The Deep Sky

Yume Kitasei

Adult Space Science Fiction

Yume Kitasei’s The Deep Sky is an enthralling sci fi thriller debut about a mission into deep space that begins with a lethal explosion that leaves the survivors questioning the loyalty of the crew.

They left Earth to save humanity. They’ll have to save themselves first.

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.

-Excerpt taken from Goodreads.

Check Goodreads to see the book’s ratings.

My Opinion

(3 / 5) 80 women have embarked on a deep space mission they have been preparing for the majority of their lives. First as children, then frozen for ten years until now. After an explosion on the spacecraft, each woman is now questioning the intentions and loyalties of others.

The pace was steady with espionage, intrigue, family issues and more. We are taken back and forth between the past leading up to the mission and the present aboard the ship. This gave great background to the characters and showed their different sides. One part that rubbed me wrong was the forced pregnancies. Yes, yes, I understand each woman chose this space adventure for her life, therefore agreeing to this stipulation. But Asuka (the MC) obviously was against it as I’m sure others were. And where were the men? I’m all for strong females but considering they were to repopulate this new planet, using invitro-fertilization seemed a bit…. unnecessary, at least for everyone.

While this one kept me entertained, I had so many questions throughout that it dampened the excitement. I had more questions than answers and was left feeling underwhelmed.

AUDIO REVIEW: One part I really did not like were the voices. Sarah Skaer did a great job with emphasis, suspense and more but her voices sounded so young! I had to check to see how old the women were to be. It sounded as if these teenagers were running a ship and having to get pregnant. When I realized they were all in their twenties, that helped but the voices still sounded younger than necessary.

General content summary: from author; CW: miscarriage, fertility issues, terrorism, death of a child, racism, gore, strong language.

F words= 20+, explosion in space ship, corpses seen (some details), women are required to get pregnant during space trip for repopulation (one woman resists), sibling death (drowning, few details), multiple same sex marriages or dating, physical violence (bat, threat of gun, fists).

Thank you to MacMillan Audio for the copy!

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