Kitra was a great read. In a sea of dark and gritty scifi, Kitra is a fun but thrilling story of a group of young space explorers who at first may have bitten off more than they can chew. The danger of the unknown, the need for creative problem-solving, the constant interplay of group dynamics and individual personalities, the effective use of science, and some really great characters made for a great read. Excellent choice for YA and adult scifi readers.

Well written but way too long. This would have been an okay introductory novella to start off a series if it had been cut down. No character development, no events, no real dialogue.

Cut this down to a novella and give these characters some substance or add moments of conflict. Give it something. It’s not enough to just get the science in place. 3.25 stars for decent writing and attempts at diversity.

It was a good read and I liked how a group of friends were forced to solve a problem together and how it affected the dynamic between them and how the characters developed because of the problems they faced. I do like when there's more at stake though. This is a good book to read if you want a book about friendship and adventure without a villain to defeat.

This is a rather short read, for a Sci-Fi story. The story is refreshingly different for a YA novel, as the focus is on the adventures and the ensuing misadventures of space travel rather than saving the galaxy.

I absolutely loved this book! This book follows Kitra and her group of friends through some wild adventures in space. I dont tend to pick up y.a anymore but i will still pick up y.a scifi and this one did not disappoint. I was hooked right from the get go and devoured it so quickly. I loved the action, the diverse characters and their relationships with one another. The drama and adventures were *chefs kiss*. I really enjoyed every aspect of this book and look forward to more books in this series.

i thought this was a great scifi read, the characters were great and I really enjoyed that this had a female lead. I would love for there to be more in this series.

A refreshing book! It was unique and the plot was very well-written! Loved the LGBTQ+ rep and the characters! Fans of sci-fi will definitely love this one!

i never ended up downloading this, i've been reading other reviews on this and it sounds pretty good, so i might go get it~

When Kitra decided to sell her stuff and blow her savings on a ship, she did not expect that ship to go on irreversible autopilot to the middle of nowhere. If she had, she might have brought more fuel! Instead, she, her bff/ex-girlfriend Marta, Marta's boyfriend Peter, Kitra's childhood friend (and token alien) Pinky, and cute newcomer to the group Fareedh are stuck in subspace for a week with no guess as to their destination.

Harrowing set-up aside, Kitra definitely falls into one of my genre favorites: Happy Science Fiction! Our 5 intrepid and accidental explorers are buds of the best sort. Even while hurtling through subspace, they joke, judge each others' coffee preferences, have crushes and make eyes at their ex's, and create a game that is not quite Risk, not quite D&D, and definitely days long. Sure they might starve to death or run out of air. But they also might MacGyver together something that will save them all and earn them college credit for this summer jaunt.

Fans of Firefly/Serenity and The Wayfarers Series will find lots to love in Kitra, whose adventures will surely be continuing in a series of her own. And readers who aren't into "hardcore" sci-fi will find a lot to love in this chosen family story.

I definitely enjoyed this book!! As a fan of sci-fi , I definitely enjoyed the plot, the characters and how the book played out. The ending was a bit disappointing, but I want more!!! I wish it would've been a bit longer because I found myself reading it again, wishing it didn't end so soon! I love Marta so much and Kitra turned out to be a great protagonist that really stayed with me throughout her journey

Thank you so much Netgalley and the author for this amazing book!! Can't wait for more!!

A really interesting science fiction novel, I really enjoyed the story and the characters - especially Kitra and Marta. A really fun plot that kept me on the edge of my seat wanting to see what happened next.

Sometimes a shorter book without a lot of fluff is a nice change. This is quite good and ultimately uplifting. Probably best for YA readers, but it's pretty engaging and well crafted.

Thank you for the review copy!!

Thanks #Netgalley and #xpressobooktours for this E-Arc!

This book is such an adventure! I love stories about characters who are lost in space, because the vast reaches of the universe feel so unfathomably huge- a character could literally be lost forever which adds a sense of foreboding and desperation. I had moments where I didn't feel like I knew what would going to happen, and I appreciate how unpredictable the story was. The book is written for what feels like a lower YA level, but I appreciate that as I think science fiction doesn't always feel accessible to readers who are new to the genre, and this felt easy to engage with. My only complaint is that it felt like it ended in a manner that felt incomplete; however, I'm hopeful that this is indicative of a sequel to come.

Having read the author's note, I understand this story in retrospect much more than I did going in. He specifically says that he set out to write an adventure about friendship and, well, adventure rather than a high-stakes battle against a Big Bad. But of course, I wanted higher stakes.

That being said, I'm an adult who always goes for the darker and higher-stakes story. The teens who this story is geared for would probably appreciate this a lot more than I do. I was hung up on "don't they need a license for this?" pretty much the whole time and it kept me from really getting into the story. Which is... Very sad, looking back.

I felt like we spent a disproportionately long time on one particular issue that only amounted to "fly this way, turn here, do a barrel roll" rather than the more intricate team-building problem solving that worked really well for the rest of the story.

This isn't high brow science fiction. But it is a fun, fast story that I read in one sitting.

This is such an entertaining quick read with a wholesome ending. I really liked the pacing of this book as well as the plot. I thought it was creative and original. I also appreciated the group dynamic.

I know that this is billed as a YA but it felt borderline middle grade to me. I enjoyed the storyline. The main character had nice depth. I would read a sequel from this author.

I received an ARC from netgalley.

Short but engaging, Kitra tells the story of a determined young woman keen to take charge of her own life. However, after a journey on her newly salvaged ship goes wrong, she and her team are stranded in space.

The plot in this book is action packed - there isn't too much information thrown at you, but the world building is still very good. The characters are all different and I love their dynamic as they grow into a team.

I also really love the cover - I think its absolutely stunning and was what drew me to the book in the first place!

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Journey Press and NetGalley for providing me an e-arc in exchange for an honest review. My review is my own and not influenced by others.

First of all I think the cover of the book is beautiful. Kitra is a short but nice story about friendship and working together in order to survive. The pictures in the book were a nice addition to the story.

This was such a cute and engaging short book. I loved how it was all about friendships and the importance of working together and it was set in space. Like what more do you want??

Initially, I couldn't help comparing this with my friend Lisa Cohen's <i>Derelict</i>. Youthful crew, led by a young woman, take off in an old military ship and find there's an issue with it that sends it off into space; they have to work together to get home.

It's not very similar to <i>Derelict</i> apart from that premise, though. The Derelict crew don't intend to be a crew, and have a lot more personal and interpersonal issues. Their biggest challenge in getting home is learning to work as a team, not just the bare fact of the situation itself. And the gender distribution of roles is different: in <i>Derelict</i>, the young woman who leads the crew is also an engineer, and the biologist is male, whereas here the technical work is done by the men and the biology (but also the captaining) is done by the women.

The other space opera that this reminds me of is <i>The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet</i>, because the crew is much more at that end of the at-each-other's-throats/working-together-as-a-team spectrum. It isn't as quirky, though, and there's a bit more of a plot.

<i>Kitra</i> gets big points from me for one thing in particular: fuel. In so many space operas, the issue of fuel is completely ignored. The rag-tag crew of outcasts in their battered old spacecraft fly hither and yon around solar systems in remarkably short amounts of time, repeatedly landing on planets and taking off again, and they never seem to need to refuel. That's not the case here; in fact, a shortage of fuel is a major plot driver. I did question whether the capacitors were realistic in terms of energy storage density, but I'm willing to give that a pass, given how well the rest of the story was written.

There are moments of triumph, moments of despair, interpersonal moments (though the flirting never comes to anything), moments of brilliant solutions to seemingly intractable problems, moments of courage in the face of the odds. It's emotionally satisfying without being (too) scientifically implausible. I found it well paced, too, with a good mixture of "everything is going great, we're going to achieve our dreams" and "oh, crap, we're all going to die".

Recommended, and I will be watching for more in the series.