Goldilocks

February 10, 2020
Lam (Seven Devils) makes the personal political in this tense near-future family drama that’s fueled by the climate crisis. Dr. Naomi Lovelace, a botanist working with alien soils and seeds, joins her foster mother Valerie Black’s all-women team of astronauts in stealing humanity’s first starship, the Atalanta. Fleeing an Earth scarred by climate change and a rising tide of misogyny, tech entrepreneur Valerie plans a better world on Cavendish, a habitable exoplanet 10 light-years away. As the women learn the inner workings of their stolen ship, Naomi discovers Valerie has a hidden agenda and is keeping her own secrets from her foster brother, Evan, their contact back on Earth. Though the exodus plan presents plot holes aplenty, Lam expertly evokes the claustrophobia of both tight spaces and taut relationships in the evolving struggle between Naomi and Valerie for the soul of the mission. This deeply felt space opera will please those who like their sci-fi to focus more on the characters than the science. Agent: Juliet Mushens, Caskie Mushens.

Starred review from March 1, 2020
When Earth is ravaged by climate changes that poison the air and water, five women steal a spaceship to colonize a new world in this feminist SF thriller. Thirty years after she made history as one of the Atalanta Five, the botanist Dr. Naomi Lovelace is finally ready to tell her story. Lam's (Shattered Minds, 2017, etc.) novel slips forward and backward in time, tracing four decades of Naomi's life with Dr. Valerie Black--the entrepreneur who raised her after her parents' tragic deaths and the woman whose company developed the Atalanta spaceship. Designed to warp from Mars to a distant, habitable planet called Cavendish, the Atalanta orbits Earth, awaiting the arrival of its all-male crew. The erosion of women's rights on Earth means that Naomi, Valerie, and the others--who will become known collectively as the Atalanta Five--have been forced out of their jobs, but Cavendish offers them something none can claim on Earth: the chance to start over. Although the novel's earliest tensions involve mechanical failures and miscalculations, the drama shifts quickly to interpersonal conflicts that threaten the integrity of the Atalanta's mission. Each member of the crew has a well-developed voice and her own drives and ambitions, which makes the novel increasingly difficult to put down as betrayals and double-crossings play out aboard the claustrophobic ship. The unexpected ending will leave satisfied readers searching for read-alikes in its wake. A slow-burning fire of a novel that begs the reader to keep turning the page.

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Starred review from May 1, 2020

Earth is dying. Restrictions on births and what women can do are increasing, but Valerie Black is determined to launch the first all-female space mission to Cavendish, a planet that could sustain human life-- a planet in the Goldilocks zone. While making the trip means defying authority, botanist Naomi Lovelace knows this is her chance of a lifetime. The opportunity to move beyond her surrogate mother, Valerie, is extra incentive to move forward. Immediately things begin to go wrong on the Atalanta: hostile and hushed missives from Earth are arriving, and dark secrets are being kept. But to reveal the truths will pit Naomi against all that she has been raised to believe, and the cost could be the entire world's existence. VERDICT Smooth prose weaves a tale to support humanity's survival, along with the shades of gray of scientific decisions. Lam's (Seven Devils) exciting sf thriller proves intellectual and entertaining for all.--Kristi Chadwick, Massachusetts Lib. Syst., Northampton

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2020
Valerie Black is a driven woman who created the business empire necessary to spearhead a mission to Cavendish, an exoplanet settled nicely in the Goldilocks zone, an area of space that may be able to support human life. Earth is dying, and governments refuse to address glaring problems. Valerie and her hand-picked crew are passed over by the other agency responsible for the ship, the U.S. government. Women aren't getting anywhere in the working world, and the new political climate is eroding their rights and encouraging them to have children and stay home. Valerie brings together her crew and steals her own work. The story is framed by a narrator in the future, though it is told by biologist Naomi Lovelace, Valerie's adopted daughter. The journey isn't smooth; there are malfunctions and political complications, and someone on the ship is hiding too many secrets. The dynamic between Valerie and Naomi drives a lot of the narrative, and their characterizations stand out above the rest. Ultimately hopeful, the majority of the story is grim and thriller-tense, with plenty of twists and turns.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)