An eloquent and reflective novel from astronauts reflecting on life and the world during their orbits. Thought provoking and meditative. Thank you to #netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy.

This novel is at its best in interactions between characters and glimpses into their lives back home, as opposed to when the narrator is just generally pontificating in a way that's often lovely but also often seemingly redundant. So of course the bulk of it takes form as the latter. There are many wonderful moments that resonated with me, but these moments were sandwiched between observations that were fine in a vacuum but felt they could have done with stronger context, with perhaps more time given to the specific thoughts of our characters.

This was an okay story, unfortunately the format made it really hard for me to get into and I wasn't able to enjoy it as much as I was hoping to.

The Pale Blue Dot in book form. On its face, it's a look at one full day cycle among a group of astronauts on the International Space Station. But really, it's more of a reflection on Earth and its beauty and humanity's place on it and responsibility to it. Sagan summed it up best: "Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand."

This book is not so much a story as it is a meditation or reflection on humanity and its relationship to the Earth. There are some beautiful descriptive passages and some interesting philosophical examinations of human perspective. I imagine that looking at the Earth from space would lead to some existential pondering. It was clearly well-researched to provide an accurate depiction of the International Space Station.

All that being said, there isn't much to the story, which, to be fair, was made clear in the book description. Six astronauts spend a day (their time) orbiting the Earth and thinking about various things. Even the astronauts themselves are almost interchangeable. They are defined by the countries they are from and, although one or two have specific events on Earth affecting them, there's not much individual characterization. The book is relatively short but, for me at least, read quite slowly. I put it aside for a while when I was about halfway through and read another book before coming back to it. I think I may have approached reading it the wrong way. In retrospect, this feels like a book better read as a chapter or two before bed, rather than a hour or two at a time, to give the imagery and reflection time to sink in. .

This book takes the reader on a journey around Earth’s orbit with six astronauts/cosmonauts. It’s not sci-fi (if we except a small side-story about another team of astronauts on their way to the moon), it’s rather a day-in-a-life story, quite literally (the novel spans an “Earth day”, or several orbits during which we witness the sun rising and setting over different parts of the earth), but also a deep dive into the astronauts’ thoughts, what dreams or ambitions brought them there, what goes on in a mind both physically confined and made to witness the unaccountable beauty of Earth and the endlessness of space. The facts supporting the story were really well-researched and I felt like I was learning something while reading the novel. The ideas expressed were beautiful, deep, and made me pause several times through the book to reflect on them and highlight them for future re-reads. I would describe it as a slow-paced, philosophical book about the limits and limitlessness of the human condition rather than a book about space. Beautiful, haunting, moving. A short but impactful read that I’ll definitely recommend.

Orbital is absolutely beautifully written - it's extremely reflective, with no firm plot to speak of, and this will either appeal to you as a reader or it won't. Personally, I loved falling into the rhythm of the writing, and enjoying the brief glimpses of characters and their histories which we got to see. Both the introspection and wider philosophical musings were intriguing and satisfying. I'm a bit of an ISS nerd, so seeing descriptions of life aboard was also something I really enjoyed. This is not an action-packed sci-fi thriller by any means, but depending on your tastes, it could be an absolute wonder of an experience.

"Orbital" is a lyrical exploration of six astronauts who participate in a space station mission. Each of their shared perspectives is unique and interesting. Highly recommended for those who love space or who appreciate lyrical, poetic writing. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Review: This sounded like a refreshing change of storyline, but it turned out to not be for me. I cannot stand a novel with dialogue not in quotations. It makes me hear the narrator for each character. Because of this, reality was not suspended, and I could not get into the story. The descriptions of earth from space and the layout of the story are interesting at least.
Recommended For: Those who want space travel in a literary novel.

Thank you to the publisher for an advanced reading copy of this book.

Orbital is an astute and astounding perspective of Earth, told through the eyes, hearts and minds of four astronauts (American, Japanese, British, Italian) and two cosmonauts (Russian) who live just above Earth in a space station. They observe and reflect on our strange and fascinating planet and our weird human propensity to nurture and simultaneously destroy everything excellent on Earth. Harvey’s capacity to contrast extremes makes for moving reading. When expressing the physical and mental toll of being in orbit on the human body or the interplay of the characters observing both natural and constructed planetary systems, there is turbulence and a deep gentleness too.

Stunning passages of landscape writing made me pause to re-read and contemplate the mind-boggling diversity of Earth’s geography with a new perspective. Whilst Orbital is a very human story, delving into the relationships of the astronauts and cosmonauts, this is also about our global mother, Mother Earth. Orbital can be seen from many perspectives: a sustainability warning, the shifting baselines of our views on our race of progress, or a story that can shift us into systems thinking.

Reading Orbital reminded me of an experience when using Google Earth to browse the internal technology of the International Space Station interior a few years ago. As I zoomed in on the crew’s storage area, I was surprised, amused and yet deeply heartened to find a hard copy atlas of the world stowed safely into the baggage. Something about that tangible atlas amidst such sophisticated technology shifted my perspective as Orbital has. To realise that we can still feel lost, even with everything in our sights.

Whether you are a cloud appreciator, a storm chaser, a yearning armchair geographer or just open to contemplating the wonder and woe of humans as earth shapers, Orbital is beautiful and profoundly thought-provoking in a way that may change you.

This book was difficult to get into. It felt like it was trying way too hard to be philosophical. The first 20% was a slug to get through. There are 6 astronauts in their own thoughts looking down at the earth they orbit.

The first thing I was truly interested in was the fisherman. My heart broke for this man. But honestly, most of the rest of the book felt like the fluff and internal musings of various individuals without many meaningful interactions between the 6 astronauts. This book just wasn't for me.
Many thanks to the author Samantha Harvey and NetGalley for the advanced copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review!

Orbital has got to be one of my favorite reads of the year so far. It is written in such a beautiful poetic style and I couldn’t put it down. Throughout the book we follow and get to know the six astronauts and cosmonauts partaking in a space station mission. Each character has their own point of view and I loved reading their different perspectives.

I don’t really have any affinity for space, but this book made me appreciate it! The ways Harvey described space and the earth were delightful, I wanted to experience it too!

I enjoyed this novel which is less about space and more about planet earth and our place on it .
The author has a beautifully Poetic writing style which I found mesmerising to read as it flowed so perfectly
I particularly loved the time piece looking at life from the big bang onwards as seen as a clock where we currently sit at midnight .The insignificance of human life looked at in this context was a repeated theme throughout the novel
The lives of the inhabitants of the international space station were viewed in a snapshot of time around the time of a proposed second moon landing .This allowed the author to use contemporary details about the space station and by setting the novel in the potential near future allow some unknowns into the story .
I loved the thought of tiny mice circling their cage in weightlessness it was such an appealing picture
This is a short novel but it’s setting allows the novel itself to feel huge and significant .The novel really is a hymn to Planate earth in all its insignificant significances
I read an early copy on NetGalley uk the book is published in the uk on 5th December 2023 by Grove Atlantic Grove press
This review will appear on Goodreads NetGalley uk and on my book blog bionicsarahsbooks.Wordpress.Com

Thanks so much to the publisher for providing an advanced reader copy for me to review.

Firstly, this book contains the exact recipe for a book that I would love. To Be Taught If Fortunate, by Becky Chambers, Providence by Max Barry, The Freeze Frame Revolution and Blindsight by Peter Watts... if it involves a few people on a spaceship together with no space and no choice but to become deeply invested in each other's lives, I'm very likely going to love it.

Orbital by Samantha Harvey was no exception. We follow one "day" cycle of 6 astronauts from different backgrounds orbiting the earth in the present day, 16 orbits total. However briefly in this quick ~200 page book, we get to spend an intimate amount of time with these astronauts: their thoughts, their duties, and their relationships, almost as if we are the seventh astronaut sharing the claustrophobic space of the research space station they call home. While there is little story that drives the narrative, I didn't think this setting called for that kind of structure. This was a deeply introspective examination of the human condition, aspirations, emotion, and loss. It did not need a strong story progression to be compelling and beautiful.

Also, the amount of research that went into this was extremely commendable. There are so many small details about life in orbit that was clearly informed by actual experts. The acknowledgements thank NASA and the ESA for their insights, so I have to commend the author for being diligent in creating a stunning and authentic story.

While some of the routine activities interrupted with descriptions of the orbital path and philosophizing might read as tedious to some, I found it to be necessary to flesh out the otherwise indescribable experience of an astronaut's relationship with their own humanity while being at the forefront of the terrifying precipice of human achievement. The structure did take some getting used to however, with frequent jumps from one character to another, then to no character at all between paragraphs, but it wasn't too disruptive. Regarding the overall story, I do think I would have appreciated a bit more relationship development between the characters. What was there was done so well, it had me really yearning for more, but otherwise this was an excellent read and I very much recommend it.