**3.5-stars rounded up**

The Deep Sky is a recently-released SF-Thriller debut from Yume Kitasei. This story features a deep space mission where a lethal explosion causes the survivors to question the loyalty of their fellow crew members. We follow Asuka, one of the crew and sole surviving witness to the explosion that killed three mission members and knocked their ship, The Phoenix, off course.

The set-up was interesting and scarily plausible. With Earth on the brink of an planet-altering environmental disaster, the countries of the world nominate individuals to compete for a spot on a humanity-saving mission.

As with any interstellar mission, space is limited. Asuka is selected as a contender to represent her mother's native-Japan. Although not initially chosen, Asuka earns a spot as an alternate due to unforeseen circumstances. Because of this, Asuka can't help but feel like an outsider.

When the explosion happens, and Asuka is nearby and survives, she becomes a bit of a suspect in the eyes of some of the other crew members. Asuka feels like she needs to get to the bottom of what caused the explosion. She can clear her name and find out what is actually going on with the rest of the crew. Thus, a mystery twist unfolds.

This was really good. I was a bit on the fence at first. The story wasn't fully able to capture my attention until around the halfway mark. I was very pleased that Kitasei was eventually able to pull me in through the intensity of the storyline and completely pulled it off in the end.

The story is quite thoughtfully-written and the SF-elements provided plenty of interesting possibilities for our future. This would make a great one to discuss with friends, a book club, or other SF-readers in general.

I did feel like the idea of the mission, the way it was initiated was well-developed and thought out. I feel like when you are writing something futuristic like this, you can really go anywhere with it. Kitasei's take was creative and frankly, believable in a frightening way.

The aspects of this that didn't work as well for me were the story construction, especially in the beginning, and some of the character work.

The narrative jumps around from present to the past frequently and I felt like, for me, those transitions weren't smooth enough. They were quite jarring and I kept feeling out of touch with what was happening because of it. Additionally, as far as the characters go, I had a hard time remembering anyone besides our main, Asuka.

None of them felt distinct to me like Asuka did. In spite of that though, I still appreciate what the author developed here. I think this story shows a lot of great creativity and thoughtfulness about the potential future of humanity.

Overall, I was impressed with this as a debut story. It's complex, multifaceted and thought-provoking. I look forward to reading more from this author in the future.

Thank you so much to the publisher, Macmillan Audio, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I would definitely recommend the audio version. The narration fit the story very well.

This is a debut? Wow! It’s good! I love me some spaceshipping sci-fi/dystopian/mystery/horror!

80 young elite traveling to a far off world. A bomb kills 3 & the remaining survivor Asuka quickly becomes suspect number one!

Asuka was the last chosen for the expedition & only when she’s presented as the elite candidate from Japan which has left her with imposter syndrome as she’s only half Japanese & estranged from her mom. Her inability to become pregnant on a ship where that is the prime directive and an unsolved mystery with growing tensions ratchets up the fear of an impending second bomb.

I enjoyed the two timelines where everything Asuka does or thinks now is justified by something in her past.

There were a few slow spots but Asuka is such a familiar character that they were nearly imperceptible to me.

Well they’re off course now with a mystery and politics and suspicions and murder. Excellent story! Nice change of pace for me. Reviewed on Amazon too.

Space adventure into the future. This was a great interstellar moving to the future story. The mysterious elements of the plot added great suspense to an already exciting adventure. This story does jump back and forth in the time line so keeping track of where you are in time becomes confusing at times if you aren’t careful. The plot does flow very well even with the back and forth of time. The characters are could be more developed but the story is mostly told from the main characters perspective so you miss some of the sub characters character arc. Over all I really enjoyed this book. It reminded me of Andy Weirs work.

Nice debut book by Kitasei! When an explosion knocks a spaceship headed for humanity's hopeful future off course the crew has to correct course and find out what happened. I enjoyed the mystery and the ending was intense! This book also tackles issues relating to climate change, cultures and family relationships. An overall enjoyable read and I look forward to hearing more form Kitasei.
Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the change to review this book.

The Deep Sky is a gorgeous science fiction novel about what to do with a dying planet. Do we use ever-shrinking resources to shoot for the stars or do we use them to fix earthly ills? Author Yume Kitasei doesn't necessarily have the answer for us, but her work may help us each find one of our own.

Asuka leaves a warring and warming Earth on the planet's one-way mission to colonize space. Nations bankrupted themselves to sponsor seats on the colony ship populated with people with uteruses (yes, this means trans men too!) who will birth a new generation midway through the mission. But when an explosion goes off over a decade into the mission, the troubles of Earth find their way to the ship. Asuka, the sole surviving witness, finds it is her job to figure out who is behind the explosion.

Kitasei does not hold back when it comes to the depth of the themes. She explores Asuka's biracial identity, racism and eugenics, climate change, activism, and more. She also develops the technology of our future in great detail. Yet everything feels grounded in our present reality. At times, the picture Kitasei paints of our near future is terrifying.

I devoured this audiobook. I listened for hours at a time, needing to know what was happening in Asuka's world. I see a future for the folks on the ship that is bright and even abolitionist. This book was a chance to escape a world hurtling towards the fate of Asuka's and get sucked into a mystery that I knew would have a resolution, good or bad. It alleviated the uncertainty of the present moment, while also encouraging me to think deeply about it. To me, that is exactly what science fiction is meant to do.

I loved Asuka as the main character. She was just as grounded in reality as the rest of the story. I really appreciated how she didn't have a romantic subplot; her interpersonal concerns and conflicts were platonic in nature. One of these sources of conflict was a disabled woman, so that was great to hear for a disabled reader such as myself.

I only wish Kitasei had explored trans identity and transphobia. There were many folks on the ship who use they/them pronouns and one trans man. There was a men's rights hate group who were angry about spots on the ship being reserved for those with uteruses yet no mention of a reaction to the trans and nonbinary ship members. It seems a bit odd that it was left out.

The Deep Sky by Yume Kitasei is the female-led space book you’ve been waiting for. The story centers around Asuka. She and her fellow shipmates have been chosen by a climate-doomed earth as the last hope for the continuation of humanity. They are sailing through space with the directive of procreating on the ship and colonizing a new planet. But nothing goes according to plan, and Asuka is tasked with discovering who or what is trying to sabotage their mission. The story is told in two interspersed timelines: the current mission in space and her time training on earth.

This book reads like a more literary Andy Weir novel with diverse, female characters. It has beautiful character development with plenty of plot and atmosphere. The technology described was well-thought out and really interesting. The narrator’s voice was fine but I think I might have enjoyed it even more in print.

Most readers will find something to love in this wonderful blend of literary and genre fiction.

Length: 12 hrs 15 min, 416 pages
Genre: Science Fiction
Reading Doorways: Setting, plot, and character

The Deep Sky released July 18, 2023.

Thank you to NetGalley, Flatiron Books and Macmillan Audio for the advanced copy.

I'm a huge sci-fi fan. Any adult sci-fi that sounds good, sign me up. (Don't get me started on YA.) So I signed up for The Deep Sky. The story follows Asuka, a half American, half Japanese woman part of a crew on a mission to save the human race by repopulating on Planet X. When an explosion happens killing one of the crew, everyone is a suspect.

If you've read other sci-fi books with generational ships, there's a sense that you're drifting through space in a rather large ship. The Phoenix is supposed to be a large ship, but it never really felt like it. After all, a ship where women have to raise their newborn children on the ship should be big. Which brings me to the next point. There's a rather unsettling fixation here with pregnancy (which by the way really needs to be listed as a content warning and it's not). I understand the purpose of the book is women becoming pregnant and repopulating. And I assume that these women were selected because they were the prime candidates to do so, but this book has a rather large number of it's crew pregnant that it almost seems comical. What's worse than that though, is I didn't really like Asuka, the main character! That's a big problem. Yes, I get it. She constantly feels like an outsider no mater where she is. Where does she fit? Will she ever? After a while, it started to grate on me. And remember what I briefly said about YA books. Asuka felt like a YA character to me. I will say, she's the only character who's truly fleshed out. All the others felt like cardboard cut-outs to me. Because of this I lost interest in the story and didn't really care who sabotaged the mission.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ALC. Sarah Skaer's narration wasn't my favorite and probably contributed to my feelings about Asuka. I wanted to like this book. I really did, but in the end, this just wasn't for me.

Project Hail Mary meets Among Us.
As Earth is on the verge of an environmental collapse, eighty highly trained graduates leave for the mission of a lifetime- to travel to a new sun and start a community there. When there is an explosion on the ship that veers them off course, the crew becomes suspicious that someone on board is behind it. The crew must both figure out who the bad actor is and correct their course is before it is too late and they are lost in space forever.

I really enjoyed this book! The story was very compelling, and I enjoyed the "locked room" mystery aspect. I also appreciated the diverse character cast. I listened to the audiobook and the narrator did a fantastic job- I didn't have any issues distinguishing the characters.

I would recommend this book to fans of Project Hail Mary, Illuminae, and The Last Watch.

Thank you to Flatiron Books, Macmillan Audio, and Netgalley for providing me with an advance copy to review.

A heart-racing sci-fi thriller that will keep you guessing until the very end!

I've never sweat so much while reading a book! The Deep Sky is a sensationally gripping debut about the chaos that ensues following a fatal spaceship explosion. I love that the crew consists of a group of women, nonbinary, and trans people and that the novel's structure makes the main character, Asuka, incredibly loveable and so easy to root for. Additionally, the way augmented reality and AI work in this world is fascinating!

This is definitely going to be a favorite of 2023. I loved how it tackled complicated common subjects of identity, belonging, female friendships and mother-daughter relationships with a unique backdrop. I thought the author was incredibly smart in her choices for the story and I think it would be a great book for discussion. Sci-fi is not always easy to listen to as an audiobook as new concepts are introduced, but the audio worked really well for this. Huge thank you to Macmillan Audio for the ALC of this one.

🌎🚀When Asuka is the only survivor of an attack on the Phoenix, a spaceship going to Planet X, she dedicates her time to figuring out what happened, who may be responsible, and if the crew is still in danger.

Alpha, an AI system who knows too much and not enough, supports Asuka as she investigates her colleagues, ultra-competitive elites from several other large and wealthy countries.

This was a very interesting novel and contains a lot of social and cultural commentary. The subplot about the women needing to become pregnant while on the spaceship in order to raise the next generation for the new planet is a bit weird.

Asuka has an enjoyable internal narration and the world building is spread through the story, avoiding an information dump at the very beginning of this new world.

The dual timeline from Asuka’s time at the competitive school that decided who was going on the spaceship provided a lot of context even if the conversations and cat fighting felt juvenile at times.

So, I got this one really late and jumped right in so I could review soon.

I started and more than 1/3 through I could still not get into it. I couldn’t find the point. I don’t want to get into nitpicking science and medicine, but I was scratching my head. By halfway through I was rolling my eyes. I was hoping for an ending that would give me a sense of purpose for listening to this book for an entire day. I never got to it. What I got was an author trying to shove identity crisis and women’s issues into sci-fi. I think. But, I could be wrong.

THE DEEP SKY by Yume Kitasei is a feminist sci-fi locked-room mystery that takes place aboard a space ship. With Earth’s climate crisis in dystopic swing, the eighty-member all-female crew of The Phoenix is humanity’s last hope. Training for this mission since they were 12 years old, they’re on their way to the closest habitable planet, with plans to bear children while in space.

Now that the cutthroat selection process is over, they’re all working in harmony – until a bomb explodes on the ship, killing three of them and knocking The Phoenix off course. As suspicions flare and fingers are pointed, Asuka is tasked with figuring out whodunnit. Is it Alpha, the omnipresent AI system that runs the ship? Or Ying Yue, gunning for the captaincy? Is it Asuka’s former BFF Ruth, who throws aside friends with Machiavellian ruthlessness? Or has an Earth-based activist group infiltrated the crew?

The high-stakes race to find the culprit is interspersed with flashbacks to the boarding school environment and reflections on the chasm of space separating loved ones, identity, and belonging. The cast of characters are badass women with unique flaws, and the novel as a whole reads more like a fun-but-thoughtful thriller than hardcore sci-fi. I appreciated the intricate layers that Kitasei managed to braid into the story, as well as the twists and turns that kept me guessing. Definitely recommend this to readers who enjoy mysteries with a fresh, feminist, outer space take!

Thank you @netgalley for the eALC, narrated spectacularly by Sarah Skaer, and to @flatiron_books for the finished copy. 4.5 stars rounded up.

This was an incredible read! It strikes an amazing balance between being a fast-paced mystery/thriller in space, and being a touching exploration of themes like identity, belonging, and hope. The writing was truly elegant and compelling, and the characterization was powerful.

Asuka is the “alternate” on a colonizing vessel heading out to spread humanity to a new planet. Her role as an official “spare” enhances her lifelong struggle with feeling like she doesn’t belong, as a Japanese-American. But when an explosion kills several crew members, and Asuka’s AI interface begins acting oddly, she finds herself in the critical role of trying to uncover who is sabotaging their mission.

It can be difficult to keep the tension elevated when managing multiple timelines, but Kitasei does this with skill! I found myself captivated by Asuka’s journey, and the challenging questions it brought up surrounding climate change, capitalism, and technological responsibility. But for a book that wrestles with a lot of big questions, it never felt like the plot or characters took a back seat to the themes. The crew of the ship are all well-rounded and engaging characters, who are easy to invest in.

If you are a sci-fi/mystery fan, you should absolutely be checking this out, and keeping an eye on whatever Kitasei does next!

This was an enjoyable mystery/sci-fi/thriller set in space. It doesn't do anything new to the genre (really of either mystery or sci-fi) but it is a good example of both kinds of stories, and it has likable characters you want to root for. It's also pretty queer! Only people who have uteruses are allowed on the mission to colonize another planet, because space/fuel limitations mean not that many people can go, and they need everyone who does to be able to give birth while on board. It plays with ideas I've seen in sci-fi before, A.I. and perception, virtual reality, near-environmental collapse Earth, societal fractures that carry through to space, friendship, and sabotage.

I did think it was interesting that we were following Asuka, the mission's only Alternate, who does odd jobs because she doesn't have a specific purpose on the crew. We get flashbacks from her early life as well to give context to what's going on in the ship in present day. I didn't like them at first, but when it came time for her to go to the training academy to prepare for the mission, they started to really intrigue me. I also didn't see the reveal of who tried to blow up the ship coming. Yume Kitasei did a good job throwing out so many red herrings and confusing things that it was a true surprise when the answer was revealed (though I'm sure readers who like to figure these things out ahead of time could have done so).

I will definitely read more from this author! The book was immensely readable (and the audio version was good) and I'm excited to see what she can do in future books.

This is so beautiful. The setting, the all female crew, the robots and computers. I loved the entire thing.
You couldn't pay me enough to get on a spaceship but I love to read about it.
The narrator was perfection.

The Deep Sky is perfect for fans of science fiction as well as thrillers. Set on The Phoenix, a space ship traveling to a habitable planet, 8 woman have been chosen to undertake the mission. But when an explosion that sets them off course occurs, they quickly realize that this was not accident. One of them has done this. As time ticks down to the feasibility of correcting their course, the women must figure out who is responsible for the sabotage.
This is a great debut novel and I liked how the author gave us a group of women who are all layered. The politics that exist on the ship as well as in the flashbacks that occur from their time on earth in training and selection were insightful. The story really explores connections, the grudges we hold, the guilt we carry, and our motivations. I was invested in all of the women especially our main character Asuka who has left earth against her mothers wishes and with whom she has broken contact. But as the chances of salvaging their mission get slimmer, must all hold their past actions to the light.

Thank you Macmillan Audio for the advanced listener copy. This is my honest review.

Thank you NetGalley, Flatiron Books, and Macmillan Audio for this ARC.

The Deep Sky was easily one of my most anticipated reads this year with it's intriguing story line that encompasses some of my favorite genres. As with most books that I get over-excited for, The Deep Sky fell flat for me in many ways.

What I enjoyed:
Diversity in the characters - all represented various countries of Earth with names that reflected their heritage.

Visceral, gory descriptions - this book has great horror elements to it.

Unique plot - Sci-fi plots can often get repetitive and I enjoyed the fresh lens presented in The Deep Sky.

A few gripes:
Doing too much, too quickly - there are so many different topics being tackled in this book from climate change, to strained parental relationships, highlighting the modern nuclear arms race between the USA and China by portraying it as a Space Race (similar to what happened between the former USSR and USA the 60's), women's issues and reproductive rights, forced migration and displacement, refugee crises, and so much more. At times I felt there was genuinely just TOO much going on.

Audiobook narrator - while the narrator had a beautiful dainty and melodic voice, it felt too whimsical and airy for the heavy content in this book.

Pregnancy - while the description does mention "giving birth to the next generation in deep space" I didn't anticipate the characters' pregnancies being as central to the plot as it was, and as someone who avoids ANY pregnancy tropes it quickly became disturbing for me.

Mystery - the manner in which the mystery unfolded quickly demoted this story from a chilling deep space mystery to a spaceship whodunnit, which felt like a huge let down.

The premise is fantastic, the narration is excellent, unfortunately that's all the positives I have to say. I didn't hate the book but I'm not sure how much I liked it. I wanted to love it but the story fell flat and I wasn't a big fan of the characters. There is a lot of cool things happening in the book and I do think there is the bones of a great book here.

This was a fantastic sci-fi thriller set on a ship carrying an eighty-person crew in deep space. All graduates of an elite program, the crew members have a long history, so when a lethal bomb kills three and knocks their ship off course, they need to find out which of their former classmates and current crew members it was. Too far from Earth for help, they must find the culprit and get back on course before they run out of time.

Thank you Netgalley for providing a digital ARC.