Its time for a sci-fi review of Aetherbound by E.K. Johnston! I received this book a long time ago and finally got around to reading it in February.
Synopsis: Set on a family-run interstellar freighter called the Harland and a mysterious remote space station, E. K. Johnston’s latest is story of survival and self-determination.
Pendt Harland’s family sees her as a waste of food on their long-haul space cruiser when her genes reveal an undesirable mutation. But if she plays her cards right she might have a chance to do much more than survive. During a space-station layover, Pendt escapes and forms a lucky bond with the Brannick twins, the teenage heirs of the powerful family that owns the station. Against all odds, the trio hatches a long-shot scheme to take over the station and thwart the destinies they never wished for.
I had really high hopes for this one since it sounded so good from the premise and made me think of a lot of sci-fi movies I have seen. Unfortunately, the book fell very flat for me. I could not form a connection to the main character at all or even really any of the side characters. This in turn made the stakes not seem very important for all of the problems they were facing.
The worldbuilding was interesting and I enjoyed learning about the history of the different colonies and how they became to be as they are present day. There was a big emphasis on calorie counting which was interesting because and it seems pretty realistic for something that would need to be accounted for in the case of long space journeys with limited food. Other books I have read didn’t go into too much detail on that but this book heavily focused on it. This might be a trigger warning for some people though and the author does mention it as a trigger in the beginning of the book so that is good.
I really wanted to like it but just couldn’t connect with the characters. I’m sure others will like this but it just didn’t do it for me.
Book Rating: 2.5/5
You can buy this book on Amazon and find it on Goodreads.
Disclaimer: I was sent this book in eBook format on NetGalley to read and give an honest review.
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It’s back!! Round 3 of the May The Force Read With You Readathon is here and will be happening for the entire month of May! We will have reading sprints and star wars trivia happening during the month! All the info will be shared on my social media and on the Discord channel! Comment down below if you will be participating!
Check out the video below:
