I love space books. And the setting in this is no exception. I love it. I love how this book starts, definitely gets you invested very quickly. I didn't guess who the traitor was so that was nice. I really did not like the chapters leading up to them boarding the ship.

This was a good setup for an outer space murder mystery, but it had several things working against it. The wasn't enough distinction between characters to make them memorable as individuals. The use of the DAR (VR) seemed overly used and confusing in the writing. Hard to get character's motivations and suspicions.

<b>3.25✨</b> A decent debut overall that I wish I’d been in a better mood to read / wasn’t completely sure why the blurb appealed to me to begin with aside from space. 🫢😅 A whodunnit isn’t usually something I go in for without other contributing factors, and while the second half of this book did pick up and become more compelling, much of the first half felt like work. I mostly enjoyed the non-linear storytelling (I very rarely don’t), and the parts back on Earth felt the most interesting and poignant for me. I also enjoyed Asuka as the main character - I feel like she kept quietly believing in herself and working the problem, and that went a long way toward my finishing the book.

+/- short chapters
- a bit too much present day slang in the first half
+ non-linear
+ LGBTQ+ rep
- guessed a few twists
+ emotional undercurrents / motivations done very well

<b>CW:</b> fertility issues, miscarriage, death of a child, strained parent/child relationships, racism, terrorism

<i>Thanks to NetGalley and Flatiron Books for an eARC of this book!</i>

Thanks to Flatiron for the copy of this book!!

Yume Kitasei coming in hot with an incredible debut!

The mission is straightforward: 80 recruits head to deep space in The Phoenix as humanity's last hope when the Earth is on the edge of environmental collapse. The recruits also have childbearing potentail to start a new generation. But it goes off course when a bomb kills multiple members of the crew. Asuka, our main character, is the only survivor of the explosion and the obvious suspect.

While the mission is simple, the charaters are complex. The narratives on mother/daughter relationships, estrangement, pregnancy and childbearing potential, belonging to multiple ethnicities, and friendship are all so well-developed in this dual timeline, locked-room mystery.

This is perfect for fans of:
- books with a diverse cast
- locked-room mysteries
- Project Hail Mary
- the movie Sunshine

This is a very good science fiction book. The main character is Asuka who is part Japanese and part American. She is on the first Earth voyage to a distant star. They were in hibernation for the first ten years and are near the beginning of the next ten year cycle where they will become pregnant and start raising their children before going back into hibernation for another ten years before arriving at their destination. Asuka is representing Japan on this journey that was the brainchild of one woman and was partially funded by many countries, who also have representatives on the ship. The story goes back and forth between the present challenges that they are facing and the years of training that started when everyone on the ship was 12 years old. The concept of an entire crew who is capable of bearing a child to grow their population is not one that I have seen before and I found it interesting. The last quarter of this book was a real nail biter, wondering how it was going to end.

I received a copy of this book to review through NetGalley.

THE DEEP SKY, the debut novel from accomplished Yume Kitasei, is a gloriously Pride-filled Space Drama. I say Drama rather than Opera, as it focuses much more intensely on the emotional human cost and on the intangibles of Friendship, family, love, loyalty, and particularly of nationalism and chauvinism. Actually I am surprised that the LGBTQ+ elements and individuals are never the targets of ostracism, whereas national nativity, ethnicity, and political views certainly are targeted. The more I consider this, the odder but more gratifying this is. [I am not gratified about political divisions, national chauvinism and rivalry, nor ethnic bigotry!] But seeing LGBTQ+ issues treated matter-of-factly is gratifying.

For my own interest, I would have enjoyed more Hard Science [never can get enough], but that's not this novel's intent. Instead, THE DEEP SKY provides an entertaining and thought-provoking 416 pages of Space Drama, Coming-of-Age in a rigid Earthside Space Academy, friendships, birth family and found family, and discovering one's purpose...at last.

An explosion imperils an interstellar expedition from Earth, setting up a mystery that is the core of the plot. There is a great deal of backstory about the relationships among the characters, which is presumably there to highlight possible motivations for their attitudes and actions. Naturally, it takes time and mistakes to solve. I am not a person who much enjoys what to me is kind of soap opera personal relationships, if you do you’ll like this book. It is well written, with a logical plot. I think that refering to the book as a thriller is totally off, it’s a mystery and a decent one.

When an explosion sends the interstellar colony ship, Phoenix, off course, it’s Asuka’s job to find out what happened. As the ship's “Alternate” she is uniquely qualified to investigate any part of the ship and all of the work crews. Was it a mechanical malfunction? Rogue AI? Or sabotage? And can Asuka figure it out before anything else goes wrong?

The plot as I just described it is the framework on which the story’s themes hang. This is a sci-fi story with interstellar space travel, matter recyclers, and physically integrated computer AI. And while that and the mystery are fun, the real meat of the story focuses on identity, interpersonal relationships of all sorts, and a person’s responsibility to their planet, their family, and themselves. The story jumps back and forth in time as we follow Asuka’s journey to the stars and then her journey through them.

I liked the characters. That’s not to say all the characters were likable, but I found them compelling and Kitasei did a fantastic job of differentiating each character through language, voice, and mannerisms. Asuka’s relationships with many of these characters is fleshed out, not in the present, but in flashbacks as they all train for this mission. We get to see how they all grew up, or didn’t, over the last 22 years.

This book is somehow a slow paced page turner. I devoured this book. Every time I put it down, I wanted to pick it right back up. I was sneaking in pages on my phone at work. I wanted to finish it so badly. And I’m still not sure exactly what about it snagged my attention so hard, but I’m so glad I requested this ARC.

⚠️ Content Warning ⚠️
Pregnancy plays a huge role in the plot of this book. Many of the characters are pregnant and there is death in the book of a pregnant individual. It’s not graphic, but it is there.

This book follows a long term space mission manned by crew of all women and non-binary people, while the environment on Earth may be beyond saving. It alternates back and forth from the years they spent growing up and training together, to the present on the spaceship where things start to go sideways.

I love the fact that the cast of characters are all AFAB (the mission needs people able to carry pregnancies). There was interesting dynamics between crew members - they knew each other throughout their formative years, in a grueling competition for a spot on the mission, and now they must rely on each other in deep space. There is great tension and mystery as our main character Asuka tries to figure out what caused an explosion on the ship and who is to blame. This is definitely heavy on solving the mystery, but there's thrills and plenty of science fiction too.

The sci-fi elements were interesting and I especially loved the aspects of AI and digitally altered reality. Overall, a fascinating sci-fi thriller that explores many important things including racism/nationalism, identity and belonging, and hope for humanity.

I love a sci-fi thriller/mystery, so I was delighted to receive an ARC of Yume Kitasei’s The Deep Sky. Set in a near future in which Earth’s environment is collapsing, The Deep Sky follows a group of young women astronauts who plan to give birth while traveling to a distant livable planet. However, not long after coming out of their initial 10-year cryosleep, a bomb kills part of the crew and knocks the ship off course. Asuka, the only surviving witness, takes it upon herself to get to the bottom of this locked room mystery.

The Deep Sky is written with a dual timeline—in alternating chapters, we see the young women enter an elite boarding school to train for the mission and compete for one of the 80 spots on the spaceship. The set-up reminded me of Ender’s Game and this storyline helped provide background on the characters that Asuka investigates in the alternate timeline. In the “present”, Asuka’s undertaking to discover the bomber’s identity and get the ship back on track is ACTION PACKED.

The Deep Sky features climate change, AI, virtual reality and includes a diverse, largely queer cast. In addition to being a total page-turner, Kitasei’s novel feels like a refreshingly progressive re-write of the sci-fi that many of us grew up with. Thanks so much to Flatiron Books and Netgalley for the advanced reader’s copy! (Out 7/18)

ume Kitasei’s debut novel is a whodunnit set in a spaceship, where the stakes are high not just for main character, Asuka, and her crewmates, but for the future of the human race. Kitasei balances the forward momentum of a classic mystery with a dual timeline that helps readers contextualize THE PHOENIX’s mission - interpersonal relationships, geopolitical tensions between home countries - as Asuka is tasked with casting doubt onto every person she has grown up with in order to find a potential murderer.

Asuka’s position as the “alternative” makes her best suited to play detective, but also enforces the imposter syndrome that plagues her constantly. This constant feeling of inadequacy - as a countrywoman, as a crew member, as a daughter, as a mother to the next generation - is Asuka’s largest character flaw and endearment. It’s also incredibly relatable. The meritocracy inherent in the program, funded by a billionaire, as a last ditch effort to bring countries together amidst a crumbling Earth feels so large; but a woman comparing her achievements to others in her workplace keeps the story grounded.

I loved the presence of technology as both a form of escape and something more sinister. Alpha, their AI, and DAR, which allows the crew to see the world in unique, personal landscapes, help develop an almost gothic atmosphere in contrast to the ship’s actual clinical and mass-produced feel. Coupled with the far away presence of Mission Control back on Earth, the pure isolation of the characters who are traveling into the unknown feels especially creepy, and the current emergency more urgent.

My main frustrations with the book are more personal than technical. I grew frustrated by Asuka’s insecurity, which made her feel inconsistent as a character at times. Her relationships with supporting characters felt disconnected, making it hard to understand why she was so sure this or that person didn’t have it in them to sabotage their mission. Her growth by the end of the novel was warmly welcomed by me, though, even if the journey there didn’t necessarily feel fully earned.

This is a great read for folks who love:
- Space
- Found (competitive) family
- Lots of queer characters
- Climate Literature
- A mystery with a satisfying end
- Explorations of pregnancy/birth (both literally and metaphorically)

Thank you NetGalley for providing me an ARC copy of the book.

This book, to me, ends up reading more as a murder/sabotage mystery in space, as opposed to thriller or even horror that I've seen some tag it as.

If I didn't get an ARC copy of this novel, I probably would have DNF it around 25%. I felt that the world building and start of the mystery was all very slow, and I found myself not really caring about the characters.

That being said, everything started to change around 50% the way through. The story and mystery started to really pick up and I was glad that I pushed through.

Hi hey hello this book is a masterpiece and I will love it eternally...

In all seriousness, The Deep Sky is a poignant, thrilling, often humorous tale that I found impossible to put down until I saw it through its resolution. Every moment reading this book was well-spent.

Asuka, the FMC, is perhaps one of the most relatable, compelling heroines I have ever encountered, and her struggles with identity and belonging resonated with me in simultaneously devastating and beautiful ways. I felt for her and want to see the world through her eyes again and again.

Honestly, I was less impressed by the "mystery" than by the characters and their relationships and the topics of humanity, family, love & loss, reproduction, and so so much more. It was everything I hoped for and beyond.

Asuka is one of eighty people selected through a rigorous multinational program to make their way to the distant Planet X. Each of them has a role to play (except for Alts like Asuka, who can take on one of many odd jobs), and each of them is expected to give birth en route to their destination.

Along the way, things go wrong. Very wrong. As in a bomb goes off on the hull of their ship—killing three crew members, including the captain—and sets them off course. Asuka, as an Alt, is the one who has to determine what happened.

The Deep Sky is a page-turner that is part whodunnit and part space thriller, but it is more than that.

There characters here are carefully drawn and very believable. Much of the story hinges on what it means to cooperate in a confined space, especially when people of varied background, assumptions and beliefs are brought together. The relationships and conflicts of the various characters are what I enjoyed the most about this book. The book is tightly plotted but it is the interactions of the characters that really drives it forward.

I couldn’t put the book down and read it obsessively over a couple of days.

Thanks to Flatiron Books and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy.

What a wonderful sci-fi novel!! I’m usually not a big fan of dual timelines but this one felt necessary for the audience to fully understand what the crew members are going through and the relationships they have in present time. I’m such a sucker for space operas and I could honestly read at least 3 more books set in this universe- in space or on Planet X. I love the way the people were chosen to go on the mission- only people with uteruses so they could have children on the way to the new planet. I will say the way Earth is described in this book hits a little too close to home- which I know is the point. It feels like the book could take place 5 years from now. While I do wish we had gotten to know more of the crew better, there’s only so many characters you can introduce in a ~400 page book- all the more reason to have more books! 😉 I can’t wait to see what more this debut author puts out!

I enjoyed this character-focused book about interstellar space travel, although a couple of things about it didn't quite land with this particular reader.

One thing I appreciated, and one thing readers should know going in, is that The Deep Sky is NOT a scientifically accurate, hard scifi story. Kitasei herself makes this very clear in the author outro, saying that the physics in particular is often wrong, and sometimes on purpose. Which is fair enough!

The best way to approach the book, IMO, is as the story of relationships, and how crises shape them. Crises of our own making and crises that are far beyond our control.

At its heart, the novel is the story of Japanese-American Asuka's relationship with two people: her mother and her long-time best friend, Ruth. When the book starts, Asuka's relationship with both is tense. By the end, I felt rewarded at how Kitasei resolved both situations. I also really enjoyed a lot of the characters in the book, and feel certain that some of them will sit with me for a while.

I also thought the augmented/virtual reality angle was cool. This isn't just about a spaceship! It's in part about how the analog and the digital collide. And it's a mystery. So, also cool.

Lots of things to like, in other words!

The main thing that didn't land well with me was the sort of childbirth subplot / plot detail. To explain that without giving spoilers, all the characters on the ship go through a grueling selection process that's lasted since they were children. BUT the only people eligible to go are also those who can (in something like the book's words) "people who can give birth to a child halfway through."

In part because I'd just finished reading SOME DESPARATE GLORY, a SF novel with a setting where forced pregnancy is part of what the MC struggles against while living in a radically reactionary, authoritarian society, I had to REALLY try very hard to get into a SF book where everyone was like, "Yay, so many pregnant people! Required medical insemination! Yay!"

I think what the author is going for was to celebrate pregnancy and childbirth in a setting and situation that is normally assumed to be cisgender men only.

And, to be fair, Kitasei approached things in a very non-TERFy way that IS inclusive (there are nonbinary characters and trans men on the ship) and to be honest the the whole selection process in the world of the story is made out to be extremely messed up and problematic anyway. But, while characters DO comment on how messed up the rest of it is, nobody explicitly talks about the pregnancy thing, and in the end I left the book with a little lingering unease with this part of the story.

On a much more minor note, I thought some of the space stuff was a little too unrealistic to be convincing. I'm okay with that, though. Again, if you're a hard SF fan, this probably isn't a book for you.

Overall, despite the parts that made me squint a little, I enjoyed this tale of relationships and how they shape our lives--and how our lives shape them back.

This is one of the most anticipated books for 2023 and a strong debut for this author. The story follows Asuka as she tries to discover who planted a bomb on the ship that killed 3 crew members. While Asuka struggles to help find the perpetrator, she must also confront her own struggles with mommy issues, broken friendships, low self-esteem, and infertility.

What I loved about the book, is how it goes back and forth from the present to the past where we learn about Asuka's childhood and her training for the mission. We learn about other crew members and about some of the technology they use on the ship. The key piece of technology is called DAR. Each crew member can generate an alternate reality that helps them cope with any anxieties while on board the ship.

This is not really a thriller but more of a mystery drama. While I loved the premise of the book, it is very one note throughout. The chapters are short, which keep the story moving, but several of the chapters are filled with unnecessary exposition and often repeat several points. I did enjoy some of the additional characters; however, they were not fully explored and deciding whether they were likable was difficult. I had a hard time wrapping my head around the representation of pregnancy in this book. I understand their goal is to repopulate and create a new civilization on another planet, but the execution was tough to follow.

3.5 rounded up to 4

Thank you to NetGallery and Flatiron Books for this ARC

This has been one of my most anticipated reads of 2023 and it didn't disappoint. This deep space thriller is a fast paced ride you'll want to reread. Thank you Netgalley for advanced access.

After a lethal bomb kills three members of a elite group of eighty young people chosen to journey to a distant planet, Asuka, one of those chosen elite, becomes the most likely suspect.

Asuka, one of the last members chosen for the mission- a mission where each member is expected to give birth to at least one child along the way-has been unable to become pregnant. She’s already estranged from her mother on Earth, doesn’t have the best relationship with several other crew members, and now she needs to find the person responsible before the entire mission implodes.

A lot of science fiction novels are light on the science. You won’t find that with The Deep Sky. At times I found myself a little too bogged down with the jargon, but for the most part it made me more grounded in the story.

Each member of the crew has their own DAR, a Digitally Augmented Reality. So each person essentially could create their own unique world that was different from anyone else. I loved the mystery and plot line around that world building aspect the most!

I also enjoyed how the story went back and forth in time between Asuka’s childhood, when she was training for the mission, and the current timeline. Every time we shifted back in the past, it helped me understand Asuka’s present decisions and actions even more.

There’s a large cast in The Deep Sky, and the author did great job of fleshing them all out. The character dynamics were a little complicated to follow in the beginning, but by the end of the book, I was invested in several relationships.

My only real criticism is the pacing of the book. The beginning started off with a big event, but then the book became a little too technical and, even though the chapters in the past timeline did help me understand the main character more, the pacing would slow to a crawl only to speed up and then slow down way too much again.

If you love a good mystery set in space, enjoy training sequences and love your sci-fi to be grounded in technology, I’d recommend picking up The Deep Sky.

*Thanks to NetGalley and Flatiron books for both a physical and digital arc. All opinions are my own.

The Deep Sky is a science fiction thriller that leaves you on the edge of your seat with so many theories running through your head only to find out they can all be as right as they are wrong.

Asuka was born in a future America where wild fires have left Californians as refugees and extremest have become mainstream. Hum maybe it isn’t that futuristic after all. Everything seemed not only possible but also likely. Including the plan to send out a deep space ship to colonize a new planet.

Only eighty will go, and at the age of twelve Asuka submits her application to be one of the few. Only now they are living in Japan and she is chosen to represent a country she barely knows.

The Deep Sky takes place both on the ship and in the past. Asuka’s narration is plagued with self doubt and imposter syndrome and it is by looking to the past that we truly get a sense of who she is as a narrator and a character.

I really enjoyed this book. It was full of do much non-binary/trans rep s as well as queer rep and it was normalized. Although that may have just been the space that these kids were allowed to grow up in. Progressive and toxic at the same time.

There are a few items that were not as great. I do not understand why there was a plan to give birth to babies half way through the trip. A reason was given but it fell flat to me. I assume it was to make the characters all be individuals with uteruses. And it made for interesting pregnancy rep in space. You don’t get that a lot. But then again is it really a great idea for eighty people to be pregnant at the same time? Once the babies are born there would be no one left to ruin anything.

Also, the reasoning behind the ending was a bit of a let down. I especially feel this way the more I have sat with it. The actual ending was as expected and played out well. But the reason for the whole mess could have been given a bit more thought or depth IMO.

But mostly I just enjoyed it. The writing was great and the characters were well developed.