Do You Dream of Terra-Two?

By: Temi Oh

Narrated by: Nneka Okoye

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet meets The 100 in this unforgettable debut by a brilliant new voice.

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.

This is literary (not flashy) speculative fiction

This is a psychological science fiction novel and not a space opera or tech-driven novel. The technology is only a smidge into the future. Instead, this is about ethics, making human decisions, and choosing to explore.

I read (actually listened to) the book because Audible suggested it had a bit in common with Becky Chambers' Wayfarers series. I think that is accurate (although, even Chambers' series has more high-tech flash). I also thought this book was similar to Meg Howrey's The Wanderers (although, Howrey's book also has more tech than Oh's).

Bottom line -- the book is beautiful. This is true literary speculative fiction But, perhaps not for you if you like flash in your sci-fi.

The characters are racially and class-wise diverse (I think, they are British, so this American has a difficult time "reading" some markers). Sadly, the crew seems overly straight/cisgendered. There is a bit of neurodiversity among the characters.

The reader was good w/ a light British accent that was understandable to my American ears. She portrayed a lot of emotion well.

I was hooked and was sad when the book was over

Absolutely enjoyed the book. Would love to have a part 2.

While the book is superficially a sci-fi book about travel to another planet, it's really a study of psychology.

Space teens

So it was a fine book. Like I didn’t hate it, and sometimes exciting things happened, but most of the young main characters are hard to like. They all have annoying things about them. There was just a lot of drama and not a lot of interesting things for most of the book. It did start slow, but the end was alright. If you like drama and space, you might like this book; if not, the book is okay. Also the narrator js British if that is important.

awkward pacing, poor characters, illogical choices

I don't demand realism from my sci fi, but I want the characters to make logical choices according to who they are, and I feel like that's lacking in this book.
The pacing is awkward, too slow to be truly engaging.

a pretty decent 1/3 if a book

fairly well told story that suffers a bit from inconsistent pacing....and then ends.
maybe this was a set up for sequels bit if the author thinks this suffices as a full novel they are wrong.