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elizrs's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
anxiousnachos's review against another edition
5.0
Review was originally posted to Anxious Nachos.
Wow - what a read. Do You Dream of Terra-Two? has SHOT to the top of my all-time favourite science fiction. This descriptive and moving debut novel takes a very different style to any other science fiction I've read, with a much bigger focus on the characters and a much smaller focus on the technology and science-aspect.
Do You Dream of Terra-Two follows 6 young adults as they prepare for a space mission to the long dreamed of, Terra-Two. Terra-Two is a potentially habitable planet found in another solar system, and humanity has dreamed of reaching it since it's discovery. The book begins at the prestigious Dalton Academy, a school where teens compete to be chosen for the Terra-Two mission. Six are chosen, and it is these six that we follow in the book. The book flits between the point of view of these characters, though we hear more from three of them.
Each of these teens has a very distinct voice and I enjoyed reading all of them. Definitely don't expect any unrealistic, completely perfect characters - all of the people in this book are so real and so human. The teens have so many problems (as you could expect after being trained and brainwashed about Terra-Two for years) and I could see myself and everyone I know in every single one of these teens. Temi Oh really managed to write such a realistic portrayal of all her characters. Whilst Eliot was my favoruite character, thanks to Temi Oh's brutally realistic depiction of his pain, I think my favourite to read from was probably Jesse. In saying that, this was one of the only multiple perspectives books I've ever read where I wasn't bored with one or more of the perspectives. Everyone is just so different and had so many different reasons for why they want to go to space that each of their POV's made for a really great read.
This book is both filled with wonder and drama, with a little bit of edge-of-your-seat action thrown in. There are lots of twists and turns and everything always goes wrong, and I really wasn't ever sure what would happen next or how the story would end. I wished I could've stayed with this crew so much longer, I enjoyed it so much. There is such a humanity to the book, from the sense of wonder and excitement about finding a new livable planet, to the very human interactions and relationships which form between the crewmates. This book had me gripped from start to finish, and I really could not recommend it more!
Wow - what a read. Do You Dream of Terra-Two? has SHOT to the top of my all-time favourite science fiction. This descriptive and moving debut novel takes a very different style to any other science fiction I've read, with a much bigger focus on the characters and a much smaller focus on the technology and science-aspect.
Do You Dream of Terra-Two follows 6 young adults as they prepare for a space mission to the long dreamed of, Terra-Two. Terra-Two is a potentially habitable planet found in another solar system, and humanity has dreamed of reaching it since it's discovery. The book begins at the prestigious Dalton Academy, a school where teens compete to be chosen for the Terra-Two mission. Six are chosen, and it is these six that we follow in the book. The book flits between the point of view of these characters, though we hear more from three of them.
Each of these teens has a very distinct voice and I enjoyed reading all of them. Definitely don't expect any unrealistic, completely perfect characters - all of the people in this book are so real and so human. The teens have so many problems (as you could expect after being trained and brainwashed about Terra-Two for years) and I could see myself and everyone I know in every single one of these teens. Temi Oh really managed to write such a realistic portrayal of all her characters. Whilst Eliot was my favoruite character, thanks to Temi Oh's brutally realistic depiction of his pain, I think my favourite to read from was probably Jesse. In saying that, this was one of the only multiple perspectives books I've ever read where I wasn't bored with one or more of the perspectives. Everyone is just so different and had so many different reasons for why they want to go to space that each of their POV's made for a really great read.
This book is both filled with wonder and drama, with a little bit of edge-of-your-seat action thrown in. There are lots of twists and turns and everything always goes wrong, and I really wasn't ever sure what would happen next or how the story would end. I wished I could've stayed with this crew so much longer, I enjoyed it so much. There is such a humanity to the book, from the sense of wonder and excitement about finding a new livable planet, to the very human interactions and relationships which form between the crewmates. This book had me gripped from start to finish, and I really could not recommend it more!
ihateprozac's review against another edition
3.0
I'm in two minds about this one. I loooooooved the writing style and I absolutely flew through it, but I fucking hated the characters and it felt like we only got half the story.
I like flawed characters but I legit hated every fucking one of these teenagers. I'm not sure if it was the author's intent, but I began the book only hating Harry and then slowly grew to loathe each one over the course of the novel! By page 400 I just didn't care whether any of these teens lived or died.
I'm also so mad about how mental illness is handled in this story. Mental illness is rife amongst the crew and it goes mostly unchecked, which is bonkers to me considering they were rigorously tested to qualify for the trip and there's a psychiatrist on board the ship! One character's predisposition to cruelty should have disqualified them from the trip completely, one severely depressed character is doused with ice cold water and basically just told to "get over it", another character's eating disorder is afforded 1 page in the entire book, and another character has vivid hallucinations for 400 pages without anybody noticing or treating them.
What?????
The author does offer a few lines of commentary about whether teens could really consent to a project of this magnitude, but it wasn't enough. Instead of critiquing power imbalances, consent, and corruption, the story just felt exploitative and uncomfortable to read.
I really struggled to suspend my disbelief and engage in the story because I just couldn't fathom how this crew was so underprepared. They're basically yeeted into space to colonise a planet with no rules or frameworks for how their society should work, and given nothing beyond technical support. It's legit just "make it up as you go along and try not to kill each other for the next 40 years, also make sure you grow some potatoes". What???
And don't even get me started on the pacing and where it ended. I love a deliberately ambiguous ending in speculative fiction but this one just left me feeling like I wasted my time. I felt like there was so much emotional build up toward setting foot on Terra-Two and then the author just goes "lol bye". The book is 500+ damn pages and then it's hurriedly tied up in the final 20.
There's so much about this book that irritated me and yet I'd pick up another sci-fi from Temi Oh in a heartbeat. Her writing is compulsively readable, the characters were distinct, and she shows so much promise as a speculative fiction writer. This story just didn't work for me and probably could've been magnificent with a few more books/years of experience under her belt.
*sigh*
I like flawed characters but I legit hated every fucking one of these teenagers. I'm not sure if it was the author's intent, but I began the book only hating Harry and then slowly grew to loathe each one over the course of the novel! By page 400 I just didn't care whether any of these teens lived or died.
I'm also so mad about how mental illness is handled in this story. Mental illness is rife amongst the crew and it goes mostly unchecked, which is bonkers to me considering they were rigorously tested to qualify for the trip and there's a psychiatrist on board the ship! One character's predisposition to cruelty should have disqualified them from the trip completely, one severely depressed character is doused with ice cold water and basically just told to "get over it", another character's eating disorder is afforded 1 page in the entire book, and another character has vivid hallucinations for 400 pages without anybody noticing or treating them.
What?????
The author does offer a few lines of commentary about whether teens could really consent to a project of this magnitude, but it wasn't enough. Instead of critiquing power imbalances, consent, and corruption, the story just felt exploitative and uncomfortable to read.
I really struggled to suspend my disbelief and engage in the story because I just couldn't fathom how this crew was so underprepared. They're basically yeeted into space to colonise a planet with no rules or frameworks for how their society should work, and given nothing beyond technical support. It's legit just "make it up as you go along and try not to kill each other for the next 40 years, also make sure you grow some potatoes". What???
And don't even get me started on the pacing and where it ended. I love a deliberately ambiguous ending in speculative fiction but this one just left me feeling like I wasted my time. I felt like there was so much emotional build up toward setting foot on Terra-Two and then the author just goes "lol bye". The book is 500+ damn pages and then it's hurriedly tied up in the final 20.
There's so much about this book that irritated me and yet I'd pick up another sci-fi from Temi Oh in a heartbeat. Her writing is compulsively readable, the characters were distinct, and she shows so much promise as a speculative fiction writer. This story just didn't work for me and probably could've been magnificent with a few more books/years of experience under her belt.
*sigh*
indiekay's review against another edition
4.0
I feel conflicted on this one. On one hand, I don't understand why this was marketed as being for fans of Becky Chamber's Wayfarers series, as the only thing that is similar is the fact that the books take place on a space ship. I might have also gone into this with certain expectations from reading the synopsis, and not many of those expectations were met.
That all said, I did like this book. The audiobook is well done with audio-effects used when characters are talking to ground-control or watching the news.
So how does this book play out? (no major spoilers; Content Warnings at the end) This book is set in a universe which is similar to our own, except the UK started space travel in the 1800s and by 2012 America has colonised the moon and Russia has colonies on Mars. Terra-Two, a planet that has similar living conditions as Earth, has been found in a neighbouring solar system and the UK wants to be the first country to reach it.
We start off with a POV chapter by Jesse, who was told by a mystic as a child that he would leave the Earth when he is 19. He takes this to mean that he will die at 19, and becomes a morose and depressed child, until he hears of a school program in which children are being trained for a mission to be the first people to travel to Terra-Two, and so Jesse takes this as a chance to revaluate his destiny.
There are 6 teenagers (they're all actually 19 turning 20 in the book) who board the ship, along with 3 adults, and another adult joins them when they go past Mars. Because of the synopsis, and the fact that the journey is 23 years long, I thought this book would have a lot of time jumps, and it'd show the teens growing older. The book actually only takes place over their first year of the trip, and so much goes wrong in that time.
CW include: suicide, mentions of children dying, drowning, bullying, car accidents, road kill, past domestic abuse, depression, disordered eating, binge eating, vomit, explosions, hyperthermia, head injuries, medical procedures....... I might have forgot some things, but tldr this book can get HEAVY at times
That all said, I did like this book. The audiobook is well done with audio-effects used when characters are talking to ground-control or watching the news.
So how does this book play out? (no major spoilers; Content Warnings at the end) This book is set in a universe which is similar to our own, except the UK started space travel in the 1800s and by 2012 America has colonised the moon and Russia has colonies on Mars. Terra-Two, a planet that has similar living conditions as Earth, has been found in a neighbouring solar system and the UK wants to be the first country to reach it.
We start off with a POV chapter by Jesse, who was told by a mystic as a child that he would leave the Earth when he is 19. He takes this to mean that he will die at 19, and becomes a morose and depressed child, until he hears of a school program in which children are being trained for a mission to be the first people to travel to Terra-Two, and so Jesse takes this as a chance to revaluate his destiny.
There are 6 teenagers (they're all actually 19 turning 20 in the book) who board the ship, along with 3 adults, and another adult joins them when they go past Mars. Because of the synopsis, and the fact that the journey is 23 years long, I thought this book would have a lot of time jumps, and it'd show the teens growing older. The book actually only takes place over their first year of the trip, and so much goes wrong in that time.
Spoiler
I was honestly really concerned this book was going to end up being a tragedy with everyone dead by the end, but luckily it has a hopeful ending.CW include: suicide, mentions of children dying, drowning, bullying, car accidents, road kill, past domestic abuse, depression, disordered eating, binge eating, vomit, explosions, hyperthermia, head injuries, medical procedures....... I might have forgot some things, but tldr this book can get HEAVY at times
emireads's review against another edition
Not a fan of the time skips and way too many characters for me to keep track of
whatssamupto's review against another edition
3.0
I really enjoyed the plot of Do You Dream of Terra Two and would love a sequel! I will say it is a little slow at the beginning but stick it out, it gets really good. The author writes from the different perspective of the characters which can be hard to follow sometimes. But overall, I would recommend.
sydneymckinstry's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
thewarbler's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0