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A review by esmayrosalyne
Do You Dream of Terra-Two by Temi Oh
4.0
4.5 stars
I had no idea what this novel was about before going into it and I loved to just sit back and see this story unravel; I was completely along for the ride.
The set-up for this book is fairly simple: ten austronauts will leave a dying Earth to find Terra-Two, a newly discovered habitable planet. Four of these austronauts are adults who have travelled in space before and the other six members are teenagers who have been training for this mission for most of their lives. It will take this crew 23 years to reach Terra-Two; 23 years confined in close quarters, with no one to rely on but each other. Oh, and they won't be able to get rescued should something go wrong...
Now, don't go into this novel thinking that you will get an action-packed/fast-paced space opera. This book is much more a character study of these ten austronauts, especially the six teenagers, and we get to see how this experience affects them and their relationships.
We explore how these teens cope with leaving everything and everyone they know behind on Earth, knowing there is no going back. What happens when things don't go to plan and you are cooped up in a tiny space-ship, with nowhere to flee from your feelings?
This crew is very diverse, but also very flawed. It was so interesting to just follow these characters and to see how they justified their own actions. I found myself sympathising with all of them, even if they had conflicting motivations or if I knew that their actions were not exactly the morally right thing to do.
This book obviously explores mental health and I think the depiction of depression, anxiety, PTSD, and eating disorders was very well done.
The writing was very immersive and I found myself completely invested in these characters' stories. It was very easy to keep turning the paces, despite the fact that the first 70% of the book is quite slow. The pace really increased towards the end and there was a lot more action. To me, this shift felt a bit jarring at first but I think this book ultimately ended in a way that was really fitting for the story that was being told.
This book was soothing, melancholic, hopeful and tragic all at once and I loved it. I think this story will stay with me for a long time, because these characters felt so real and this book also posed a lot of questions that you can ponder on for quite a while.
I highly recommend this novel if you are looking for a slow-burn, low sci-fi story with lots of characters examination and deep/heavy themes, it was really good in my opinion.
I had no idea what this novel was about before going into it and I loved to just sit back and see this story unravel; I was completely along for the ride.
The set-up for this book is fairly simple: ten austronauts will leave a dying Earth to find Terra-Two, a newly discovered habitable planet. Four of these austronauts are adults who have travelled in space before and the other six members are teenagers who have been training for this mission for most of their lives. It will take this crew 23 years to reach Terra-Two; 23 years confined in close quarters, with no one to rely on but each other. Oh, and they won't be able to get rescued should something go wrong...
Now, don't go into this novel thinking that you will get an action-packed/fast-paced space opera. This book is much more a character study of these ten austronauts, especially the six teenagers, and we get to see how this experience affects them and their relationships.
We explore how these teens cope with leaving everything and everyone they know behind on Earth, knowing there is no going back. What happens when things don't go to plan and you are cooped up in a tiny space-ship, with nowhere to flee from your feelings?
This crew is very diverse, but also very flawed. It was so interesting to just follow these characters and to see how they justified their own actions. I found myself sympathising with all of them, even if they had conflicting motivations or if I knew that their actions were not exactly the morally right thing to do.
This book obviously explores mental health and I think the depiction of depression, anxiety, PTSD, and eating disorders was very well done.
The writing was very immersive and I found myself completely invested in these characters' stories. It was very easy to keep turning the paces, despite the fact that the first 70% of the book is quite slow. The pace really increased towards the end and there was a lot more action. To me, this shift felt a bit jarring at first but I think this book ultimately ended in a way that was really fitting for the story that was being told.
This book was soothing, melancholic, hopeful and tragic all at once and I loved it. I think this story will stay with me for a long time, because these characters felt so real and this book also posed a lot of questions that you can ponder on for quite a while.
I highly recommend this novel if you are looking for a slow-burn, low sci-fi story with lots of characters examination and deep/heavy themes, it was really good in my opinion.