I found my father’s face across the field, where the fog was still pulling up from the land like a lifting cloud. Sky in the Deep hit me in the feels with its focus on family relationships, both blood family and found family, and in particular the close and complicated sibling relationships. Aaaaagh my favorite! I pulled my sword from my scabbard with my right hand and caught the axe with my left. “Vegr yfir fjor.” I really liked what this book got right - crewmembers had to be physically capable of bearing children, and the author included both trans men and enby individuals among that list. The story is divided between now, aboard the ship, and the training school they all attended for years in hopes of making it - and that was well done too, being easy to follow and giving the characters depth; seeing them in such an enclosed and high-pressure environment alongside their childhood selves (though plenty of pressure there too, given the competition for such limited spaces). A multinational crew of women embarks on a voyage to a distant planet. But then a mysterious explosion sets the ship off course. As the crew works to correct the ship's trajectory, Asuka, the main character, investigates the explosion and tries to determine who was behind it.

HOW DO YOU NOT KNOW THAT?? Hnnng, fine. We can just extrapolate from the speed of the ship! How fast are they traveling? I ran to her, hooking my fingers into his armor vest from the other side of his body, and sunk down, pulling him with me. When she was free, she sprang to her feet, finding her sword and looking around us. I gripped the handle of my axe and pried it up, out of the bones in his chest. I know. But you will never be the same. You will never be the same person you were.” He paused. “You are seeing the truth. I see you thinking it, everyday.” That it’s okay to change. I think we often believe that if we change or let go of old ways of thinking or believing, that we are selling out or giving up or walking away from who we are. But really, we are just finding who we really are. Does one of the main characters hold a special place in your heart? If so, why? Another problem is the characters. The main character's entire personality is her angst over being mixed race and having been the alternate choice for Japan. She has zero character growth. Absolute zero. 12 year old Asuka is the exact same as 21/31ish year old Asuka. She is the kind of person who puts ZERO effort into her relationships and then is hurt/offended when people don't care deeply about her:

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Iri’s made it to Sólbjǫrg. His words were frightening and delicate, betraying a tenderness my father never showed. He stepped forward, looking down into my eyes with a smile. Sigr has favored you, Eelyn." An epic space odyssey that seamlessly blends the genres of science fiction, mystery, and thriller, leaving you on the edge of your seat and craving for more…… Mýra took hold of my arm, pressing the heel of her hand into the wound to stop the bleeding. Eelyn. She pulled me to her. What is it? What’s wrong?

But still, great pacing. One good character (who, honestly, carried the entire book), and a satisfying ending. Not too shabby. Always. I looked behind us where our clansmen stood shoulder to shoulder in a sea of red leathers and bronze, all waiting for the call. Mýra and I had fought for our place at the front. One aspect that I really enjoyed was the future technology, from the ever-present AI to the ship's ability to adapt, transform and personalize environments based on each crew member's preferences. This creative approach added to the vivid and immersive reading experience. About 50% into the book, it becomes obvious who the saboteur is...obvious to the reader, that is, while the crew remains oblivious to the impossible to miss fact.

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Sparse open clusters contain less than a hundred stars, while rich ones may have thousands. Open clusters form from nebulae. All open clusters are relatively young objects, generally no more than a few hundred million years old. We know the open clusters we observe are young because given enough time, the stars in an open cluster disperse due to gravitational interaction within the cluster. If we were able to follow a single open cluster from its formation, we would see the cluster disperse stars throughout its entire galactic journey. Approximately 1,700 open clusters are known.

It was a very fast and engaging read and I would highly recommend The Deep Sky to mystery/thriller readers who are looking for something different or to SciFi readers who are looking for a simpler SciFi story. As an avid reader of weird SciFi, I kept expecting the story to take a turn towards the weird and unhinged explanations. However, The Deep Sky is very much a thriller set in space. I also wished that the author had explored a few of the interesting SciFi concepts and technologies in a bit more depth. You might wonder how objects composed of up to a trillion or more individual stars could be so difficult to observe. Of course, the answer is distance. Galaxies are so far away that, except for a small number, they all appear small and faint. Even advanced observers regard observing faint galaxies as a challenge.I just finished the companion novel for Sky, but we haven’t announced details yet. It’s coming Fall 2019. Lastly, do you have any book recommendations for us? She is given no choice but to trust Fiske, her brother's friend. They must do the impossible: unite the clans to fight together, or risk being slaughtered one by one. Driven by a love for her clan and her growing love for Fiske, Eelyn must confront her own definition of loyalty and family to find a way to forgive her brother while daring to put her faith in the people she's spent her life hating. Yes. Sky in the Deep is definitely something unique in the YA Fantasy landscape. Intensely character-drive, stark, bleak, and yet the thread of hope is pulled taut throughout the entire narrative. Even before the explosion, Asuka struggled with feelings of inadequacy. She was the final selection for the mission, faced challenges during training on Earth, and grapples with her dual identity as a half-Japanese girl raised in America. With her strained relationship with her mother and the crew members turning against each other, The Phoenix becomes Asuka's sole anchor.