“The sun is rising for the 14th time today, firing the Saharan landmass like a match flame in darkness. i am sitting in the cupola, watching the earth spin below me…”
-Nick Lake, Satellite
Hi everyone! Not too long ago, I was surprised with a copy of Satellite by Nick Lake from the lovely people at Team Bkmrk, thank you!
It’s a YA sci-fi with an interesting concept; check out the blurb:
He’s going to a place he’s never been before: home.
Moon 2 is a space station that orbits approximately 250 miles above Earth. It travels 17,500 miles an hour, making one full orbit every ninety minutes. It’s also the only home that fifteen-year-old Leo and two other teens have ever known.
Born and raised on Moon 2, Leo and the twins, Orion and Libra, are finally old enough and strong enough to endure the dangerous trip to Earth. They’ve been “parented” by teams of astronauts since birth and have run countless drills to ready themselves for every conceivable difficulty they might face on the flight.
But has anything really prepared them for life on terra firma? Because while the planet may be home to billions of people, living there is more treacherous than Leo and his friends could ever have imagined, and their very survival will mean defying impossible odds.
I found this one easy to get into and actually quite addictive! The voice of Leo is very distinctive and immediately shows his distance from earth; that he’s grown up on a space station and had a very different sort of education. I actually got used to it very quickly and then stopped noticing it too much so it doesn’t interrupt the flow of the novel and adds a little, quirkier touch to it.
Satellite was really well-written and took in many different themes and issues within its scope. Leo is struggling with his sexuality, which isn’t an easy thing when the only other people you know your age are the twins that are more like siblings to you! I found myself rooting for them all to make the dangerous trip back home and experience all the lists of things on Earth that they hadn’t had the chance to do or feel before. Of course, once they’re there, they come into contact with a whole host of new issues and must fight for their survival.
The science behind this novel was soooo interesting and really drew me in! I hadn’t thought what it would entail or how difficult it would be to walk for the first time in gravity if you’ve never felt it before, for instance, but Lake portrays the characters first experiences with gravity so well that you find yourself imagining what it might feel like.
I really enjoyed the entire novel, but I found that some of the mystery and tension that had been building up on Earth fell a little flat for me when the reasons for it were revealed. However, the plot continued to move past that and onto other events which then fully engrossed me again. I’m giving this one 4/5 stars and I’d recommend it to fans of YA sci-fi!
Has anyone else read this one? What did you think of it? Which YA sci-fi books have you been reading lately?
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