PUBLISHED on 2 October 2017. A novel by Anne Corlett published by HarperCollins in 2017. I reviewed a fellow Bath Spa University graduate novel and took a writer’s perspective for the book review on my blog. A popular novel for its different take on the typical dystopian sci-fi genre.
Book synopsis
The Space Between The Stars is set in a post-apocalyptic environment, being a dystopian book, and a major crisis had hit Earth, as well as other settlements in space. Humanity is at its brink, the population crisis is at its maximum toll thanks to a virus which had wiped out most of humanity on Earth and the other space settlements. We first see “Jamie Allenby”, a young veterinarian woman in her thirties, waking up on a desolate wasteland that she had once escaped to from Earth, in order to get away from family and friends for a solo retreat by working on a remote planet far away from Earth as possible. Fortunately, she was saved from the effects of the virus due to being on a remote planet, only she wakes up and has to survive alone on a planet cut off from civilisation. Or, at least, being far off from an urban city with much more resources. After intercepting a voice message, who she assumes was from her husband, “Daniel”, back on Earth, and decides to reconnect with her long-lost long-term partner. From recalling her miscarriage incident and her troubling marriage, she plans to go on a journey back to Northumberland based on a past conversation she had with “Daniel”. They would meet up in Northumberland, Earth, if an apocalyptic scenario ever should occur.
Soon after receiving the transmitted message, she meets a group of survivors, and later, after a successful attempt in leaving the planet, meets the captain and his engineer who maintains the spaceship where most of the story takes place on. They pick up two more survivors from another planet soon after. Her new companions, who all shares similar struggles and fears, as well owning diverse origin stories, comes to terms with loss but sees hope in the future. At the same time, “Jamie” is still persistent with her journey to Northumberland, which the companions all agree with and decides that will be their final destination. Although, with a medium-sized crew stuck in an enclosed space, friction between each companion starts to arise, causing a difference in opinions and beliefs, and eventually, their relationship with each other.