I really enjoyed The Splinter in the Sky, so I knew I had to read This World Is Not Yours. This novella bites off a whole lot! I love the unique world and this is definitely for you if you love unique premises. Keep reading this book review of This World Is Not Yours for my full thoughts.
Summary
After fleeing her controlling and murderous family with her fiancée Vinh, Amara embarks on a colonization project, New Belaforme, along with her childhood friend, Jesse.
The planet, beautiful and lethal, produces the Gray, a “self-cleaning” mechanism that New Belaforme’s scientists are certain only attacks invasive organisms, consuming them. Humans have been careful to do nothing to call attention to themselves until a rival colony wakes the Gray.
As Amara, Vinh, and Jesse work to carve out a new life together, each is haunted by past betrayals that surface, expounded by the need to survive the rival colony and the planet itself.
There’s more than one way to be eaten alive.
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
Let me just get this out of the way – I needed this to be longer! Kemi Ashing-Giwa is responsible for some amazing world premises. I loved the premise of colonizing a world and the world sort of fighting back. This idea of what if we were the invasive organism is such a unique and insightful concept. I loved how it sort of takes on an environmental science fiction element. And we don’t spend enough time in this world! I really wanted to see the world elements bloom! Secondly, This World Is Not Yours is more character focused.
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It’s focused on jealousy, love and sacrifice. It introduces this horror element which only increases. In some ways, it’s like watching an episode or a segment of Doctor Who and just wanting a bit more! There’s this sense of the surreal, the dangerous in space, but also the danger in humanity. And there’s where the beauty lies. This World Is Not Yours focuses on monsters and on sacrifices and alien organisms, but it also examines our own internal motivations. The ambition, cruelty, and love within us. Catherine Ho did an amazing job narrating the audiobook and infusing the words with this almost sinister gleam. I just wish it had been given more space to breathe. There’s some gorgeous work in the aliens, the horror elements, and the world which I feel needed more.
If you still want to read a unique and really interesting world, I’d still give This World Is Not Yours a read. It’s just a testament to writing of Ashing-Giwa and then go pick up The Splinter in the Sky! Find This World Is Not Yours on Goodreads, Storygraph, Amazon, Bookshop. org, Blackwells, & Libro. fm.