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A review by megsbookishtwins
Goldilocks by L.R. Lam
3.0
Disclaimer: I received this free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
The Earth is dying. The future of humanity is in the hands of five women aboard a ship headed for a planet in the Goldilocks zone, where conditions are just right for human habitation. The only problem is, they aren’t the authorized crew, they stole the ship from NASA after the mission was stolen from them. When things start to go wrong, Naomi begins to suspect that not everything is as it seems and someone is concealing a secret, and that Earth may be running out of time faster than they realised.
content warnings: miscarriage, abortion, climate crisis, death from virus.
I absolutely adore science fiction, especially space science fiction. So I was sure Goldilocks would be an absolute hit for me – The Martian meets The Handmaid’s Tale? Unfortunately it fell a little flat for me. I went in expecting a thrilling space science fiction, and I got quite a character focused story about family, secrets, and love that was set quite heavily on Earth. Not a fault on the books part, obviously, but a problem with my own expectations.
What I did really love about Goldilocks was the moral questions it asked. Who should make certain decisions? What gives people the right to make these world changing decisions? Does the end justify the means? What would you do to someone who went to far for the right reasons? All very interesting questions, especially considering the backdrop and context these questions were being asked in. Brilliant social commentary.
What I struggled with most with Goldilocks was the characters. None were as fleshed out as they could have been but the protagnoist, Naomi, was probably the least interesting character. I enjoyed the moral ambiguity of Valerie. Hixon and Hart were more interesting, but I would have loved more development of their characters and their relationship (f/f).
Overall, I enjoyed the questions Goldilocks posed about the future of Earth, about humanity, and about morality. Unfortuantely, it was a tad anticlimatic and the characters were not as engaging as they could have been.
The Earth is dying. The future of humanity is in the hands of five women aboard a ship headed for a planet in the Goldilocks zone, where conditions are just right for human habitation. The only problem is, they aren’t the authorized crew, they stole the ship from NASA after the mission was stolen from them. When things start to go wrong, Naomi begins to suspect that not everything is as it seems and someone is concealing a secret, and that Earth may be running out of time faster than they realised.
content warnings: miscarriage, abortion, climate crisis, death from virus.
I absolutely adore science fiction, especially space science fiction. So I was sure Goldilocks would be an absolute hit for me – The Martian meets The Handmaid’s Tale? Unfortunately it fell a little flat for me. I went in expecting a thrilling space science fiction, and I got quite a character focused story about family, secrets, and love that was set quite heavily on Earth. Not a fault on the books part, obviously, but a problem with my own expectations.
What I did really love about Goldilocks was the moral questions it asked. Who should make certain decisions? What gives people the right to make these world changing decisions? Does the end justify the means? What would you do to someone who went to far for the right reasons? All very interesting questions, especially considering the backdrop and context these questions were being asked in. Brilliant social commentary.
What I struggled with most with Goldilocks was the characters. None were as fleshed out as they could have been but the protagnoist, Naomi, was probably the least interesting character. I enjoyed the moral ambiguity of Valerie. Hixon and Hart were more interesting, but I would have loved more development of their characters and their relationship (f/f).
Overall, I enjoyed the questions Goldilocks posed about the future of Earth, about humanity, and about morality. Unfortuantely, it was a tad anticlimatic and the characters were not as engaging as they could have been.