Happy book birthday to Goldilocks! A space adventure to find a new planet grand theft spaceship style. In this near-future tale of women taking control over their destiny and the whole world’s fate, many challenges explore how far they are willing to go for the greater good. My many thanks to Anne Cater, the publisher, and Laura Lam for allowing me to be part of this tour.

Author: Laura Lam Publisher: Headline Publishing Group, Wildfire Pages: 352 Genre: Sci-fi, Dystopian Publication: 30th April 2020

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Synopsis:

Ravaged by environmental disaster, greed and oppression, our planet is in crisis. The future of humanity hangs in the balance – and one woman can tip it over.

Despite increasing restrictions on the freedoms of women on Earth, Valerie Black is spearheading the first all-female mission to a planet in the Goldilocks Zone, Cavendish, where conditions are just right for human habitation.

It’s humanity’s last hope for survival, and Naomi, Valerie’s surrogate daughter and the ship’s botanist, has been waiting her whole life for an opportunity like this – to step out of Valerie’s shadow and really make a difference.

But when things start going wrong on the ship, Naomi starts to suspect that someone on board is concealing a terrible secret – and realises time for life on Earth may be running out faster than they feared…

Review:

This is a book unsettling close to our current world situation. The destruction of the planet caused by climate change, high levels of pollution, wearing masks all the time, evolved forms of known diseases affecting the population. For sure, not a book to read if you want to forget the world outside. Although that is also proof of how well crafted it is.

From politics to moral, capitalism, communism, feminism to environment everything is discussed between the characters. There is amazing commentary throughout the book, as the characters try to understand what exactly is wrong on Earth, to prevent the same happening on Cavendish. And all of it sparked the idea of creating a utopia in the new planet. Although they quickly realize that human nature won’t allow the perfect society to exist.

“… one person’s utopia usually means someone else’s dystopia”

Yet, it was their mission to try and found a new and better society where women weren’t pushed-off, everyone had the same rights, and they preserved the environment.

The scientific aspect of the whole adventure was well detailed without becoming overwhelmingly complicated. I can’t vouch for accuracy, although it was scientific-y enough to get me immersed into the spaceship with them.

I have to say that the plot was a little bit predictable, and I wanted the characters to bump into more complex problems. I guess the idea behind this book is to develop the characters, to express all these different points of view, and create discussion instead of a high-action-close-to-death type of book that I was expecting.

Either way, I sympathised with these women and enjoyed reading some of my thoughts through them. Even though the future seemed dark, they fought for what was right and what they believed was the best for all. And in the end, it left a heartwarming sense of hope that everything will work out.

About the author:

Laura Lam is the author of several science fiction books, including Radio 2 Book Club selection False Hearts. Her short fiction and essays have appeared in anthologies such as Nasty Women, Solaris Rising 3, Cranky Ladies of History, Scotland in Space, and more.

Originally from California, she now lives in Scotland with her husband, and teaches Creative Writing at Edinburgh Napier University.

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Don’t forget to check out all the other bloggers on this tour for more reviews.