I had such a blast reading this book! I love E.K. Johnston's writing, and this book sounded really good, so I knew I was going to enjoy it! The whole idea of a luxury space cruise that unveils aliens, but that it turns out the aliens aren't dead, and start to take over the ship? It sounded so good!

Celeste and Dominic's lives might have had a similar starting point, being affected by the same tragedy of a fault line opening up, but while she had to continue to live there, he was adopted by a rich couple in politics. (While I loved the mention of my home province, Alberta, I did not like her being the politician representing us, since she was an awful human being.) That she is now a worker on the voyage that he's a passenger on, I really enjoyed those dynamics! She's resourceful and a hard worker, and he's struggling under the weight of his parents expectations.

Watching as they tried to survive the aliens, was thrilling and so very entertaining! The aliens were so creepy, and the in between chapter pages that we got from the alien's perspective...chilling. I was tense the whole time reading this book, I had to know what was going to happen next!

This book is technically a stand alone right now, there's no series mentioned on Goodreads that I can find right now. But at the end, the way it ends, and that in acknowledgements, it mentions that ending is a series potential, and I really, really hope that it becomes a series, because I need to know what these characters are going to do, given the circumstances that they're in!

Loved reading this book, it was so fantastic, and I can't wait to read more by E.K. Johnston!

"Titan of the Stars" masterfully combines sci-fi grandeur with the creeping tension of survival horror. E.K. Johnston's vivid worldbuilding aboard the Titan highlights stark class disparities while building emotional depth through Celeste's grit and Dominic's inner struggles. The alien menace is genuinely chilling, though the pacing slows at times. Still, it’s a gripping blend of space exploration and suspense.

E.K. Johnston can write a thriller.

There were tingles down my spine from the prologue alone, where I didn't know the character's names, I didn't know about their relationships or deepest desires, all I knew was that they were trapped on a spaceship and something was hunting them down. The creepiness factor was cranked all the way up and handled with precision through the whole book. I don't want to spoil all of the masterful elements, because that would be besides the point, but I'm amazed at how Johnston used so few words to cause so much fear.

It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of Johnston's work and that I completely disregarded my carefully planned ARC reading list to catapult Titan of the Stars straight to the top. I've been following this project since it was a secret book called "Space Bees". The reasons I love Johnston's work are still present in Titan of the Stars; I love how she's continuing to hone her craft and develop more and more precision in her world building. Aetherbound also takes place in a spaceship and I really enjoyed watching how Johnston had refined the space ship, the logistics, and the journey even further than her masterful exploration of logistics in Aetherbound. Johnston isn't an engineer, and most author's aren't, but the details and research she put in meant that I never got thrown out of Titan of the Stars because of the fundamental laws of physics being broken or emergency planning and logistics being a literal nightmare. It's these little details that allow myself to completely immerse myself in Celeste and Dominic's world.

I loved the stark contrast between Celeste and Dominic, but also the fundamental similarities. Part of Johnston's incredible attention to detail is that she thought long and hard about why humans would be going to Mars. Although the Catholic Church might consider the Moon (and Mars) as part of Florida, corporations consider it no-man's land. No laws, no labour rights, no government, no oversight, just every corporation's dream to exploit the workers and the land for maximum profit. It gives Celeste, an orphan, and Dominic, an adopted orphan in to a powerful family, two very different reasons to be going to Mars. No one does an examination of class privilege, the impact of wealth, and the power of normal human beings like Johnston.

There was something about Dominic's point-of-view that really resonated with me. I'd assume I'd love Celeste - the engineer, the underdog, the go-getter. I don't know if it's the Christmas season and the various inevitabilities that are facing me down, but Dominic's hopelessness, even though on paper he has all the power and has "won the lottery", struck home. The moral of Johnston's books is never to sympathize with the rich who can and should be doing better, but being in Dominic's head as all of the choices were being made around him and he was screaming inside to stop and think about people that could have been him touched my soul.

This wasn't the kind of ARC where I could highlight quotes, so I can't leave you with some of my favourite lines of the book here. What I can do is acknowledge that dropping all of Sudbury to Montréal in a giant seismic rift has made me so happy. Unfortunately, Johnston didn't pull a The Calculating Stars and do it while parliament was in session.

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Titan of the Stars by E. K. Johnston is a mixed third and first person multi-POV YA sci-fi horror combining Alien and Titanic. Celeste and Ren are two young engineers on the Titan, a space cruiser heading to Mars, and were chosen for being young survivors of a massive earthquake that ripped through Ottawa, Canada. Dominic is another survivor of the earthquake and was adopted by rich, opportunistic parents who used his circumstances to better their own. When the three meet and are introduced to fossilized aliens, they couldn't have expected what would happen.

A major theme is how the rich tend to not think of others and will use the misfortunes of others to gain the upper hand. Dominic’s mother is a politician who paraded her son around to really boost her career but is also extremely controlling and doesn't support his artistic talents. Dominic's father is even worse and his boyfriend, Adam, cares more about sex than he cares about Dominic. Celeste and Ren reveal parts of their childhood where the rich came in and gave ‘opportunities’, but many of those chances left the people who took them in a worse spot.

The pacing is on the slower end but is what I would expect of a horror novel. Horror needs time to build that atmosphere and to really set the stakes when things start to happen and not a page feels wasted here. The character arcs are fairly tightly written as are the bits and pieces we see with the aliens on display, such as their neon coloring and how many eggs are in the nest. The worldbuilding and atmosphere really worked together and sold that Alien meets Titanic concept.

Celeste and Dominic have a somewhat complicated dynamic because of their shared past but this is also the first time they've ever met. Celeste isn't very interested in getting to know a spoiled rich teen, though Dominic soon proves to be different from Adam. Meanwhile, Dominic is looking for some kind of connection to what happened when he was too young to remember, but he also starts to develop feelings for Celeste that go beyond that. There's mutual trust and respect that isn't made more difficult by misunderstandings because the aliens are enough.

Content warning for depictions of child abuse

I would recommend this to fans of YA horror looking for something more sci-fi and fans of space horror

I love space horror! Likeable characters and a good 'creepy' factor. I really want to read the sequel!

Titan of the Stars by E.K. Johnston is an intense and imaginative YA science fiction horror novel that delivers on its Alien-meets-Titanic premise. Johnston expertly builds tension aboard the Titan, blending the grandeur of space travel with the creeping dread of the alien threat. The dual perspectives of Celeste, a determined apprentice engineer, and Dominic, a conflicted passenger, add depth to the story, highlighting themes of class disparity and personal agency. The pacing is mostly tight, though some slower moments in the buildup detract from the urgency. The alien menace is chilling, and the action-packed sequences are thrilling. A compelling read that balances sci-fi spectacle with emotional stakes, perfect for fans of survival horror in space.