Summary
They left Earth to save humanity. They’ll have to save themselves first.
It is the eve of Earth’s environmental collapse. A single ship carries humanity’s last hope: eighty elite graduates of a competitive program, who will give birth to a generation of children in deep space. But halfway to a distant but livable planet, a lethal bomb kills three of the crew and knocks The Phoenix off course. Asuka, the only surviving witness, is an immediate suspect.
Asuka already felt like an impostor before the explosion. She was the last picked for the mission, she struggled during training back on Earth, and she was chosen to represent Japan, a country she only partly knows as a half-Japanese girl raised in America. But estranged from her mother back home, The Phoenix is all she has left.
With the crew turning on each other, Asuka is determined to find the culprit before they all lose faith in the mission—or worse, the bomber strikes again.
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
TW: miscarriage, fertility issues, terrorism, death of a child, racism, gore, strong language
We love to see biracial rep and in The Deep Sky it is done so beautifully. Kitasei examines the ways the world seeks to put people into a box. All the ways we can feel like an Imposter, the ways the world can make us feel that way. It’s incredibly timely considering the questions of allegiance we hear about for the Olympics, and this is just on an even bigger scale. Reading The Deep Sky I loved the way this Science Fiction Thriller/Mystery was able to examine identity and friendship in this high paced setting.
In terms of SF, Kitasei showcases a world focused on the future. On finding the future of humanity and also on the children of the future. There are some chilling stories about parenthood and Kitasei only continues to explore it with Asuka’s mother. For the thriller/mystery, The Deep Sky turns into this locked room scenario where the air they breath is a danger factor. The levels of human betrayal combined with the SF setting heightens that feeling. Trust is in short supply and even more so as they’re running out of air.
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I loved The Deep Sky in a million different ways big and small. How the politics of the world – even millions of miles away – end up impacting the crew members. Or all her facts about birds! It’s rich and multi-dimensional as well as being an action packed time. Find The Deep Sky on Goodreads, Storygraph, Amazon, Bookshop.org, & Blackwells.