Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

I was hoping for great things from this space opera but the execution did not love up to the synopsis. The characterisation missed the mark and there was some sloppy editing which took me away from the story. I struggled through to the end but it wasn't worth it.

I had issues with this one. It doesn't appear to be edited particularly well - misspelling Neil Armstrong's name is particularly unforgivable. I also had problems suspending my disbelief - not so much over the action sequences, but the idea that a top NASA astronaut would drink, smoke and indulge in a bit of casual sex days before the most significant mission in the history of space exploration. The main character is totally unlikeable - yes, she's totally kick-ass but she also hits someone with her car and then verbally abuses them. The dialogue is also a bit ropey. It was all just a little bit cheesy and ridiculous. File under Mildly Entertaining Fluff.

I did not enjoy this book at all. I love sci-fi space operas, but this felt very dragged. The MC is consistently screaming at the AI, complaining and is portrayed as angry British lady who wakes up alone on the ship she is supposed to be the captain of. The writing was promising, but the pacing was so slow, I was falling asleep reading this. not for me. But if you like sci-fi that takes its time, then you may like this one!

This was at times an overly complicated Science fiction space / romance / thriller story with alot of names to connect.
But the story did draw me in and certainly kept me gripped right until the very end.
Definitely worth a read.

3.5 stars

Commander Maryam 'May' Knox wakes up in the med bay of her spaceship with no memory of the illness that led to her being there. From her long term memory, May knows that she is on a NASA mission to Europa, but she can't recall anything from the past few weeks.
With no sign of the crew, a damaged ship, and no contact with NASA, May must try to survive with only the ship's AI for help.
What happened to the crew?
Can May get back in contact with NASA?
How was the ship damaged?

Across the Void has two main characters - May who was in space struggling to survive, and Stephen (May's husband) who was on Earth, his own life in danger as he tried to do what he could to help bring May home. They were both interesting characters and I liked the flashback chapters where their pasts were revealed. I did find May a little annoying at times, and got the feeling that the author was trying to make her like Mark Watney from The Martian. However, I thought that May was very strong and coped a lot better than I would have in her situation.
There were a couple of times when I wanted to skip Stephen's Earth-based chapters so that I could get back to May, but I resisted the urge.
The plot was very action-packed and suspenseful. I enjoyed the first half more, because of the mystery element.
The science was intriguing, although I don't know how plausible it is.
The writing style was easy to follow and I am interested in reading more by the author.

Overall, this was an enjoyable, action-packed read.

It took me a while to get into Across the Void; but overall, I did enjoy it. I really liked May, but at times found the progress of the story to be quite slow - it did, at times, remind me of The Martian, which I loved, but it just wasn't up there for me.

3 stars.

Absolutely fantastic! I really enjoyed this book, which was quite long, but rather that than have it split into more than one book! I actually didn't really notice the length, as I was so engrossed in the story.
I was really surprised to see this book had so many bad reviews, and I really don't agree with them. Yes, some things are a little unlikely, but hey, it's a story! It has been compared to The Martian, but I really didn't enjoy that, and loved this. The stranded astronaut isn't a superman/woman, and is very flawed, which is much more realistic. She needs someone to speak to, and teaches the AI very sarky English, which is excellent. I think some of the phrases may lose a little hilarity for readers the other side of the pond?
There is a great sense of suspense and of impending doom, and there are a great many things that the heroine doesn't know or understand. Some of these are found out as you progress through the book, but the author is not afraid of leaving things right to the end, or of giving us plenty of surprises.
I didn't mind the sections where you jump back in time to understand something - it is never difficult to follow, likewise when the story is told from Stephen's angle instead of May's. The scientific part of the story doesn't bore the reader with reams of description, but provides sufficient for a normal reader to understand the logic, without boring us. The engineering fails, with explanations why, and the story therefore seems very real.
My conclusion? A fantastic story which I really enjoyed, and I recommend to anyone interested in scifi.

I was in the mood for a scifi when I requested this novel – stuck in a space ship without knowing exactly how you got into this life-threatening situation. We bounce back and forth between the current events and flashbacks to our main character’s childhood and her developing relationship with her husband – an engineer who helped build some of the equipment for this mission – to get samples from one of Jupiter’s moons. I enjoyed the space survival aspect of this book, reminiscent of the Martian as all such books will probably be from now on. There were some aspects of the plot that were supposed to be mysteries, but then once revealed didn’t play any further part anymore, which was a bit strange. Some of the dialogue was a bit cringy, especially between our main character and the ship's AI, who is slowly learning more human slang. In the end there’s a bad guy who had very little to do with the original mystery but somehow comes out worse than the actual villains? It was a very quick read but I wasn’t completely satisfied by the end of it. Also there were some instances of our main character already knowing someone’s name before being introduced, which might just be my copy – being an ARC – but could probably do with another editing once-over.

Overall
I like the story, the drama, the characters, but I felt it could have been more intense. I felt more like a space opera than a thriller. but hey! It was a good read.

The story
It takes place in the future but partly in space and partly on earth. In the aftermath of the first ever expedition to Europa. The main character wakes up after being sick and no-one knows what the illness was. The AI also has memory issues and the spaceship is deserted and failing. While on Earth Stephen is struggling to cope with the loss of contact and what follows.

World building
Not too steep. Considering the main character has amnesia, we as readers follow her as she figures things out. It starts off in the medical bay of the ship for the first few chapters and then she slowly explores the ship and slowly introduces Stephen and others on Earth.

Magic/Science
No magic obviously. There were hardly any science and this sci-fi book felt more of a space opera because of it. It's clearly made for the masses.

Characters
There are two main characters: May and Stephen. I loved the interaction between the two.

May is the commander of the vessel and wakes up from a coma. She struggles with amnesia which adds a thriller feel and adds suspense. May is mixed race and mentions it only a few times throughout the book. If it wasn't for the black woman on the cover, I (as a white person) would probably have whitewashed the entire story which is sad but I'm very glad the cover is the way it is. She is stunning.

Stephen is the scientist of the book but it didn't get science heavy. I liked his nerdiness and kindness with an ability to fight for what's right.

Then there is Eve, the AI. In the beginning, I thought she might have done something which causes the failure of the ship because it's a stereotype - "the evil AI". But in this book, the AI hasn't reached that level of intelligence. She is somewhere between the stupid do-as-i'm-told AI where the automatic response is "unrecognised command" and the high intelligence versions who run the ship on their own and makes their own decisions. There were moments when I thought "surely she knows this?", and then there were moments when she surprised me. I can't really make my mind up about her. But she was funny.

LGBT+?
Nope, none.

The writing
There were a few spelling mistakes throughout the book, but not too many so it was fine. I hope these are fixed in the published version.

It flowed easily throughout and I liked how the author separated the story depending on time. A character would indicate that they had a memory come back or float to the surface of their mind, then the chapter would end and a new begin, and the new chapter for that memory.

It felt more of a space opera read with a hint of thriller moments and action. It was quite easy to read and I really enjoyed that.

Summary
Entertaining read with a satisfying ending, but it felt more like a space opera than a thriller.

Recommended for people who are getting into sci-fi or want to try it out. And for those who already like sci-fi and isn't fussed about the science.

I requested Across the Void from Netgalley because I both liked the blurb and the cover. A wrecked spaceship, a lonely survivor, a hint of Gravity, and a faint memory of The Martian. It all sounded fantastic.

Sadly, I was somewhat disappointed. I'll talk about the negative things first and will end on a positive note, because, at the end, I enjoyed the read.

Across the Void crams too many things into a normal-sized book. Torn between being a thriller focusing on survival and a love story with a mystery and a redemption arc, it ends up being neither.

May is well depicted and three-dimensional, but sadly I did not like her and could not warm to her. All other characters fell a bit flat.

While the beginning feels realistic, the end does not, and I could no longer suspend my disbelief. Especially the events on Earth begin to feel over the top.

Now, for the positive:

The book opens strong. May wakes up, doesn't know what happened, is terrified and slowly builds a bond with the ship's AI, Eve. Those first 30-40% or so are exceptionally well done, and Eve is a fantastic character. I seem to have a thing for artificial intelligence with an elaborate personality.

The pacing is solid, and it never slows down to a crawl, and Across the Void kept my attention throughout. The writing is straightforward, simple and doesn't distract.

This one isn't for people who like hard SF, or who like their SF to be super realistic. However, if you are looking for some fun twists and turns in space, a dose of marriage turned sour but really they still like each other, give this one a try.

Nahhhh. Saw so many mixed reviews for this but I just didn't love it.
Maybe Scifi isn't for me! It stayed off quite promising for me but then I couldn't do it any more.
Dnf

First, the good news. The first half of the book is riveting – that opening sequence where May surfaces on a failing ship, struggling to work out what is going on with a badly glitched AI and memory issues, worked extremely well. The science aspect was entirely believable and the character development and backstory were effective and well written. I was drawn into her life, despite not liking her very much.

I also liked the fact that May was black, with a successful black mother who had helped and supported her. So it was a real shame that I never really warmed to May – in fact as the story wore on, I found myself disliking her selfish behaviour more and more. For me, the dealbreaker was the disgraceful manner in which she neglected her mother as she became old and ill – and then made a huge scene on her death, where we’re all supposed to feel very sorry for her grief. Hm – not me. By this point, I was sick and tired of May’s self absorbed behaviour, just hoping that poor old Stephen would see the light and run away in the opposite direction from her as fast as possible.

Because if you’re sensing a BUT, you’re right… this is a book of two halves. The first half drew me in and absolutely had me hooked, but about the halfway stage, I had a ‘Whoa!’ moment. The storyline lurched into the utterly unbelievable – setting up camp in Fantasyland, where it firmly stayed. I continued reading, hoping that somehow, at some stage, this would stop reading like the script of a really silly sci fi movie, and dial back to what started out as a thoroughly engrossing, strong story. It didn’t. The silliness wore on into the outright ridiculous.

It’s a shame. The characters were well depicted, so that even if I hated the main protagonist, it didn’t stop her being well portrayed, warts and all. The story could so easily have continued to be a gripping, well written thriller with plenty of heft, instead of lapsing into lazy Hollywoodesque clichés that I saw coming on encountering the opening sequences. Frequent comparisons with The Martian demean both the film (which did get a tad daft at the end) and certainly the book, which is far better crafted and more realistic than this effort.

Apparently, the tortured romantic element is being touted as sci-cry – and it’s certainly a crying shame that a better editor didn’t rein in the author(s) in this promising, yet horribly flawed effort. Not recommended for anyone who enjoys believable sci fi.

While I obtained an arc of Across the Void from the author via Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own.
4/10

Spaceship Hawking II - Christmas Day, 2067. May Knox wakes from a coma to find she is the only person left alive following a disastrous space mission. Apart from the ship's AI, whom she names Eve, she is alone. Meanwhile her estranged husband, Stephen, is waiting for hear from May and he is perturbed to find out that those in charge are less than enthusiastic about her return. Both May and Stephen find themselves fighting for their lives.

The book moves back and forth through time, revealing bits of May's life from before interspersed with the perilous situation she is now in. I found that the first half of the book flew by, but the second half wasn't as good. Some parts of the plot were woefully underused (is there someone else on board?) whilst others (pregnancy) figured way too much. Finally, the ending seemed a little rushed as the bad guys were quickly arrested off screen and it all sort of fizzled out. Disappointing ending for a book that had such a promising start.

Thanks to NetGalley and publishers, Little, Brown Book Group UK / Sphere, for the opportunity to read an ARC.

I had seen that Across the Void came with differing reviews - so was keen to see what i'd make of it.

The book opens with May Knox, as a child, undertaking a risky underwater swim against her mother's express instructions. The difficulties ten year old May gets into segue into much greater trouble for the Hawking II, a deep space exploration vessel commanded by Knox 22 years later. May awakes in Sickbay, her life maintained by an emergency medical pod, in a ship that seems to have been trashed.

The story then unfolds between May - with the help of Eve, the onboard AI - seeking to restore the ship, and Stephen, her husband (but they're divorcing!) back at Mission Control. Stephen will have a role to play if the ship is to be rescued. We also see the romance that led to their marriage.

It's a strong enough premise - with, as the blurb notes, overtones of The Martian (and echoes of 2001?) but softened by that human story (and a dash of mystery - what happened in that ship?) - but, for me (and you might feel differently!) it didn't take flight. Perhaps the counterpoint between those stories meant that the tension didn't build? Perhaps that challenge focused, survival story, is harder to make work when both the challenges to be overcome (failing reactors, deactivated comms arrays, damaged processing cores) and their solutions are so firmly science fictional? When a protagonist has to survive on a desert island, we feel their danger - and their requirements (food, water, shelter) very deeply and understand what will satisfy them and what won't. On the crippled space vessel, we are told (say) that it's important to reset the processor cores, told how that will be done, and then told that it has been done. maybe it's me, but I felt no great sense of peril, and some sense of contrivance.

It's a shame because I felt that the characters here were interesting and the setup is, as I said, promising. Perhaps I was simply overthinking things and should have relaxed more into the story?

Across the Void by S.K. Vaughn

The spaceship Hawking II is returning to Earth after a successful manned mission to Europa. But on the way back all hell breaks loose. Captain Maryann (May) Knox wakes up in sickbay from a coma. She is seriously dehydrated and malnourished. She has no short term memory of what happened. And, even worse, she’s entirely alone. Her crew is gone. The only company May has is the AI, renamed Eve by May after her mother. Eve also seems glad of the company but ‘she’ is damaged, also without short term memory, and barely in control of a ship that is failing by the hour. May has no choice but to try to fix Eve and the ship on her own. It will be a deadly challenge and it will also be a frightening one. Where is the crew? Perhaps May isn’t alone after all. Perhaps the mission was never intended to reach home.

But there is someone who wants more than anything to help Eve – her husband, Stephen, the scientist behind the mission. Fixing communications will be no easy thing and that’s only the start of it. How on earth could Stephen possibly help? And what if May remembers that she and Stephen are not as in love as she thinks, that actually she had left him behind in more ways than one when Hawking II began its journey to Europa? But all of that could be an irrelevance. The ship is falling apart. May must fight for every hour she stays alive, with only Eve to keep her sane along with memories she can no longer trust. Space is a lonely place and it can kill in a million ways.

Across the Void is such a fun read! I was drawn to it immediately. Its premise is perfect. Much is being made of its appeal to fans of The Martian and I think the comparison is deserved. Instead of a man stuck on a planet, we have a woman stuck on a spaceship, both have disasters to overcome. May isn’t quite the scientist, though. She is a pilot and she needs others to science her way out of this mess. Across the Void also has such a strong cinematic blockbuster appeal. It’s ambitious and so visual. It’s no surprise to learn that S.K. Vaughn is the pseudonym of a successful Hollywood writer and director (whoever it may be – and I really want to know!).

There is much to enjoy, quite apart from the thrilling action which builds and builds. There is the mood of a deserted damaged spaceship. Hawking II is a frightening place, that’s for sure, particularly when the lights are off. There is also the thriller element – where is the crew? – and what is going on back on Earth? Something very sinister is going on. And then there’s the love element – there’s the relationship between May and Stephen, which we experience through flashbacks, and there’s also the very touching friendship between May and Eve. May needs Eve for the technical and emotional support she provides. We sense that Eve needs May just as much.

I did have slight issues. I wish we were told more about what happened on Europa. We’re given tantalising glimpses but I wanted much more and wished it had been more significant. My other issue was with the state of affairs back on Earth. This felt quite preposterous and so, rather unexpectedly, I found the sections on the spaceship (which form the majority of the book) far more believable and involving.

May is a marvellous character. I liked Stephen very much, too, but May is the star of Across the Void. I felt completely behind her, wishing for all to go well, and admiring her for what she must endure when she must be so afraid and alone. Despite the tension, there is plenty of humour and wit, predominantly from May. Across the Void is such an entertaining and exciting space disaster adventure.

Commander May Knox awakes from a medically induced coma to find her ship damaged and her crew gone. The Hawking II was on a mission to collect samples from Europa and hopefully find proof of alien life. But something has gone dreadfully wrong and May needs help.

S.K. Vaughn is a pseudonym for a screenwriter and I can only think they are writing for those dreadful daytime soaps, based on the plot of this book. What starts of as a reasonable space survival story, if somewhat cheesy in its dialogue, soon descends into nonsense. I suppose it's entertaining in its own way if you don't try and take it at all seriously.

May awakes on the Hawking II with amnesia, she can't remember what happened to the rest of the crew or even her own divorce. Why does her divorce matter? Well back down on Earth Stephen is working for NASA, and May thinks she still loves him. Her amnesia seems to go back a conveniently long way. The story goes back and forth between the action in space, Stephen's frankly possessive behaviour back on Earth, the story of how they got together, and May's relationship with her mother.

The writer isn't great at writing emotion so it's mind-boggling that they inserted this awkward relationship plot into what should have been an acceptable action-thriller. I'm going to talk about a bit more of the plot than I usually would in reviews, so stop reading now if you think you still want to read it unspoiled.

So May isn't feeling great, and despite the ship's AI having run blood tests, it takes her ex-husband to deduce that she's pregnant! All the way across space, when May had no idea. And conveniently this NASA spaceship stocks pregnancy tests...and abortion pills. But tough, no nonsense May decides that it would be a great idea to keep the baby... whilst alone in space on a badly damaged ship.

I mean, I'd be interested in a book exploring pregnancy in space, if done well, with research and consideration for all the dangers. But this is then used as a vehicle for the men back on Earth to start fighting over her. And one of them just happens to have their own space programme! Oh yeah, didn't I mention the people in charge of NASA have gone rogue because there was an alien virus that never gets mentioned again.

The only character I liked was Eve, the AI. All the humans come across as jerks, trying hard be tough and making terrible jokes. I think the writer was trying to add little comments that might appeal to liberals but they come across as disingenuous. The next quote is just an example of the attitude of the whole thing:

The cynic in me feels like this was written in an attempt to cash in on the popularity of The Martian and they intend to make it into a film. Maybe it's faults wouldn't be so bad in a film either. I suppose I was kinda gripped towards the end, what crazy thing would happen next? But I will admit to skim-reading some of it.

This book is quite similar to The Martian. Well, at least initially, as it features a single person, in space, cut off from everything. But soon, the similarity wanes and it really comes into its own.
Commander May Knox is woken up from a medically induced coma with scant recollection of the events leading up to it. She soon discovers that she is now alone on her ship. The computer AI is functional but also has no "memory" of what happened. Access to stored documents however reminds May of the mission she and her crew were on. A research mission to Europa, one of Jupiter's moons. The AI, subsequently named Eve after May's mother, also helps May fix the many vital systems on the ship, ones that would spell death should they totally fail. Also in the archives, May hears about her husband Stephen who is back on Earth, desperate for word from her. The powers that be assuming she is already dead as the ship has been dark for too long.
But then communications are resumed and Stephen's heart is lifted. A rescue plan is formulated but he suspects that it isn't all it's touted to be. And then May discovers that she's not alone...
Suspending belief a couple of times along the way, I really did enjoy this "peril in space" story. The scientific bits were amply explained to my satisfaction, something facilitated by the characters' own ignorance in such matters! There was also a bit of a love triangle which raised the stakes when introduced. Yes, OK, there were some things that were a bit strange and hard to really buy into along the way but, as the characters and story was interesting, I was able to gloss over the majority and accept them for what they were. We also had flashbacks to May's past along the way, inserted to add colour and background to what was going on in the present. This gave me one heck of a shock at one point (sorry, spoilers) and my heart leapt into my mouth.
I'm not the biggest reader of sci-fi so I don't know how this stacks up against the norm for the genre but, above raised points apart, I did have a good time reading it and it did leave me satisfied at the end and, to be honest, that't the point of a book for me. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

I really could not get in to this book. I love science fiction but for some reason I have been in a bit of a slump woth this genre recently. I managed to get halfway through but for me Stephens chapters just did not keep me gripped and while May's POV was entertaining I just didnt manage to finish it.

The writing is first class and the world building superb, but it wasnt for me.

I have been really into sci-fi recently and this book did not disappoint.

This story follows May who wakes up on a damaged ship in space with no memory of the last few months and no idea whether any of her crew is still alive. May with the help of her husband, Stephen, back on Earth must piece together her memories in order to find out what happened to her ship and find her way back home. This is made more complicated though as May and Stephen filed for divorce just before she left Earth and May has no idea why.

This is a very character focused book which I loved. It is told in the POVs of both May and Stephen and is told in both the present and through flashbacks. May was a great character to read from she is very sarcastic and witty. Sadly I wasn’t so interested in Stephen’s POV and I found myself drifting away from the story when reading his chapters.

Flashbacks are something that are a bit of a hit or a miss with me but I really liked them in this as I enjoyed learning of the events that lead up to May’s current situation as she does as it really helps to add to the suspense of the story.

I really enjoyed this book, it was full of suspense, I felt the pacing worked well for the book and I enjoyed learning more about space travel through this.

I gave it 4 out of 5 stars.