1.5 stars. This was supposed to be the story of May Knox, an astronaut who was making the first trip of its kind to Europa, and what happens after she wakes up from a coma she can't remember being in. She has only the ship's female AI to help her and keep her company and then, shockingly, she discovers she's pregnant. This was supposed to be a book about May and it could have been a fascinating look at isolation, fear, and hope. Instead it was more about May's ex-husband and billionaire former boyfriend and various other men working on the project and it became vastly uninteresting.
[I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.]

*Received via NetGalley for review*

Definitely an interesting premise, and right down my alley. Unfortunately, the writing didn't engage me; the plot "twist" was immediately obvious, the characters made dumb choices for the sake of the plot, and honestly a little slow.

I don’t like giving low-star reviews. As a writer myself, I would hate for someone to dislike my novel so much they didn’t find anything redeeming about it at all. But if I can’t bring myself to finish a novel, I can’t give it anything but 1 star unless it was clear the problem was entirely me (such as something triggering me or I was just not into the story).

Unfortunately, the reasons I stopped at 70% with Across the Void was because there is a discernible lack of tension, the setting was unclear, the science was lacking, the characters were inconsistent, and there is a twist you see coming like a land truck down a deserted hallway. This is followed by severe deus ex machina.

It often felt like I was reading a script. Given this, I was not surprised to see on Goodreads that the author is a pseudonym for a movie director.

Were there things I enjoyed? Yes. I loved that there was a female person of colour as our protagonist, I enjoyed the mystery at first (until it was clear the obvious villain was indeed the villain), and the concept of being lost in space was intriguing.

Unfortunately, the rest fell flat. I’ve included a longer review (with spoilers that explain my rationale better) on my Goodsreads and website.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with the ARC. I thought this was a good story for anyone who wants something similar to "The Martian" or another space novel. I love space and any story about space so it isn't hard to hook me from the beginning of a space adventure! Will read more from this author in the future it was a great time!

Across the Void by S.K. Vaughn, a thriller of a Sci-Fi tale. A woman wakes up all alone on a strange vessel only to find out she is the captain and is suffering from amnesia. The ship is failing and she doesn't remember anything...

Across the Void: A Novel, by S.K. Vaughn. Atria Books. Skybound Books
Sci Fi & Fantasy
A human story. An attention-grabbing tale of space travel, NASA, female astronaut leadership, human relationships, and space disaster. The story unfolds with crises in the current storyline, while the back story is told in flashback memories of our female astronaut commander. Descriptive and full of the vagaries of human nature and mechanical disruptions, Across the Void pulls the reader in for a trip into space, while looking at the past. The continuing crises provides opportunities for positive and negative actions of the people involved to increase the suspense of the travel. All the while the heroine works on the issues as she recovers her memories, one dream at a time. Recommended to all libraries with Sci-Fi collections.