Ok, my review now commences. I read the book and also discussed it with my Sci-Fi book club mates. I am softening my initial 5 star rating to 4 stars, but not because I didn't like it, but because I am downgrading from Amazing to Really Liked It for a few reasons I'll get to later.

But you didn't come all this way just to hear me talk about my rating scale. You want to know, why you should read this book?

I was utterly captivated throughout the book by the psychological state and readiness (or in most cases, extreme unreadiness) of the younger crew of the space ship. Facing a 23-year, one-way, leave-most-everything-behind journey, how would I react? Before they even launched into space I was already "all in" as the Beta crew (the junior members) struggled, celebrated, pined, or otherwise were happy to escape their Earth situation and trade in for 2+ decades in space followed by trying to start a viable colony on another planet.

Maybe I just never got past my own teenage drama years, or maybe I just remember them so well, but despite being 47 myself, the trials and struggles and complex emotional roller-coaster of these teenager/twenty-somethings was perfectly relatable to me.

Even the "slower" first 2/3 of the book I found compelling. The final 1/3 was simply gangbusters action (and of course drama) and kept me guessing as to what was going to happen to the crew of the ship.

Yes, there were a few problems my book club picked out, that I knew but didn't necessarily think were so much problems as I was just accepting the story as-is. But some of their points did make sense. A couple examples: 1. Why wait to start growing plants after launching? Why not have a crew up there planting already? 2. Why screen the teens for psychological readiness only to later reveal that

Spoiler

perhaps they deliberately chose teens that were NOT ready

.

At the same time there were things that my mind got stuck on without help from book club. A couple examples: 1. Why let them take only a small amount of possessions with them, such that they were already rationing their snack food after a few months? I would have been like, pack me 23 years worth of chocolate up front or I'm not going! 2. They talked so much about needing the acceleration to help them slingshot to get to their final destination, but surely they had to slow down to rendezvous at least twice - once at

Spoiler

Mars and again at Europa

? My mind couldn't quite work out that physics. My book club friends said orbital mechanics definitely needed a little help.

Overall I really liked the book. The premise may not be completely original, as my wife pointed out many stories have been written about other one-way trips such as the American migration westward or even one-way trips across the sea to colonize new lands. But something about a story set in an alternate 2012 (close enough to 2020 the year I read it), and leaving the ENTIRE PLANET BEHIND put this in a whole new category for me.

Final verdict is that character development and relationships were by far the front seat, with plot and some details taking a middle or even back seat. But don't let those sticky points get in the way from you picking up and devouring this debut novel by Ms. Oh.

Rating: a solid 4 out of 5 cat stowaways. (Just kidding, no cat stowaways, just felt like putting a little Red Dwarf into my review.)