Thoughts about this book, in no particular order:
-I love the premise: a small crew on a spaceship sent to discover a new world sets a great stage for close character interactions, claustrophobic tension, and bare, contemplative emotional depth.
-I liked how different the characters were to each other and how flawed they each are—they're selfish, they made poor decisions, they're emotional, etc. None of them are entirely likable, but I still found myself rooting for (most) of them throughout.
-This book is strongest at its beginning and in its final few chapters - it loses that strength in the middle, where it either meanders or races, but does not balance the two well against each other.
-A lot of the sci-fi logistics don't really make a lot of sense (for example, I doubt a space agency would go through years of training and candidates to prepare for a multi-decade isolated mission and not consider compatibility as a vital element between the final crew candidates?)
-Even though this is 500+ pages, it was a quick, fun read!
-Astrid + Juno's characters felt the most compelling, nuanced, and developed, and I loved reading from their perspectives. I almost wish they had been our only POV characters. Some other characters suffer from underdevelopment/lack of page time, perhaps making parts of the conclusions to their character arcs feel undeserved, and some of their characterization feeling inconsistent or incomplete...
-This book is seriously lacking in copyedits. There are dozens of mistakes throughout ("expresso", sentences accidentally repeated, names getting mixed up, timeline inconsistencies, typos, missing line breaks when dialogue switches speaker, etc). These aren't detrimental to the book, but they are incredibly distracting

Overall: a fun, quick read with an intriguing premise but mediocre execution. I wish this story had spent more time in some places/with certain characters, and less time in others, and I wish it had received more consistent and focused editing. It scratched the itch for some entertaining space sci-fi, posited some interesting ideas, and made me interested in looking into the author's other work, but I don't know that I'll spend much time thinking about this book now that I've finished it.

I did not enjoy this book. I wanted to. The premise was strong and the world building was good, but it took WAY too long to get interesting. If you enjoyed The Terranauts, you may enjoy this.

3.5 stars

1 whole day of my life wasted.

Have y'all ever cried out of frustration and disappointment? Because I did like half an hour ago.

This books started as a 4 star, then went down to 3, then 2, and there was a point where it couldn't be saved anymore. If not for one particular thing, it still could have been a 2 star, but this was ridiculous.

RTC

Check out my full review here: https://amysbookreviews.com/2020/12/24/do-you-dream-of-terra-two-by-temi-oh-review/

Can you imagine if we discovered an Earth-like planet in another galaxy that might be habitable? Now imagine if we had the technology to actually try to send people there. This is the idea brought to life in Temi Oh's sci-fi debut, Do You Dream of Terra-Two? In this version of Earth, the moon landing is old news. Humans have made it to Mars, and even to one of Saturn's moons; now it's time to look even further. The journey to Terra-Two has a 23 year timetable, so a group of teens (called the Beta) are selected for the mission after years of vigorous training, along with a group of veteran astronauts who provide leadership and guidance. But while the prospect of exploring a new planet remains the #1 goal, Do You Dream of Terra-Two proves it's more about the relationships we cultivate along the journey.

If epic sci-fi is your jam, then this book might not be totally up your alley, though if you are looking to broaden your sci-fi horizons, I would definitely recommend this. Do You Dream of Terra-Two does a lot of great character work and explorations into grief and humanity. Even if you're not a huge sci-fi fan, I still think you would find this book enjoyable since it's less about SPACE! and more about people.

I listened to the audio of this, and really enjoyed it. It was a very character-focused look at what a long-term space mission might look like, and it dealt with a lot of issues, such as the ethics of asking children to make such a far-reaching decision, the struggles inherent to this type of mission, and the dangers therein. I really liked the in-depth look at all of the characters, and the very different ideas that they had about what the mission should be like. It's not an action-packed book, by any stretch, but I thought it had a lot of interesting things to say, and I'll definitely be looking forward to whatever Temi Oh writes in the future.

Ahoy there me mateys!  I received this sci-fi eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  So here be me honest musings . . .

I wanted to read this debut ever since I saw it described as "The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet meets The 100."  I know nothing about The 100 but sadly this book did not live up to the comparison to the Becky Chambers work.  In fact this book walks the plank!

Pros:

- The author's writing shows promise.  For a debut novel, I felt the writing style itself was decent.

- I finished it in one day.

- I really enjoyed the concept of ten astronauts going on a mission to set up a colony on an Earth-like planet.

- I enjoyed the set-up of the novel and how the author chose to countdown to the launch and beginning of the mission.

But there were a bit too many problems to make me like this book:

Cons:

- The character point-of-views were the six young teenage astronauts on the mission.  I really would have liked some of the chapters to have been from the experienced adult astronauts.

- The teenagers all seemed to have an extreme problem - an eating disorder, depression, hallucinations, etc.  I found it hard to believe that every one of them would have got through the selection process with a major illness.

- Actually, two of the adults had major problems - a terminal illness and a grief/anger problem.

- At no time was there any real oversight from the supposedly in-charge adults on the ship.

- The characters were not really fleshed out and I often didn't know which character was speaking during dialogue sections because they sounded too similar in tone.  In addition the blurb claims there were four adults on board.  I just finished it and I can only remember three?  Captain, Engineer, and Medic.  Who was the fourth?  If that person existed then I mixed them in with the Engineer.

- The world-building of the shipboard life did not seem realistic or detailed enough.

- The majority of the story centered on the teens fighting with each other and odd relationship dramas.

- Once the actual countdown to the launch occurs, the plot began to disintegrate.  The middle of the story was too long and drawn out.  The 520 page story could have used substantial trimming. 

- Also the ending in particular seemed a bit ridiculous with a deus ex machina rescue and lackluster ideas of what happened to the characters.  The story really doesn't have a good resolution.  There were also a lot of mystical occurrences that I didn't like involving dreams and other woo-woo.

I am sad that this book didn't meet any of me basic expectations.  I do think I could read the author's potential future books but I think I would have to read reviews of them first before committing to the time.

So lastly . . .

Thank you Saga Press!

Check out me other reviews at https://thecaptainsquartersblog.wordpress.com/

This took me a LONG time to read. It also wasn’t what I expected at all. The story is interesting and the characters are mostly well written but perhaps it was too long for me personally.

I couldn't put this book down... Flawed characters making inscrutable choices because they are individuals at its very best. Plus space travel and angsty intrigue. Don't read this for the plot but do read it for a fully human look at what interstellar travel might one day mean for us and what it will say about our world how we choose to pursue it.

A hand-selected team of teens is launched on a 40-year mission to prepare Terra-Two for the people of a dying earth and a second chance-but the traumas and failures of humanity aren't so easy to leave behind. Oh has created a very readable hard sci-fi that manages to put both its characters and the science at the front. Most notable is the sense of long odds and ever-present dread that haunts the crew as they struggle under the weight of tragedy, loneliness, and the nearly incomprehensible length of time they'll have to spend in the darkness.