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A review by indiekay
Do You Dream of Terra-Two? by Temi Oh
4.0
I feel conflicted on this one. On one hand, I don't understand why this was marketed as being for fans of Becky Chamber's Wayfarers series, as the only thing that is similar is the fact that the books take place on a space ship. I might have also gone into this with certain expectations from reading the synopsis, and not many of those expectations were met.
That all said, I did like this book. The audiobook is well done with audio-effects used when characters are talking to ground-control or watching the news.
So how does this book play out? (no major spoilers; Content Warnings at the end) This book is set in a universe which is similar to our own, except the UK started space travel in the 1800s and by 2012 America has colonised the moon and Russia has colonies on Mars. Terra-Two, a planet that has similar living conditions as Earth, has been found in a neighbouring solar system and the UK wants to be the first country to reach it.
We start off with a POV chapter by Jesse, who was told by a mystic as a child that he would leave the Earth when he is 19. He takes this to mean that he will die at 19, and becomes a morose and depressed child, until he hears of a school program in which children are being trained for a mission to be the first people to travel to Terra-Two, and so Jesse takes this as a chance to revaluate his destiny.
There are 6 teenagers (they're all actually 19 turning 20 in the book) who board the ship, along with 3 adults, and another adult joins them when they go past Mars. Because of the synopsis, and the fact that the journey is 23 years long, I thought this book would have a lot of time jumps, and it'd show the teens growing older. The book actually only takes place over their first year of the trip, and so much goes wrong in that time.
CW include: suicide, mentions of children dying, drowning, bullying, car accidents, road kill, past domestic abuse, depression, disordered eating, binge eating, vomit, explosions, hyperthermia, head injuries, medical procedures....... I might have forgot some things, but tldr this book can get HEAVY at times
That all said, I did like this book. The audiobook is well done with audio-effects used when characters are talking to ground-control or watching the news.
So how does this book play out? (no major spoilers; Content Warnings at the end) This book is set in a universe which is similar to our own, except the UK started space travel in the 1800s and by 2012 America has colonised the moon and Russia has colonies on Mars. Terra-Two, a planet that has similar living conditions as Earth, has been found in a neighbouring solar system and the UK wants to be the first country to reach it.
We start off with a POV chapter by Jesse, who was told by a mystic as a child that he would leave the Earth when he is 19. He takes this to mean that he will die at 19, and becomes a morose and depressed child, until he hears of a school program in which children are being trained for a mission to be the first people to travel to Terra-Two, and so Jesse takes this as a chance to revaluate his destiny.
There are 6 teenagers (they're all actually 19 turning 20 in the book) who board the ship, along with 3 adults, and another adult joins them when they go past Mars. Because of the synopsis, and the fact that the journey is 23 years long, I thought this book would have a lot of time jumps, and it'd show the teens growing older. The book actually only takes place over their first year of the trip, and so much goes wrong in that time.
Spoiler
I was honestly really concerned this book was going to end up being a tragedy with everyone dead by the end, but luckily it has a hopeful ending.CW include: suicide, mentions of children dying, drowning, bullying, car accidents, road kill, past domestic abuse, depression, disordered eating, binge eating, vomit, explosions, hyperthermia, head injuries, medical procedures....... I might have forgot some things, but tldr this book can get HEAVY at times