I have found a new YA Scifi that will take you on quite the journey. This time, I read The Darkness Outside Us by Eliot Schrefer.

Synopsis: Two boys, alone in space.
After the first settler on Titan trips her distress signal, neither remaining country on Earth can afford to scramble a rescue of its own, and so two sworn enemies are installed in the same spaceship.
Ambrose wakes up on the Coordinated Endeavor, with no memory of a launch. There’s more that doesn’t add up: Evidence indicates strangers have been on board, the ship’s operating system is voiced by his mother, and his handsome, brooding shipmate has barricaded himself away. But nothing will stop Ambrose from making his mission succeed—not when he’s rescuing his own sister.
In order to survive the ship’s secrets, Ambrose and Kodiak will need to work together and learn to trust one another… especially once they discover what they are truly up against. Love might be the only way to survive.
I really enjoyed this book! It was kind of like a mystery scifi where you are trying to figure out why these characters are on the spaceship, who else is there with them and what the motives are of the companies that sent them on this mission.
I do think that the book would have benefitted from having the characters aged up a little bit so that they could get into some more adult themes since a lot of the time, they are struggling as horny teenagers and its very evident. That being said, I do remember what it was like to have that hormonal angst as a teenager. I guess what I’m trying to say is that it would have made more sense to up the age of the characters (probably to in their 20’s) so they could dive more into that aspect of their sexuality since they did bring it up a lot.
The AI component was very intriguing because I knew they were there to protect the boys but at the same time I had no idea what they would do next. It added that extra layer of trying to figure out who was on the right side and what were they even fighting for.
There were also no chapters but instead it had breaks showing how many maintenance tasks were remaining to complete on the ship. I thought this was a very unique way to break up the book.
I was immersed from start to finish in this adventure. It was a thrill ride of emotion and angst and I was here for every second of it!
Book Rating: 4.5/5
You can buy this book on Amazon and find it on Goodreads.
Disclaimer: I was sent this book in paperback format by Harper Collins to read and give my honest review.
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It’s time for the 90’s Cartoon Book Tag! I loved 90’s cartoons and grew up on these so this tag is perfect for me. Let me know in the comments below what your favorite 90’s cartoon was!
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