Reading Diary: The Deep Sky by Yume Kitasei

Here is a synopsis from the author's website:

It is the eve of Earth’s environmental collapse. A single ship carries humanity’s last hope: eighty elite graduates of a competitive program, who will give birth to a generation of children in deep space. But halfway to a distant but livable planet, a lethal bomb kills three of the crew and knocks The Phoenix off course. Asuka, the only surviving witness, is an immediate suspect.

Asuka already felt like an impostor before the explosion. She was the last picked for the mission, she struggled during training back on Earth, and she was chosen to represent Japan, a country she only partly knows as a half-Japanese girl raised in America. But estranged from her mother back home, The Phoenix is all she has left.

With the crew turning on each other, Asuka is determined to find the culprit before they all lose faith in the mission—or worse, the bomber strikes again.

It probably wasn't the best idea to read this book as I prepare for another move, or as the world is Like This because this book made me so anxious! Not just because I was caught up in the mystery and wondering if the crew of the Phoenix would survive, but because the "dystopian" aspects really aren't that fictional -- environmental collapse? China-US war? 😬

Still, the book was well written. From a craft perspective, I admired how Kitasei fleshed out technical sci-fi aspects. She carefully does not give any dates or really specific numbers that would pull a reader out of the story. I've seen a Tumblr post a few times that includes this writing tip, that if you include specific things like dates or other real-world numbers, it will break that suspension of disbelief. As a person who doesn't read (or usually love) this sort of "hard" sci-fi/space story, I appreciated that there was enough technical details to get me grounded in the world, but the focus was on the characters.

While I'm glad that I read this book, I don't necessarily recommend it because I know who reads this blog -- y'all are way to anxious about the world in general, and this will only add to your fears. And those anxieties are totally justified, both for us and within the story! Kudos to Kitasei for really nailing the vibe because I definitely think the anxiety is crucial to the story. And without spoiling things, I felt that the story ended on something of a hopeful note for a story about a group of people who are on a one-way ticket away from home. If this sort of story is your jam, then I felt it was well-written and interesting, and I'd be happy to hear what you think about it. You can read the first two chapters here. For myself, I'm going to read a cozy mystery next!