I received an eARC of this book via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of this review.

Have you ever read a story that you fall into and forget isn’t real? The Space Between the Stars by Anne Corlett is like that. I fell into this story from the first words and found myself so engrossed with the characters, their plight, and their adventure that I forgot about the world around me.

Jamie Allenby is a woman not young, but also not old (honestly I’m not sure if her actual age is revealed and pictured her to be in her mid-thirties). She needs space, away from her loved ones to figure out her own life. BUT a nasty virus has turned the universe upside down, only 0.0001 survived. That’s the initial statistic that was heard before Jamie came down with the virus. The entire first chapter is her reliving the few days before the virus hit, her sickness, and ultimate survival.

"Ninety-nine point nine nine nine nine percent dead.
Ten billion people scattered across space.
Zero point zero zero zero one percent of ten billion.
Ten thousand people should have survived."

Ummm…..that quote is chilling when you think about it. A virus that could wipe out humanity to almost extinction in one go? Scary if you ask me! Add in the element that humanity has spread beyond Earth, colonizing many planets and you have yourself a sci-fi dystopia worthy of reading. I loved every element of this plot. A small band of survivors, making their way across the galaxy, finding other survivors and seeing if any government still exists. For some reason, this element reminded me of the show Firefly. I’m not really sure why either, but it did and I kept picturing Callan, the captain and semi-love interest, as Mal and his engineer Gracie as well Grace. Seriously though, the two plots couldn’t be more different. I think my association of the two comes from the beat up cargo ship they fly across space.

The real driving point of this story is Jamie. The author gives us flashbacks to moments that affected Jamie’s life. How did she, an Upper Echelon, wind up on a remote colony planet? What was she running from? Jamie’s character is very broken and the story focuses on her and her depression more than the world around them. I think this is why I fell into the story so well. The character driven plot with the world built so well around her that it was believable.

Overall I really enjoyed this story. I enjoyed following Jamie across space, her dealing with her issues, and I even enjoyed that this is a standalone. It ends with no loose threads and I liked that. I liked the sci-fi element of humans being spread across space and the mystery surrounding the virus that killed most of them. It was an interesting twist on your typical dystopia. Why 4 stars instead of 5? While I enjoyed the story, there where times when the pacing was slow and some parts seemed to drag on while others rushed by. There is one particular section towards the middle of the book that I wish had been elaborated on more instead of glossed over (can’t say much more than that without spoilers). Overall though I highly recommend this book if you enjoy character-driven dystopia with an element of sci-fi.

When I read the summary for this book it sounded like a cool dystopian, post apocalyptic, sci fi novel, but that is not what I got. I'll be honest and say that I did not finish this one. It was set in space but isn't really what I would consider sci fi, which is what I was looking for. The book moved slowly and I didn't particularly like the main character. I think this would work for people who aren't looking for a sci fi/fantasy sort of novel, so maybe the categorization is a bit off. Just because it's set in space doesn't automatically make it sci fi.

http://www.denofgeek.com/us/books-comics/book-reviews/265709/the-space-between-the-stars-review-trauma-at-the-end-of-the-world

When a virus hits 99% of the population dies leaving the 1% spread out on many different planets all across the universe. Some alone and desprately searching for other survivors. This is a very character driven book with people trying to figure what to do now that they've survived the end of the world. Wanting to make it better than it was, except one character who was just plain crazy. The practical captain Callan decides to pick up a few survivors on the way to the capital planets, one of them being our main protagonist Jamie. I enjoyed reading about more mature characters for a change.

Jamie has a lot of complexe issues that she's trying to work through. Shes dealing with grief from a miscarriage and her aversion with being too close to anyone but also being afraid of ending up alone. The ragtag group of survivors couldnt be any more different from one another. We get two religious characters who are very different from one another. Rena being the zealous fanatic and Lowry being the calm and understanding character. We also get a wonderful character with autism named Finn, probably my favorite character. Mila and Gracie were also very different from each other but I liked that about them.

I didnt completely understand the virus. If you have the virus than you have it. Your system will fight it off or it wont. I dont understand why being around other people who have it would make it worse. Plus if the virus is mutating a lot then why didnt anyone get sick again. Sadly, I knew very early on where the virus came from. I also didnt understand why they never stopped at a pharmacy for Lowry or to get pain killers for another character. I find it hard to believe they havent encountered any aliens after exploring so much of the Universe or that people Jamie knew were still alive.

I almost quit reading this book multiple times. I rarely love character driven books and this one was no exception. I think this would have gotten a higher rating from reviewers if it had been catergorized as literary fiction on Netgalley instead of Fantasy/Scifi. I wasnt the intended reader for this but if you're looking for a literary fiction with a scifi twist than I think you might enjoy this more than I did. Once I knew what to expect I did enjoyed a bit more but honestly its just not my type of book. I found lots of parts to be really boring. I need more action in my books but I do see a lot of people loving it because of the philosophical questions.

There's a virus. It's spreading to every occupied world. There's a very minuscule chance of survival. She never expected to. When she has lived through it, she finds everyone else on the ranch has turned to dust. Is she the only left on this world?

Berkley sent me an ARC of this book to read for review (thank you). It will be published today.

When everything else is gone, what do you do? You gather food and then look for others. While you're doing that you have plenty of time to think about the past. How you were never good enough for your stepmother. How you stepped away from the man you lived with when you lost your baby. If it makes no difference now about where you go, where would you want to go? She decides she wants to go back to earth, back to her home town.

She meets an ex-priest and a scientist whose mind is a bit messed up. When they find a space ship, they beg passage. He will allow them to board but he's just going to the capital center, not all the way to earth. She decides that's closer than where she is now.

There are communities that are being run by dictatorship. A home where everyone is dressed in old fashion clothes and they're pretending to live in another era. A community that has no women and wants to acquire the ones on the spaceship. There's lots of room for thought in the situations the author creates for her characters.

I liked the ending. It was dramatic, people died, but the right ones lived and life will go on. Sometimes that's all you can do. This was a better than usual apocalyptic novel.

Jamie Allenby left Earth in protest of the forced emigration of so-called undesirables. She spent over thirteen years with her lover on one of the planetary outposts before leaving him and that planet for the relative solitude of the planet Soltaire. It is there that she survives a deadly viral outbreak and hopes to make it back to Earth to begin again in Anne Corlett's The Space Between the Stars.

When we first meet Jamie, she is waking up from a brutal and deadly viral outbreak. The only information everyone appears to have received is that this virus is lethal and that only 0.0001% will survive. Although Jamie craved solitude and wide open spaces, this was not exactly how she wanted to receive it. Longing for human companionship, she leaves the rural farm on Soltaire for the space dock. It is there that she eventually meets up with two additional survivors: a former priest and scientist on a spiritual retreat. These three are very fortunate in that they are picked up by a cargo ship heading back to the larger planetary outpost of Alegria. The ship makes several pit stops along the way for fuel and brings aboard several more survivors before arriving at Alegria. At first, everyone is overjoyed to see that so many have survived the brutal outbreak. This joy quickly turns to fear when they are told that the administration on Alegria is refusing to allow anyone to leave and that they will be enforcing a "breeding" program since so many children were killed in the outbreak. Jamie and a few of her shipmates make a break for it and successfully land on Earth, but have no idea what awaits them there. Will they find any survivors? Will they be faced with a new administration trying to enforce rules for humanity's survival?

When I first began to read The Space Between the Stars I feared this was just going to be another dystopian space opera with shades of The Handmaid's Tale meets Firefly/Serenity. I was pleasantly surprised (and no I won't tell you why I was surprised, read the book to find out for yourself!). Yes, there is a dystopian governmental presence but it isn't all-pervasive (nothing like the Alliance as seen in the television series Firefly or the movie Serenity). Yes, there is an occasional reference to religion and passing reference to a breeding program, but it is nothing like Gilead as seen in The Handmaid's Tale. At its core, The Space Between the Stars is about a handful of survivors struggling to make sense of things and carry on. There's the ship's captain, Callan; the possibly autistic young man, Finn; the loner veterinarian, Jamie; the ship's engineer, Grace; the former priest, Lowry; and the former research scientist, Rena. The bulk of the story centers on Jamie and her interaction with these five characters. I found The Space Between the Stars to be a relatively fast-paced, easy, and enjoyable read. I liked all of the characters (even the bad guys) and kept turning the pages because I had to know what would happen next. If you enjoying reading dystopian fiction, then I urge you to grab a copy of The Space Between the Stars to read. If you're not sure about dystopian fiction but you enjoyed watching Firefly or Serenity, then I urge you to grab a copy of The Space Between the Stars to read. For those of you simply looking for something a little bit different to read, look no further and get yourself a copy of The Space Between the Stars.

You know the kind of book that you cannot stop thinking about long after you've finished it? Well, that is this book for me. It's also among my favorite books so far this year, so there's that. Here's the thing: it isn't a fully action packed space adventure, so if you're looking for that, this may not be the book for you. But if you are looking for some amazing characters who have to make some really difficult choices after the whole universe nearly collapses, then this is definitely a book to check out.

So, here are the things I especially enjoyed about this one:

-The characters were so well done. Jamie, the main character, is kind of a mess. And this is before the apocalypse. So after, you can imagine the kind of shape she's in. She knows that the odds are not great in regards to how many fellow survivors may be out there, but she's determined to find out. That's the best part about her, even as she falls apart in so many ways, she's still trying to survive. The other characters are equally complex, and we get to find out so much about their stories as the book goes on. I grew to care about each of them.

-Everything about this book was incredibly thought provoking. Truly, it was terrifying to imagine being in the shoes of these characters- basically alone in the universe, having to rely on strangers, not knowing who can be trusted in a terrifyingly empty new society. It also felt eerily plausible- the way people reacted, how easily turmoil would have ensued.

-Even though it was quite character driven, the plot moved quickly too. I was never bored, and I was always excited for what would happen next.

-The characters have really great relationships with each other. Some of them became friends, while others flat out did not get along, and it felt so authentic. Just because there are not a ton of humans left, it makes sense that some people will flat out disagree, and I liked that the book wasn't afraid to go there. There was also a bit of romance, but it definitely wasn't the focus- as people are kind of busy worrying about the fate of humanity. Still, the bits of romance were a very nice respite from apocalyptic doom.

-Space! Even though the book wasn't incredibly heavy on the science part, it still featured a lot of great spaceship shenanigans and other technology. And really, who doesn't love space adventures?

What I didn't as much:

Really, my only minor complaint was that a few things seemed a bit unbelievable/coincidental. And while I wasn't totally able to suspend my disbelief, it also didn't really make me like the story any less. I was able to overlook it since the story and characters did a great job of pulling me in.

Bottom Line: I was so invested in the characters' stories and the stories of this world, and what led it to the state it was in. I felt quite satisfied with the story, and was contemplating it long after I was done reading.

I am a sucker for all things sci-fi, post-apocalyptic “after the end” type stories, so when I read the description of Anne Corlett’s book, I knew I was definitely going to read it.

But mainly I was going to read it because she stole my damned title.

Well, it’s not really stealing. Titles can’t be copyrighted. It’s perfectly OK for books, movies, TV shows, etc. to have the same title as other books, movies, TV shows, etc. But…still, it’s a cool title and I thought I was cool for thinking of it. Then this book happened and I had to figure out a different name for the unfinished piece of crap that is the thing I’ve been writing piecemeal for…oh God, it’s been ten years, I should probably just move on. Anyway, damn it, Anne Corlett. I concede, she got to that title first. Plus, for this novel it’s very fitting.

Eh, well. I don’t think I’ll ever be a professional writer. That requires discipline, focus and the ability to start writing something and actually finish it instead of just letting it sit there for ten years. I’d rather write about books that I read on the internet. Because it’s very easy to criticize. Fun, too.

Anyway! On to The Space Between the Stars by Anne Corlett.

So half-an-hour into the future, all of humanity has spread out on numerous colony planets. Then a virus with a 0.0001% chance of survival strikes. (Nearly) everybody dies. And all we’ve got left is a very whiny veterinarian who spends way too much time obsessing over her failed marriage and a a miscarriage.It doesn’t help that the omniscient narrator tends to describe everything as being “pregnant.” A pregnant pause. A pregnant stare. A pregnant sky. All existing to remind poor Jamie of the fact that she failed at reproduction that one time.

I got through this book by imagining it to be like the TV series Firefly (and sometimes it does feel a little like a less fun version of Firefly),

I’d love to get started on her deeply offensive portrayal of people with autism, but I’d probably go on forever. As a person on the Autism spectrum, I must make one thing clear: Autistic people are aware of their surroundings. They know who their parents and siblings are. Whether or not they can accurately translate their perceptions into terms that the Normals can understand is a whole other matter. Aargh.

Anyway.

This book was slow, spent too much time focusing on its whiny and self-centered main character, and didn’t spend nearly enough time exploring the newly decimated world. We spend more time listening to Jamie whine about her ex than we do on some of the much cooler-sounding aspects of the story.

Recommended for:

Someone who wants to read some Sci-Fi, but who doesn’t like Sci-Fi.

Not recommended for:

Anyone looking for actual Sci-Fi.

If you haven’t heard of The Space Between the Stars or you’re on the fence about whether or not to read it, allow me to give you my humble opinion. You should seriously check this one out- it’s got that “end is nigh” vibe, but without the typical imminent demise aspect and you get a brief tour of the inhabited worlds. There’s even a bit of internal strife, long distance love, and all the characters seem to struggle with their pasts to some degree or another, plus it lacks any sort of zombie which takes away the scary/creepy vibes!

This isn’t a story about the whole of humanity, but rather a story about a group of survivors and how they deal with the loss of most of their fellow humans. Every human inhabited planet was struck by a virus with a survival rate purported to be one in a million leaving human conversation to become something of a rarity. Jamie Allenby is on a remote planet working as a livestock veterinarian when the virus hits and doesn’t know if there’s another living person on the planet. Having livestock as your only company for the rest of your life isn’t very promising. Eventually, she gets off planet with the goal of going to Earth, her home planet and where her ex-significant other (unsure of actual relationship) Daniel had been traveling to when disaster struck.

What I’ve just written is the most basic summary of the plot and doesn’t even begin to cover the richness of the characters in The Space Between the Stars. Jamie in particular is quite interesting. She struggles with her past and her continuous effort to run from every problem and hardship has failed, because now she’s running back to the man she left. This story really brings her full circle and is almost a story of personal reconciliation with the viral apocalypse as a background theme rather than the reverse. The other characters were almost equally interesting, though obviously much less defined than Jamie. Rena and Lowry are members of a non-denominational religious order and have a long history with each other. Mila struggles to see a place for herself in a world were skills other than her limited set are required. Finn is probably incapable of surviving by himself and struggles with the ever-changing situations. The inter-group strife was quite believable given the circumstances and really helped keep the story moving, though some bits of the plot were wrapped up very conveniently.

The Space Between the Stars was just a really good book and so difficult to put down! Anne Corlett has successfully written a book about the destruction of society that wasn’t bleak and awful, but rather focused on personal reconciliation and new beginnings. This is a book that will definitely be placed on my shelf of keepers for more than just that lovely cover. I hope her future books will only continue to get better!

I received a copy of this book via NetGalley for an honest review. I was not compensated in any way.

To start, I have mixed feelings about this book. I do. I'm not a huge science fiction fan, but when I read the blurb I liked the idea enough to want to try it out. I wanted to see how the other planets and interplanetary travel worked with the end of the world motif.

Unfortunately, I felt it didn't hit a good mark. There is no great description about the different planets and the conflicts involved were fairly easily taken care of. It might have been better if everything was set in Earth. It was that uninteresting.

On top of that, The illness that took over was a bit convenient. The explanation on how it came to be is an obvious sci-fi trope that I felt it would be better if it was related to the space travel itself.

It may seem that I have no real positive thoughts on this book, but that's not true. I did like the writing. The author is a good writer. I do like the concept of the book as well. I just wish it was put together a bit differently.

First and foremost, can we take a step back and appreciate this gorgeous looking cover? You cannot tell me that this beaut wouldn't snag your attention sitting on the new release shelf at your local bookstore. This cover would make me stop dead in my tracks, begging me to read the back cover.

Had I not been inundated with responsibilities, this would've been a day read- it's so simple, and just a "go with the flow" book. Regardless if it's a fast paced book, or a book you take your time with, is no reflection of the quality of work. "The Space Between the Stars" is absolutely engaging, the characters are well developed, and the reader is able to feel the emotion, anger, and feeling lost in the vastness of space.

BRIEF SYNOPSIS

How much space is too much space? When the virus intended to end the world decides to wipe the slate clean with humanity, it makes a survivor question her choices in life. Holding on to her last bit of hope, Jamie searches for life beyond her planet, and a way to get back to remnants of a normal life. But has the fever made humanity have a change of heart?







Let's talk character development- I will reiterate the sign up above. . . if you're worried about spoilers STOP READING THIS POST!!! I don't want to ruin anything!!!



Jamie- Our main character. Jamie wakes up on Soltaire- an off world. .  .world for lack of a better word. Jamie is a veterinary scientist who jumped at an off world opportunity to get some space between her and her boyfriend Daniel. Readers wake to a scene of Jamie waking up from a fever- a virus that is a "perfect killing machine", that is contagious, and that "mutates with each reinfection". The first thing our character does is go in search of anyone. Just someone to talk to, to know that she wasn't the only survivor. Unfortunately all Jamie finds are piles of dust where people should be- the fever returning humankind to their natural state "ashes to ashes, dust to dust." 

Lowrey and Rena- what are the odds of 3 people finding each other on a death stricken planet? Predictably, this awesome twosome stumbles upon Jamie in a bar. . .I know, shocker. The three quickly cling to each other, "but they seemed to be stuck in some social holding pattern; all polite introductions and mundane questions". Although it's the end of the world, it seems old habits are hard to break. Lowrey is a preacher, Rena is a research scientist. . . almost sounds like a set-up for a bad joke. Rena actually reminds me of a character from another book (turned movie) whose death received a standing ovation in the movie theater. . .I'll drop a pic, be sure to leave me a comment if you know who I'm talking about!



Callan and Gracie- the saviors to our tale. Callan and Gracie JUST so happen to come across a distress beacon, and guide their space craft down to rescue our survivors. Of course personalities clash- can't expect everyone to get along. Callan is on his way back to the capital Alegria, to find out how many survivors in total they are looking at. Gracie, the ship's engineer, is none too happy to be stopping at every distress beacon they come across. 

Mila and Finn- more survivors, adding a dynamic to the group. Mila, for lack of a better word, is a prostitute, obviously finds herself out of a job due to the world ending. And Finn- I'm going to DARINGLY go out onto a limb, and guess that he is autistic, or something of that nature- and I love his character. He brings the honesty, and child-like innocence that is desperately needed within the group.

Naturally, not everything will go according to plan. Naturally, not everyone remains honest in the end of the world. Can love survive "The Space Between the Stars"?

As far as Anne Corlett- her style of writing is so easy to fall in love with. It's easy going, not dry at all, and thoroughly enjoyable. I would gladly pick up any new book she writes.





I was chosen by Netgalley to receive an advanced reader copy of “The Space Between the Stars” by Anne Corlett. Given that fact, it has not altered my opinion on the book at all. “The Space Between the Stars” has a scheduled US release date of June 13th 2017.

An Excellent, Unexpected Read

If you go into this book expecting the usual dystopian fodder (one terrifying attempt after another just to stay alive… or to find other survivors… or to save what’s left of humanity), then you’re not going to like this book. And I’ll admit, that’s how I started out, based on the novel’s premise. But then something interesting happened…

I found myself on a parallel journey to the protagonist herself–letting go of the past; letting go of expectations; living from one breath (or one paragraph) to the next; letting the characters be who they were, instead of who I wanted them to be.

And then I became fascinated by the story in a whole new way.

It’s really a story about loss, and about living with that loss, on so many levels. It isn’t about stopping the plague. It’s about when the plague wins. And what comes after. It’s a human story about surviving the unthinkable, and then trying to re-imagine life as something different–not as a step backward, and maybe not as a step forward either…

In a way, it’s a book about learning how to step through life without making that kind of judgment in the first place. Without being tormented by what was, or by what might have been.

In fact, this book is so much about that, that it gets a bit heavy-handed in the moral-of-the-story department here and there, but I’m giving it five stars anyway because the theme is one that the protagonist is genuinely dealing with. Her thoughts are true to her character, so the real problem was not that I didn’t like the story, but that I didn’t like the character sometimes.

She’s broken inside, and not just by the plague. She struggles with her past. Like a real person. Sometimes she overcomes it, and sometimes she doesn’t. Like a real person. And sometimes she ends up in uncomfortable situations that she can’t quite figure her way out of. Like a real person.

In essence, Corlett has created a character so real that I actively disliked her from time to time–before remembering the things I did like about her, forgiving her for being human, and moving on. I related to the character as though she were a real person. Which is, in my opinion, the book’s greatest draw.

So don’t go into this story expecting dystopian fiction. It is a story about survival–but it’s more about emotional survival than physical survival. Read it for what it is–read it for that–and you will love this novel.

Well I was very fortunate to receive not only one but two copies of this novel for review. The first thanks to the amazing publishers over at Netgalley and then I won a hardcopy from Goodreads. The initial premise that drew me into this book besides the arc cover was the synopsis. I was drawn in from the first page, its a very interesting beginning to a novel which isn't simply a sci-fi novel but something much more. The longer I read the deeper my connection with all the diverse array of characters became. The themes the author added into the core plot of this book truly make one stop and think about situations in our own lives and our futures. It leaves you pondering your place in the universe and the vast array of choices one can make in life.  I will admit that even though the first few chapters captured my sci-fi lover imagination it took me about 50 pages to truly become engrossed and decide whether the character quirks were ones that would annoy me incessantly or would become something much more.
Anne truly shaped her apocalypse type world with all manner of people. Not just color or creed but personality types and quirks. There is one character in particular that is very introverted and I simply adore her because I can truly relate to her and her quirks. There is also a character on the autistic spectrum whom I love dearly in this book.  Religion but not a typical call on religion is very prevalent and a central part in  this novel which I can see could rub some the wrong way. Yet in my eyes it was done perfectly and there were some passages that felt as if the author pulled the thoughts right out of my mind.  There were in the end a couple things I would have liked to have changed in the book, one regarding the re homing of a horse but overall because I cannot spoil it for those who want to join me in enjoying this book. Sit down, take your time, and don't give up if it doesn't catch you right off the bat. The entire story is a puzzle that is slowly put together and in the end its as beautiful as the stars. 
I gave this 5 out of 5 Stars!

“Home’s what’s left over when you’ve figured out all the places you don’t want to be.”

If you head into this book expecting a rollicking space epic, you're going to be disappointed. This book does partially take place in space. Yes, there are space stations and space ships. There are other populated (maybe I should use past tense here) worlds besides Earth. But...this is more a book of the human condition after a pandemic wipes out 99.9999% of ALL humans.

The protagonist, Jamie Allenby, is a veterinarian who happens to be on a small farming/ranching colony helping with the cattle there. At first, waking alive on the third day of being sick and finding herself still alive, she thinks she's the only person left on the planet or maybe left in the universe. She dreams of getting back to the northern sea coast of England on Earth and doesn't really believe that could ever happen.

This is a slow paced story and definitely not a space opera. AND there were many times I felt like slapping Jamie silly. But I persevered and I'm glad I did because the last 2/3 of the book is much better than the first 1/3.

I liked many of the characters and they were well developed. There were a few characters I booed and hissed at. But, all in all, I'm glad that I read this surprising post-apocalyptic story. Oh, and it's a standalone novel. Kudos for that.

I received this book from Berkley Publishing through Net Galley in exchange for my unbiased review.

This was a quick ready with an interesting premise. I enjoyed the story and thought it was unique. The characters didn't have as much depth as I would have liked but I still liked seeing how their stories ended. This genre is one of my favorites and I was really happy to have had the chance to read this. Good luck!

Jamie Allenby originally went to work as a veteranerian on the far flung planet Soltaire to get a little space after a miscarriage made dealing with her feelings difficult. After a species-killing virus hits and only one in a million people survive she's got more space than she's comfortable with.

As she goes to the capitol city hoping to reach someone, she finds she's not alone on the planet--two others have survived, and all three of them want to go back to Earth to find loved ones or familiar ground.

The Space Between the stars is an interesting look at defining self and finding meaning when you're only one of a few humans left alive. Jamie goes through a lot of character development as she examines what it is she really wants, and who she really wants to be. The apocalyptic virus also forces what humanity is left to show it's true face.

Examining society's expectations of people vs. what people actually want is an interesting topic that's explored here, and Jamie tries to figure out what of her wants were actually hers vs what others wanted of her.

Relatable, compelling characters and an interesting storyline.

The Space Between the Stars by Anne Corlett

Pros: conflicted characters, good world-building

Cons: not hard SF

Earth spent years forcing thousands of people to emigrate to other inhabitable worlds as the population grew out of control. Jamie Allenby was living on Soltaire, at the edge of inhabited space, when the plague came through. The survival rate of zero point zero zero zero one percent haunts her as she makes her way to the space port in hopes of finding other survivors. As others emerge, they head towards Earth, unsure of what they’re looking for or how life will carry on.

I found Jamie an interesting character. In many ways she reminded me of Millicent, the protagonist in Mishell Baker’s Borderline. She’s not particularly likeable, but because you’re seeing her thoughts and feelings (and occasional flashbacks), you understand why she’s making the decisions she is, and why she has trouble letting people get close. Jamie slowly comes to understand what she’s looking for, but I suspect some readers will find her constant questioning herself and where she’s going with her life frustrating. I felt this frustration myself a time or two towards the end of the book, especially when she’s trying to get others to join their group despite making it clear that she thinks people should do what they want and joining the group isn’t what those people want to do.

Most of the supporting characters are conflicted too, not sure what this new world holds, whether it’s better to return to the old way of doing things or hope for something new. Rena annoyed me, but I think she was supposed to. I appreciated the author including an autistic young man in with the main group of survivors.

I liked that different views of how the world should continue were offered by different groups. It didn’t surprise me that societal classes would survive the apocalypse. One of the groups they encountered did surprise me though, with their adherence to an even older age.

Some sections of the book are designed to get you to think deeply about life: what it means, where humanity is headed, etc. This was undercut by Jamie’s constant waffling though, never sure of what she wanted and feeling at one with the universe for a moment and then doubting the emotion the next.

The world-building was pretty good. Callan’s history especially grounded the world for me, in all its cruelty.

This isn’t hard SF. While there are lags for communication transmissions, there’s no time dilation affecting space travel and it only takes a day or two to get between worlds, with no explanation of how the ship is navigating the distances so quickly. Because Jamie was constantly questioning her decisions, it made me wonder how things would have changed for her if moving from one planet to the next meant years or decades would have passed for those she left behind, so that there was no going back, no reconciliation. How would things have changed for her if these decisions were permanent once she left? Would she have been happier? Would she have stayed on Earth? On Alegria? Would she have found the personal space she needed some other way? Or would she still have ended up on Soltaire, conflicted about the decisions she’d made with her life?

It was an interesting debut. It posed some good questions and while it wasn’t perfect, it kept me turning pages.

This isn't my usual read with a virus decimating the Earth's population and all it's outer colonies. When Jamie awakes she finds herself totally alone on the ranch in a remote colony in space. She's in a panic and finally gets herself to the spaceport where she discovers a preacher man and another woman. They send out a distress signal and are relieved when a ship answers their call and picks them up. They make two more stops on their return trip to earth. When they finally make it to earth, it's soon apparent that one member of their group is willing to end humanity for all time. I couldn't stop reading this story. I had to find out what was going to happen next. Lots of intrigue, a little romance and lots of luck has this small band of survivors moving forward. This appears to be Anne Corlett's first novel and it's a good one.

A well-written and enjoyable book, I am glad I requested this title and will be more than happy to pass the title along to my fellow library purchasers.

I go back and forth about putting the book name in the name of the blog post, but you know, I think it's useful to know what you're getting into: today, I lean in that direction.

The Space Between the Stars, by Anne Corlett, is a book that I received for review from Netgalley, and the blurb couldn't be more up my alley. Post-viral civilization collapse! A ragtag band of survivors aboard a spaceship! A lone wolf developing grudging respect for her new compatriots! What's not to love?

But I don't love it. There are a few things that come together, some of which fall into the "just not for me" category and some of which are, I think, real weaknesses. "Just not for me" is that the characters are all very angry; "actual weaknesses" I would mostly categorize as clunky. Thinking about it more, I think this is an issue book--an after school special-level point-maker.

Jamie is a veterinarian working on a backward colony planet when the plague hits. Thanks to a long incubation period, it's spread through all the inhabited worlds before anyone realizes the danger, and the fatality rate is 99.9999%--meaning across the known galaxy, there are only a few thousand survivors. And thanks to the nature of the virus, people who stay close to other people pass the mutating virus back and forth--the denser the population, the higher the fatality.

This does not explain why there aren't more survivors on the cattle station. However.

Jamie is a bit of a misanthropist and very much a loner. A few things to know about Jamie: she is separated from her husband. She recently lost a near-full term pregnancy. Her mother died when she was a young teenager. And she was born as a conjoined twin whose sister died in the surgery to separate them. So in case you didn't notice, Jamie is a person who is very distant from other people.

We pick up other characters as we go along, and at first I thought the fact that they were all somewhat opaque was going to be a mystery--that everyone would be hiding a secret, or that we would learn that there's more to people than meets the eye. But although there are some secrets, there's not a lot more nuance--Lena is an eccentric religious zealot; Lowry is a level-headed, spiritual man; Mira is every stereotype of a woman who has suffered sexual abuse (sometimes she reflects contradictory stereotypes at the same time); and so on.

The whole book takes place pretty immediately after the end of the world, but there's not a lot of complexity to the emotions of the characters. Sometimes they get upset, and that's the explanation, but there's no unexpected depth to anyone's reactions. Eventually it's turned into a story about how society is evil and corrupt and the people who try to run things are out to stomp down on individual choice. Honestly, I'm reading The Handmaid's Tale right now, too, and once we get into the totalitarian part of the book, the comparisons are too easy to draw, and this book is almost a caricature of that much better one.

There are several autistic characters, as well as others who fall somewhere between extreme introvert and apparently on the spectrum--including Jamie, who is very sensitive to touch and often uncomfortable in social situations. Sometimes the book almost reads like a fantasy of how much easier it would be to live in the world if there weren't so many people in it, and that maybe it would even be easier to connect. And sometimes that came across in ways that really bothered me, like when Finn, who is explicitly autistic, doesn't want to be touched, but Jamie persists in trying to comfort him, and eventually he holds her hand gratefully. That is not my understanding of how to handle that kind of touch sensitivity, and it feels kind of disrespectful of that kind of difference.

So sadly, this is not the book I had hoped it would be. I think what I like in a good apocalypse/dystopia story is how people come together in adversity--to find hope, to find peace, to stand up. I don't mind if it's a long road to that--whether it's Man vs. Nature or Man vs. Himself, it's about how the human spirit survives. But these characters are so blank that I just can't find the human spirit in them; all the non-misfits are blank-faced fascists, and the misfits end up monologuing in detail about how there's nothing wrong with living the way they do. I'm calling this one clunky, preachy, and not for me.