Reviews

Bleaker by Jacqueline Druga

reads_must's review

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3.0

Bleaker
Earth Endures #2
Sci-Fi 
Jacqueline Druga 
⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book was more confusing than the first one. This time, the plot follows the original crew sent to find a new habitable planet as well as a follow up crew who left decades after the original crew and a privately funded expedition. All 3 groups eventually meet up by accident despite being from different time periods.

I feel like there were quite lot of things left unanswered because the plot never returned to them and just moved on.

I liked the new characters, although it was a bit confusing reading their POVs from one time period and then switching to another.

I wasn't keen on the ending. It was quite abrupt and left me wanting to know more and I wanted more answers.

rbharath's review

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4.0

I wrote my review of the earlier book ‘Bleak’ (from which this continues) without hints or spoilers. This makes it difficult to write this review without revealing clearly what happens in Book 1, but let me try. This is a nice continuation and I liked reading it.

The Omni-4 crew took to space to find another stable home for humankind. They went through the Androski wormhole and after some challenges managed to land on a place which was liveable but prone to more extreme weather, including giant tides. This book elaborates the challenges which Earth faces some more – a hitherto un-noticed Planet X gradually cuts across the solar system moving towards Earth causing large scale disruption of weather systems, other than human induced changes. It is 25 years since the Omni-4 crew left and they are not yet back, and the situation on Earth gets worse. With advances in technology, there are probes which have been sent through the Androski wormhole and now there is a fairly good understanding on what to expect on the other side and also capability exists to navigate it better. There are two sets of teams who now take off – the Genesis mission led by Commander Quinn with a set of humans to repopulate & progress at the destination, and a smaller private mission which includes an imaginative young scientist Tucker and a capable navigator in Sam. Much of the focus is on the original Omni-4 crew and the Tucker-Sam team. The three teams coincidentally run into each other as the two new teams get past the Androski wormhole. However, at this point some of the Omni-4 are keen to return to the Earth they left.

This is a good continuation, though the novelty of the first book wore off. The first book was completely cozy & light – focused on space exploration with no violence & fighting, this book has just a little, though not much.

A short and easy set of two books which I certainly recommend as light relaxing reads.

My rating: 3.75 / 5.

sharonrhh's review

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adventurous mysterious reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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