I thought I was going to annoyed with the ages of the main characters but it ended up not bothering me that much, they were diverse, flawed and had a surprising amount of depth considering there are six of them. The story was gripping, if a tad predictable, but well thought out, and some of the writing was just beautiful.

I really, REALLY wanted to love Terra-Two? but I found it so underwhelming.

First and foremost, I want to point out that I'm pretty sure my disappointment stems from the comparisons to [b:The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet|25786523|The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (Wayfarers, #1)|Becky Chambers|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1435140741s/25786523.jpg|42270825] as I LOVE Becky's novels for both the genre and the quieter character-driven plots. So if you're thinking of reading this book because of that you may want to check your expectations (or just don't bother!).

Before I get into why I only gave this book a 3* rating, I want to point out something I loved about it. Temi Oh does a fantastic job weaving the story with plausible science and building the setting. There are certain aspects of space travel and life on a ship that require specific detail to make it come alive (such as what it feels like to break through the atmosphere and escape the Earth's gravity) and Temi has clearly done her research. The science nerd in me was very happy!

My problems with Terra-Two? can be condensed into one area: untapped potential.

The novel is set partly on Earth in the run up to the launch of the Damocles and partly on the ship. It follows 12 characters -6 young adults and 6 experienced adults - and switches between the perspective of a few of the younger crew. My issues is that there isn't much differentiation between the perspectives' voices and that some of the characters are much more developed than others. I got bored at different points in the book because I didn't care enough about the people things were happening to. We also basically get no chances to get to know the older crew members and discover for ourselves why the younger ones admire them so much.

The second area of untapped potential is to do with the Chinese generational ship - Shẽngmìng. We're told the ship went missing in space years before the Damocles launches. A fair amount of detail is given as to the rich history of the ship and why it is a curiosity. and there's so much opportunity to develop this but it's just ignored. Optional spoiler:

Spoiler

When Xiao Lin He gets in touch to rescue the Damocles there is an unspoken/unwritten promise that we'll get to meet the captain and her legendary ship. Instead, Temi Oh completely bypasses any scenes of the rescuers docking and the Damocles getting repaired and skips to Harry and Astrid returning to Earth.

While I do enjoy quieter stories that focus on characters, I couldn't get behind this. Nothing that major happens before the 70% mark (kindle) except for one thing

Spoiler

(Ara's suicide just before launch)

so if you don't connect with any of the characters it can be a slog.

3.5