Celestial

Bill Lace imagines a futuristic world in which mining corporations have set up shop in the outer reaches of the solar system. Amma Janko is responsible for such a station on Uranus where she lives with her family. One day, the unthinkable happens and their life forever changes. Amma is forced to evaluate the needs of her family and make the decision to return to earth. As her son's depression worsens, Amma fights against the obstacles placed in the path of their return to earth.

Lace has done a wonderful job of building a world where life-like robots exist and space travel seems almost as normal as visiting a different country. There are numerous examples of future gadgetry and medicine throughout the book. It all tied together to create a believable place that seems like it could exist in the future.

The characters are what ultimately drive the book. I really appreciated Amma as a main character. She is relatable and her love for her family is evident. There's quite a few supporting characters that are also well-written and help the story to flow! It was fun to read a science fiction story about a group of people trying to get home to earth rather than leave it entirely.

However, while I enjoyed the characters, I struggled with the overall flow of the book. The synopsis details Amma's rerouting to help a ship of refugees, but it takes a while to get to that part. There are a few chapters that cut to a different character's POV related to the refugee and coup subplot, but those felt jarring and a little clunky. Ultimately, I never felt that interested in the subplot which left me wanting something more from the story.

Overall, it was an enjoyable read even if I didn't love it. It's an interesting world that is worth a visit!

Thank you to Bill Lace and NetGalley for the chance to read and review this book!

I enjoyed the book. Lace has written a believable future. The plot flowed smoothly and the characters were well developed. I look forward to Lace's next novel.

I quite enjoyed this book, however, I had two main issues with it that prevented me from giving it a higher rating: the first being something that i encounter with many sci-fi books, which is that there are several terms that are used quite often throughout the course of the book, but are never really explained, and the other issue being that a lot of the dialogue and even some of the descriptive writing felt forced, or a bit unnatural to me.

the only reason i kept reading this book was because of the characters, because they are ultimately what drives the book. not a whole lot happens plot-wise until the last 30% or so of the book, which disappointed me because the synopsis details amma's rerouting to save a ship of refugees on her way to earth, and it took so long to get to that point.

i really loved amma's character, and getting to see her relationship with her kids. i wish we got to see more of her relationship with phoebe, since a lot of the plot focused on amma and dag (however, i liked seeing the representation of dag's anxiety). i really liked getting to know destiny's character, but wish we got to see more of some of the side characters, such as phoebe and pilot hersch.

overall, it was still an enjoyable read even if i didn't love it.

This was good, not great. But that's partly due to my lower interest in this kind of story at this time, as well as one that takes a while to get going. Overall the writing is good and the plot is decent. The author should keep writing, as he has talent.

I really appreciate the copy for review!!

Loved this book. It was unique and I really enjoyed finding out what happened next. The author made you really know the characters and I'd love to hear what happens next to them if there's ever a sequel.

The book pace is too slow for me. But I love how Lace construct this fictional world, how he writes Dag anxiety and Amma roles between a mother and proffesional.

But, I find it difficult even to finish this book due to slow pace, especially in the beginning.

Thank you netgalley for providing the arc.