Arc of the Universe surprised me. I thought it would be more about Mars, but that was my own brilliant ignorance. I loved Carrie and her students as they tried to create a great Constitution. The struggles were real and dealt with in an honest manor. I can’t say I’m a huge constitution buff, but I worked for PoliSci professors for a few years and my days came shooting back to me, lol.

Rating: 3.5 stars

'But if you raise your voice, baby, I know you can change the world. And I think you need to.'

Arc of the Universe is a very unique debut - I truly don't think I've read another book quite like it. I went into the book expecting sci-fi, but in truth the whole 'settling on Mars' plot point served as more of a background for commentary on racism in contemporary America (even though the book is set in the 2030s). This mix of genres might explain why my feelings about the book overall are so complicated.

I enjoyed the story, once I had more of a grasp on what the main story *was*, but I struggled with the multiple long sections of legal language during the scenes discussing the constitution. Even though I currently study law and am therefore used to this kind of language, I did feel like they interrupted the flow of the book and made it difficult to focus on the plot as it unfolded. In the same vein I thought the plot tied together well at the end, but I was very lost at the start as to what our protagonist's goals were.

As a Black woman studying law, I relate to our main character in a lot of ways and definitely found it cathartic to watch her grow in confidence and learn to use her skills for change. That said, I felt the ending was perhaps overly optimistic and a tad rushed regarding how quickly change was enacted. Still, Carrie's story is an important one for hope and fighting for change.

To sum, I would recommend this book to people interested in ways to combat institutional racism, the basics of constitutional law and a story of hope. Bonus points if you're looking for Black queer female representation!

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for this e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

Wow - this book is right up my alley - but I couldn't do it. I couldn't ever get engaged with the writing - perhaps it was the premise. The constitution talk; the struggle with protecting all and making sure that was law in the constitution... I just couldn't do it.

The writing was absolutely beautiful and the world was incredibly designed - such a phenomenal concept of a book!

I feel like I’ve been reading this book for weeks and weeks. I am not sure if that’s a positive or a negative thing.
I think my expectations for this book differed too much from what the story was. I was expecting more sci-fi, more action, just more in general. The only thing I got more of, more than enough really, is the law/ constitution. I feel like it’s almost too focused on that.i gather how this book is mostly about social injustice and what a horrible place earth (and its inhabitants) can be, but it’s too much.

This book was not what I was expecting.overall the writing itself is good, but the story just doesn’t work for me.

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy*

DNF (for now) @40%.

Ive read a hefty chunk of this book, and I’m just not feeling it right now. I think the writing style isn’t for me right now, but I am so intrigued to see how this book ends. I don’t like forcing myself to finish books I’m not enjoying, but this is one I WILL come back to when I’m in the mood!

Arc of the Universe by Nikki Alexander
Genre: Science Fiction | Speculative Fiction
Release date: June 24, 2025
Length: 324 pages

A huge thank you to Nerd Fam and the author for the e-arc.

The Arc of the Universe is a speculative fiction debut novel from Nikki Alexander. This novel has a few themes packed into it but it never felt like it was trying to do too much. With thematic elements such as police brutality, planetary exploration, sexism in the work place, and the sweet reprieve of a budding queer romance.

In the novel we follow Carrie Davenport, a black law professor who is working on what she hopes to be her lifetime achievement. Project Mars is attempting to be the first human settlement on Mars. One fateful night Carrie is stopped by the police and due to a case of mistaken identity, she is brutalized by the police and she is thrust into discourse about race and justice. Now she is uncertain if this democracy is one she wants to continue on a new planet. Carrie has to choose between speaking up regarding the injustice or dig deeper to uncover some truths behind who’s really funding this exploration.

As mentioned previously there is a lot of discourse about the U.S. justice system and I found myself baffled at the things that came out of Carrie’s colleague and white male counterpart. While this novel is based in the near future, things Carrie dealt with are very much a current issue. In one part of the book the tech bro funding this mission says “why wouldn’t we base the justice system on America? It is the best justice system in the world.” I paused and laughed because he can’t be serious. We house more than 20% of the criminals in the world while only being about 5% of the global population. One reason I love novels like this is the ability to ask these questions of ourselves and have a conversation about what this might look like.

A surprisingly realistic take on Mars colonization and relevant for today's activism. The office politics and microaggressions are, tragically, spot on and made me uncomfortable. While I was expecting something a little more "science fiction," I wasn't annoyed or upset by what the book offered instead.

This was a good read! Very well written. Some parts were frustrating to read as Carrie, an academic constitutional law professor, dealt with real life issues that black women today are constantly dealing with. Some themes explored: racism, sexism, prejudice and micro-aggression.
Also, this book has me really interested in space law now.
Thank you to Netgalley and Strawberry Tree Books for the digital ARC!

Arc of the Universe by Nikki Alexander is a realistic look into the near future of Mars! Dive into the world of defining space colonization, realistic office politics, rampant racism, and tradition being questioned. The challenges Carrie faces as she attempts to do good when faced with so many high expectations are extremely realistic.

Did you enjoy the movie Hidden Figures? Have you read The Calculating Stars? Then this book is your book! I loved seeing all the ways a constitution (charter) could be constructed for more equity and how people are resistant to this notion. While there were tough times, especially since they hit harder with current events, this was ultimately a hopeful story. There can be great expectations thrown on one person of high visibility, but together, we can get closer to a better world.

5/5 stars, no notes, let me go learn space law to contribute to this good 😆

Thank you to NetGalley, IBPA, and the author for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Carrie is a constitutional law professor, initially looking forward to writing a constitution for the first Mars settlers, though that excitement sours as she sobers to the gravity of the situation.

Not only is she setting the groundwork for a future in Mars, but she’s working with two white men, one of whom undermines her and has opposing (racist) views and the other who tries to keep the peace, but remains neutral in doing so.

What happens in her personal life towards the beginning of the book bleeds into her professional life. Her profiling and experience with police brutality becomes national news and it creates a domino effect for what happens later.

I enjoyed the themes and messaging in this book about race, diversity, and the red tape that can get in the way. Carrie becomes thoughtful and intentional about how she believes a governing body should run, and does what she can to make things right.

This book is reflective and speculative, thinking about where we are as a society and what needs to happen for future generations to be better.

Read for:
📜 Black and Queer FMC
📜 Constitutional law
📜 Planning for a future Mars settlement
📜 Social justice themes
📜 Reflective and speculative
📜 Fight for diversity initiatives

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of Arc of the Universe in exchange for an honest review.

For the most part I have enjoyed the book and the characters. There were several frustrating moments, not at the writer, but at the microaggressions and prejudices Carrie had to endure throughout the book (and this is just a small portion of her life, I couldn't imagine living an entire life like that).

About roughly 100 pages in, I realised that this wasn't going to be the sci-fi book I expected. I'm not going to mark it down for that, although the marketing team should rethink some things if they want the book to reach the best audiences. I carried on reading with a subjective mind. It's not often I step out of my fantasy and scifi comfort zone, and occasionally I find gold.

I really liked the layers of Carrie's character. She has grown up with activist parents who fought to get her the best life possible, and to a degree she has. Up until the inciting moment of the narrative, she lived in her ivory tower as a tenured Professor at a prestigious conservative university. The worst she ever had to deal with were micro aggressions. After her experience of police brutality, everything changes and she wrestles with the thought of trying to forget it all and sweeping it under a rug. Why? To keep the safe bubble she has built herself from bursting. It's through different challenges, and perspectives that Carrie grows and learns that she is in a unique position to help make sure these things don't happen, not just to her, but to many others.

There are a couple of reasons I didn't give it more than three stars. Although the stakes were high for achieving success in social justice, I felt that Carrie herself didn't have any stakes. What she was doing never left her in risk of losing her job, or making things worse. There was always an outside force helping her along, whether it was a celebrity, her assistants, or her best friend. It shows us that we can achieve a lot with the support of friends and community, but we didn't get to see her strength until towards the end of the book. Another reason is that, yes it's an American space mission to Mars, however, with all the talk of equality and unity, there wasn't much thought given to how law on international land (because I would assume Mars would be international, right?) would effect citizens from other cultures and countries. There is talk of equality, but it never goes into detail when characters discuss it. Like we get the tail end of a conversation as they agree with points that we didn't get to hear.

There could have been a lot of potential here to expand, and maybe if there is a follow up book with different characters on the Mars colony, it could address that?

Thank you for the opportunity to read Arc of the Universe.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced copy!

This was like. Scifi meets legal thriller meets political campaign and I think I loved the mash up? The format took a bit to get into but this was so much better (and way different) than I'd anticipated. A must-read.

This wasn't quite what I was expecting going in, but I think it ended up being a lot better than what I was expecting. If you go into this book expecting science fiction, it probably isn't going to be what you're looking for, but I did enjoy the few science fiction elements that were in the book. I think that this is probably closer to slightly futuristic fiction than it is to science fiction.
I think that the main character, Carrie, worked very well in this book. Her struggles with what actions to take in the face of problems are definitely relatable, and she doesn't make decisions lightly. It's very clear to the reader what she is risking when she decides to act on what's happening around her, which raises the stakes and the tension. The pace starts out slow in the beginning, but speeds up as the book progresses.
There were a few plot points that felt as though they had been left out at the end of the book, but I think that overall the book does a great job of bringing things together at the end, and ending on a hopeful note after exploring very serious and heavy themes and issues.
Rating: 4.75/5
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you to Strawberry Tree Books and the author N. Alexander for providing this e-ARC for an unbiased review.

This is a thought-provoking exploration of governance and using one’s position and platform to build a better future—told through the eyes of a Black woman lawyer and scholar tasked with helping draft the constitution of Mars’s first interplanetary colony.

Much of what made this work for me comes down to our main character, Dr. Carrie Davenport—an accomplished woman who is also self-conscious, reluctant in the spotlight, sometimes messy, unpolished, and deeply real. Carrie does not see herself as an “advocate,” not beyond scholarship and teaching, and certainly not someone built for confronting problems head-on and changing the world. I liked the way this character initially shies away and keeps her head down, then overcorrects and kind of overextends herself, before finally finding her footing to be able to fight her battles on her terms, from her strengths. There are several personal and professional threads that weave together neatly toward that growth that I thought were nicely done.

Read this for:
- An interesting speculative fiction premise exploring issues of law and governance, “starting fresh” when building on/breaking from a system with injustice baked in.
- Bi/queer women of color in academic & leadership roles.
- Bookish, introverted FMC finding her voice pulling off the negotiation of a lifetime.
- A slower, reflective read.

Some critiques:
- A slow start, with a tendency to linger on unnecessary details that bog down the pacing. The book could have been tighter overall.
- Secondary characters weren’t as fleshed-out as I would have liked. Carrie was fantastic, but many others—especially the Project Mars and university cast—felt like mouthpieces. Kim, the best friend, feels very one-note to me. Some characters (Anna, Shauna, Carrie’s dad) started thin but developed nicely by the final act. It’s worth sticking around for that!
- The character of Adam Kilpatrick felt too much like a caricature. Not unrealistic—unfortunately, I absolutely know the type—but tonally it felt off to me. Every interaction with Adam was eye-roll-inducing, which I felt undercut the danger his character represented as an entitled bigot in a position of authority (or, at least, positioned for obstruction). In contrast, Beauregard Ball was outlandish in a way that worked for me.
- The academic exchanges felt underwhelming. We’re told these are top scholars, but the dialogue was mostly superficial and it kind of took me out of the story.

All in all I’d recommend this book, but it probably isn’t for most science fiction readers despite the listing. Think more literary/speculative. I rated it 3.75, rounding up to 4.

Good read and such an interesting topic. I feel like I learned a lot from this novel and it would be beneficial to many readers.

Was I suckered into reading Arc Of The Universe by its use of the word Universe and its spacey book cover? Did a skim read of the blurb mention "first colony on Mars" and make me think I was in my sci-fi comfort zone. Of course it did, but luckily what Arc Of The Universe is actually about is something that perhaps interests me as much as the derring-do of colonising other planets. In the Weinersmith's debunker A City On Mars, which explains the many reasons why it is unlikely we will ever colonise Mars, a full third of the book is taken up by legal issues. And that is exactly what Arc Of The Universe is nominally about (that is what the plot is about, what the book is actually about is even more universal...)

Carrie Davenport is an academic, a constitutional scholar, a black Professor working in an Southern US university who has been asked to front the working group on writing a Constitution for the first colony on Mars. She sees this both as a huge honour and repudiation of her safe career, coming from a working class background to a place of considerable power. Of course she rubs against issues, one of her working group is an originalist who cannot see outside the governance outlined in the US constitution, and she is well aware that the diversity of the first group of colonists is woeful, it is 95% white. Things come to a head when she gets pulled over by the police and she is arrested and abused by them. The book does a good jobn at contrasting her desire to retreat back into a place of safety, against a political reality that her work can and should mean something in the greater scheme of things.

What I really appreciated about Alexander's book was that she is not afraid to make Carrie a bit of a mess. Divorced and bisexual, the crisis point occurs due to a fling with a very different kind of woman, and yet whilst the decisions made are ill-judged, they are also justified emotionally, and Alexander never caricatures the protagonists. Indeed as well as race there is sex and gender politics on display, not to mention that of class in the US. I'm not sure I was all that convinced by the details of the actual constitution they draw up (which even they admit for 100 people all working for a company is more of a charter, and having some experience in drawing up constitutions for small autonomous organisations), but the stakes are properly balanced between Carrie's own personal drama, and the very real hypothetical stakes for space colonisation. Alexander is interested in her messy, professional woman first, and giving her a learning journey into activism using her own skills, above that of the universe, and I think she got the mix just right.

Arc of the Universe follows Carrie, a Black professor chosen to help design a government for the first human colony on Mars. Between the pressure of this high profile mission and dealing with conservative colleagues and police brutality back home, Carrie is pushed to her limit.

This story isn’t just about space. It’s about what we carry with us, what we choose to stand for, and what we refuse to let slide. With everything happening in the U.S. right now, this one hit different.

I loved the way real life issues like racism, social justice, and academic politics were woven in without overpowering the story. The friendship between Carrie and Kim was one of my favorite parts, and the BIPOC and queer rep felt genuine and necessary. It is thoughtful, emotional, and so relevant. If you’re looking for something smart and layered that makes you think and feel, this one is it.

While the importance of this book could not be overstated, I was a little put off by the format. I couldn't decide if it was scifi, a legal drama, or political statement. I loved the idea of all 3 individually but the way they were smashed together felt a bit disconnected. I almost wish the event had occurred on Mars, or that the entire Mats storyline had been scrapped. I just am not sure who the reader is. I loved the references to constitutional law and the idea that Americans don't have it right yet. Overall this book is good but it could have been great with some tweaks.

Thanks to NerdFam and NetGalley for the ARC of Arc of the Universe by Nikki Alexander.

★★★☆☆ 3.75 stars rounded up to 4 for the scope and intention.

This book immediately caught my attention with its bold, cerebral premise (and the cover!): a Black, queer constitutional law professor is asked to draft the founding constitution for humanity’s Mars colony. It’s a high-concept, high-stakes scenario that explores justice, identity, power structures, and the limits of law in a raw, philosophical way. Arc of the Universe doesn’t just imagine a different future—it asks whether we’re capable of building one that’s better than what we’ve left behind.

Nikki Alexander offers a unique, thoughtful debut that clearly aims to provoke reflection. Carrie Davenport, the protagonist, is layered and human who is grappling with loss, legacy, and her place in the machinery of change. There’s no doubt the author poured immense heart and intelligence into this story, and it shows in the complex themes and timely commentary on systemic injustice and democratic failure.

That said, the experience was mixed for me. While I admired the ambition and welcomed the questions it raised, the pacing was uneven. At times, the writing became heavy with description, so much so that the story occasionally lost momentum. I often felt pulled out of scenes by prose that lingered too long on internal monologue or minor details. And when the narrative finally turned toward resolution, it arrived suddenly, almost as an afterthought. The ending, for all its weighty setup, didn’t quite land with the impact I was hoping for.

Still, I can absolutely see this resonating deeply with readers who enjoy speculative fiction with strong socio-political undercurrents. It’s thoughtful, timely, and unafraid to ask difficult questions.

A good dissection of the prejudice that marginalized communities face when faced with creating a new constitution and wanting to protect them. I will say felt kind of disjointed after the halfway point and a fall off of near the end as it tried to wrap the things up. Overall an interesting idea and working towards the idea of the improvement on the inaugural Mars colony.