I enjoyed this book very much, I did find myself feeling very bad for the two main characters and the ending was not as I had expected. WEll worth reading.

I picked up this book because of the fascinating book summary and stunning cover. The book follows mostly two perspectives, George, a career NASA scientist, and Christopher, a chauvinistic narcist who happens to be a high-ranking pilot for the Department of Defense. The setting is set in the near future but feels similar to our time. However, the world has changed with new technology and language, which helps differentiates itself from the present. The Earth is also experiencing detrimental weather events that hint the end is near. Overall, the author sets the story up for an interesting premise.

The first chapter really captured my attention, and I was excited to see where the story would go. I also felt the author created a realistic depiction on how the government would react to a mysterious set of blueprints and the political theater that would come from various sides.

Unfortunately, my feelings for this book quickly changed once I realized most of the book would be from Christopher. I don’t mind an unlikeable character, when it is done correctly, however, I found it tiresome on how he would comment on every woman’s cup size. I also felt slightly uncomfortable when the book would flashback to another character’s relationship. I almost felt as if I entered someone’s fantasy. Either way the scene felt unnecessary to show the character’s motivations or move the plot.

Another issue I had was with the dialogue. Some of the dialogue reminded me of Andy Weir, where despite the perilous situations the characters find themselves they would make jokes. I love humor in a thrilling book, but I found most of the jokes to fall flat for me. Humor is subjective so I wouldn’t fault the author on this.

Overall, this was an interesting concept, but I don’t think it was executed in the way I expected it to go. This felt more focused on relationships then the science. I do wish the author would have told the story from another perspective other than Christopher (like the lead CERN scientist). It would have been better to see how they develop the methods to understand the blueprint and the technology, while also navigating the politics.

The opinions included above are my own opinion. I appreciate the author and Net Galley for giving me a copy of this book to provide honest feedback.

Just finished reading this ! Not bad! It's about two main characters set in the near future and the earth is dieing because of global warming and a few super volcanoes! Plans for a teleporter are mysteriously delivered! A test pilot is selected to test it!
I enjoyed reading it and the ending was good enough, but it could of been better! I might read it again but not anytime soon.

*Thank you to NetGalley for this free advanced copy of The Escape Velocity Project in exchange for a honest review*
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George is an extremely intelligent scientist working for NASA when he is pulled in to work on a top secret project. Blueprint plans that are in a code from a lifeform other than human show on the doorstep of NASA. These plans are for a suspected time traveling and transportation device, and they need the brightest and best to decode the message and put the plans together. Time is of the essence, as Earth is crumbling beneath our feet. An additional time crunch is added when a secret super volcano under Philly explodes, leaving nothing but destruction behind.
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Christopher is a self absorbed, misognistic, high ranking pilot for the US Governemnt. Christohper's flying expertise is needed to be the first test of sending human life through the transportation Gate. Searching for further fame he agrees to leave everything behind for the glory of being hailed a hero. When The Gate doesn't work as expected, we are left with questions and more code that must be deciphered.
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Overall, I loved the premise of this book. I am a big sucker for coded messages, science fiction, and space themed books. The cover and the synopsis really caught my attention I loved the use of the alien language throughout the book as coded text. The twist near the end was also a nice ending to the book.
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I think Christopher as a character could have been edited a bit. It was pretty tiring seeing him refer to every. single. female character by her cup size. A few times? ok. But every time gets so boring and makes me roll my eyes as a female reader. You can display chauvenisitic tendencies in other ways. Our character George, literally just fell off the face of the Earth near the end of the book. The story line stopped following him completely until the last chapter which I found so odd.
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This book leaves you with the lingering question of "Who exactly sent these blueprints, and more importantly, why? What did they want us to know? Nice little mysterious ending!

I initially picked up this book because I liked the look of the cover and the title sounded intriguing.

The concept itself was interesting - this blueprint that has something to do with teleportation just appears out of nowhere. And there were some interesting near-future concepts like a single monopoly - EverCorp - that essentially owns the USA and parts of the rest of the world. There was also this ongoing mystery element that kept me somewhat invested: what sent the blueprint? Why did they send it?

Unfortunately, that’s where my enjoyment ended. The mystery wasn’t resolved in a satisfying way, one of the two main characters sort of drops off half way through the book, and there were a significant number of off-putting characterizations for both main characters. For example, Christopher (the Navy pilot) describes every woman he comes across by her bra cup size. I did not end up liking either character very much.

This was certainly not the worst book I’ve ever read, but it isn’t one I would recommend to someone. Overall, this book was interesting in spurts but, as a whole, left me disappointed.

Content warnings: cancer, suicide, fatphobia, alcohol, war crimes, use of the term cripple, misogyny, child abuse, vomit

All opinions are my own. I was given a review copy of this book from NetGalley for my honest review.

I cannot get into it.

DNF

I don't like the second main character, I don't like the main character.
There is just nothing here that I can relate to or that interests me. Don't get me wrong the premise of this book sounded amazing and I thought I'd be a huge fan but as hard as I tried I just think it's not my cup of tea.

*ARC review*

The Escape Velocity Project is a superbly-written science fiction novel which I'm extremely grateful to have had the chance to read! Set in a future version of Earth, which is familiar yet subtly different in terms of technology and language, enough to effectively evoke the futuristic feel in your mind as you read. This future Earth is crippled by climate change and apocalyptic weather events are cropping up across the globe, signalling the beginning of the end of humanity's time on the planet. The distinct air of possibility of this terrifying future is thrilling for the reader and makes a very interesting setting.

When humans are gifted, by unknown benefactors, instructions to build a teleportation device, seemingly with good intentions. George is a scientist, enlisted to decode the extra-terrestrial text to enable building of this device. Christopher, a commander desperate to make something of himself, is brought on board to 'pilot' the mission. But as they be one deeper involved in the project, they begin asking questions about whether this really is the best thing for humanity, after all.

This novel leaves the reader asking very real questions about the future of the world as we know it and the plausibility of individuals with too much power being capable of selling out the entire human race for the right price! The ending is brilliantly thoughtful and definitely packs a punch. The shock factor is definitely there, though the author builds suspense successfully and has the reader questioning what is real and what is lies.

The characters are really well written and fleshed out. Christopher is unlikable and self-obsessed, but this doesn't detract. If anything, this is in keeping with the stereotypical hero-type and his arrogance throughout has ominous overtones, leading the reader questioning whether he is going to get the hero's ending he seems to feel he deserves.

My interest flagged briefly in some parts at the beginning, sometimes finding it a little open-minded which dulled the excitement for me a little. But once I got invested I couldn't put it down and I especially loved the alien language and the use of this language in the text, particularly in the conclusion of the book. The use of this language throughout effectively serves to remind the reader of the most obvious question that seems to be (deliberately) overlooked throughout the novel; why did this unidentified entity 'gift' the humans guides instructions to begin with?