Sound

Starred review from July 15, 2015
On a research mission to deep space, a girl makes bold and terrifying choices. Miyole forged her papers to work on the Ranganathan, a 128,000-acre research-and-development ship. She's 16, not the required 18, but she's always wanted to travel into space and was impatient to leave Mumbai, where she was taunted as "the darkest" and "the exotic outlier" because she's Haitian, not Indian. Onboard, she bioengineers bees and butterflies to pollinate terraformed planets. Then life takes a sharp turn: pirates attack a nearby spacecraft, and Miyole meets a girl named Cassia. Making the stunning decision to steal a shuttle so she and Cassia can pursue the pirates who kidnapped Cassia's brother, Miyole pilots them into deep space. As they bargain with unsavory dealers, visit a frozen moon's underwater settlements, and discover horrifying things, Miyole battles post-traumatic stress from an early-life catastrophe, including flashbacks that will be especially meaningful to readers who saw that tragedy unfold in Salvage (2014). Connections among her personal history, her ancestral history (the real-life Haitian Revolution; the science-fictional destruction, centuries ago, of Haiti by floods), and the atrocities she discovers in deep space are meaningful and well-wrought, as is the portrayal of Miyole's tender and bumpy romance with Cassia. Unpredictable plot, vivid settings, and a queer, dark-skinned black girl as a protagonist in far-future science fiction: essential. (Science fiction. 14-17)

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June 1, 2015

Gr 7-10-Miyole is a young scientist on a space research vessel in the not-so-distant future. Despite being only 16, she has secured her position on the mission by forging her papers and pretending to be older. When Miyole's ship is attacked by slaver pirates and a guest on the vessel is kidnapped, the protagonist volunteers to lead an illicit rescue mission to find him. Along with the man's teenaged sister, Cassia, and a reluctant pilot named Rubio, Miyola sets off on a dangerous space adventure. Unfortunately, the heroine's motivations for abandoning her post ring hollow. She has lied and put her family at risk in order to be a research scientist, and her decision to help Cassia-a stranger-feels forced and abrupt. Despite Duncan's best efforts to show that Miyole's own past makes her sympathetic toward the kidnapped man's family, the characters feel underdeveloped, and readers will struggle to feel invested in their conflicts and relationships. Diverse characters populate this novel. Miyole, in addition to being a brilliant female scientist, is a lesbian of Haitian descent who has grown up in foster care in India. Two other lesbian characters are included, as well as a character who is Deaf. While Miyole's sexuality does play a role in her character's actions throughout the story, the romance is light and the action is fast-paced. VERDICT Overall, while weak on character development, this adventure novel will appeal to readers looking for science fiction with strong female heroines and abundant diversity.-Liz Overberg, Darlington School, Rome, GA

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