-Two is honestly a good, entertaining, snack. A 500-page snack, sure, but if I can destroy a family size bag of chips in one evening (and feel very guilty afterward), nothing can stop me! But let's talk about this book before I make myself hungry.

One of Terra-Two strongest points is also one of its weaknesses: its characters. What I liked is the underlying criticism of “intensive formations” which can, basically, ruin kids. Children around 10-12 years old are chosen among the population to join a space program in order to send a crew on a 23-year-old mission to Terra-Two, an habitable planet patiently waiting for Humanity to put its greasy fingers on it. What could go wrong?

The result? Put simply, f*cked up kids groomed to be the best, chosen among those who are the most desperate to be on the crew, with probably a bit of propaganda here and there to mold them if you want my opinion. It's horrifying, most of them suffer from some form of mental illness gone unchecked or hidden because they were afraid to be kicked out. You feel for them.

The other result is that, because of this environment, they're not really likable people. It reminds me of one of my professor in college who told us “I've spent most of my life in a library studying to get my PhD, I don't know shit about people”, yeah, that's it, that's the Terra-Two crew. The most interesting part is that, when you read someone's POV, you're on the character's side. But when you switch POV, you suddenly dislike the character you were rooting for a few pages ago, because you see them through someone else's eyes. It's interesting, but also a bit tiring, because in the end I just did not like any of these characters.

And,well, this novel is a character-driven novel, so when you start disliking everyone... eh.

I was also a bit disappointed by the plot. Things start to heat up around 70% of the book, but the ending did not work for me, and I felt a bit betrayed by the Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet comparison which is VERY misleading. I know it was also compared to The 100, but the Wayfarer series, to me, is synonym of Feel Good SF, not just “people in a spaceship”. And sheesh, let me tell you, nobody feels good in this book, these kids need help.

I think that, overall, this book was simply not what I expected. But it sure stayed in my mind, I'm writing this review almost a month after reading it and I still remember Terra-Two very clearly, which is a good point!

A lot of TWs, should you need them: Suicide, eating disorders, drowning, depression, anxiety, probably other mental illnesses not diagnosed in the novel, sex and what really looked like sexual abuse/rape to me, death (some graphic), violence...

When it comes to SF books about long-distance space travel from Earth and colonisation of other planets the biggest challenge - apart from those technical limitations - would seem to be around the selection of the crew. Whether the trip involves generational renewal on-board or not, the likelihood is that it's a one-way trip for most candidates, so some writers imagine that it would likely be death-sentence or life-sentence prisoners who would volunteer, not least because - to put it bluntly - it would be less of a loss if things don't go to plan. Inevitably, putting a bunch of dangerous lifer prisoners into a small tin box and sending it out into space is just asking for trouble.

Temi Oh's Do You Dream of Terra-Two? considers the alternative of young people as candidates for the rigours of long-distance space travel, sent as the junior team to the nearest discovered planet with an Earth-like environment, Terra-Two. To be honest, it hardly seems likely that a group of six teenagers would have the physical or psychological strengths needed to survive the 23 year journey - even with an experienced senior team with them. The candidates selected for the Beta team on the Damocles however have been in training and assessed at the British Interplanerary's Dalton Academy since the age of 13, and with most now around 19 years old they are considered to be the best of the best.

Well, we must assume that all the necessary tests have been applied, but just one day before the launch in 2012 that will put people on Terra-Two for the first time, cracks are beginning to show. A few last minute changes are required, but eventually the Damocles is on its way. Its mission however is surprisingly vague, not really extending beyond testing the new technology and just getting to Terra-Two. There are hints about global warming, about Earth facing a crisis, about other rival nations seeking to exploit this new resource. What the crew of the Damocles do when they get there doesn't really seem to have been considered in any great depth either. Preparing the ground for future ships to follow, but no real plan, not even any thought for administration of settlement and colonisation, and certainly no legal constitution other than one that Juno hastily improvises while on board.

It's a little dissatisfying that there hasn't been any rigour applied to such basic matters in Temi Oh's account of this mission, but you think that perhaps there's a reason for that which will be revealed further down the line. And indeed there is, but until you get to the point where the warning sirens start blaring - literally as well as metaphorically - Do You Dream of Terra-Two? doesn't have a whole lot else to recommend. For the larger part of the book, it's tedious teen-drama stuff. The senior team are largely invisible and instead we get competitiveness, jealousy, insecurity and stirrings of romantic feelings between the members of the boys and girls of the junior team.

As far as that goes, Do You Dream of Terra-Two develops personalities well, realistically considering the behaviour of young people in an enclosed environment having to establish new rules for living with one another in order to survive for 23 years in what will be a very isolated and hazardous environment. Lord of the Flies comes to mind evidently and William Golding's classic is indeed explicitly referenced at one point, but there's nothing as shocking or revelatory in this rather safe YA version of the tale that is based around the recognition and achievement of personal goals. There is a sting in the tail however and it's a well considered one that goes some way to addressing some of the concerns about the trip, but I'm afraid that it doesn't make up for the banality of the predominately teen drama that makes up the bulk of the novel.