A lovely book, interesting characters, a great premise with loads to think about. Not your usual dystopian story with a great reveal at the end. Wonderful.

The Space Between the Stars is a well-written story about a future where there is no future. Humans are in short supply and Jamie wonders if she is alive when she wakes. Her thirst tells her that she is not a ghost. Unfortunately, all other humans are gone, turned to dust. She is a vet living on another planet, a colony of the earth. The animals are still there, so she turns them loose, gets on a horse and goes to the nearest town to look for other survivors. It was predicted that a virus would wipe out ninety nine point nine nine nine nine percent of the population. Which means that zero point zero zero zero one percent may still be alive. Where are they?

Over time, she finds a few others, and they all want to go back to earth. They want to find loved ones, but it does not appear they will find them. It seems the prediction was right. A space ship lands looking for fuel and the travelers embark for a trip around other colony planets, not sure they will get to earth.

The Space Between the Stars is where God lives. Why did he do this to man? This is a dramatic story of one future we hopefully do not face.

The Space Between the Stars will take you on a journey of heart and faith. This isn’t your average “end of the world” type story. The human population wasn’t killed by a “zombie” virus, a war, or a normal apocalypse situation. The human population was almost wiped out from a flu-like virus that spread like wild fire. This story isn’t about people trying to survive because there are limited resources or because there are zombies or evil men trying to kill them. This story is about what’s left of the human population trying to decide whether they want to live alone, together, or exhaust themselves trying to rebuild the human race.
Though I feel like this book was well written, and the characters were well developed, I have mixed feelings about the message in the story line. I am a very open person and I respect religious freedom and the differences in others’ beliefs, but I feel annoyed when I find characters who stay strong in their faith in the end of the world type situations. In this story, 99% of the population died from a virus that was spread like the flu (i.e. close contact), and many cases of the virus were spread in situations where non-infected people went to comfort their infected loved ones. I feel like ALL the characters should have been focused on settling in an area and making a living for themselves, and instead, some of them were focused on what God’s plan was and trying to decide if they wanted to help the government repopulate the world. Though this point makes this book unique from other “end of the world” type books, it also irked my nerves a little. I could not relate to the faith aspect of the book, but I could relate to the human aspect.
Our main character, Jamie, spent the first few days of the story completely isolated and alone. She truly missed human contact and the touch of another, and yet also started to feel detachment from the world and what was left of the population. Throughout the story she struggles with her need for human interaction and her new-found admiration of the thought of making it on her own. Her struggle made her character feel real and relatable. I feel like I related to her better than the rest of the characters, especially in her disagreements with Rena.
Rena’s character was my least favorite. This is where the faith aspect came in the strongest. After everything that happened in the world and through all the struggles faced in the story, Rena holds on to her faith and claims that God chose to wipe out the human race in an effort to cleanse the world of the unworthy so the worthy could rebuild. We even find out some angering details about her life before the virus wiped out the human population and I came to hate her. Unfortunately, we had to put up with her character to be able to live with Lowry’s.
Lowry is a good man and a loveable character. He stayed with Rena long after it was time to leave her behind. He helped others every chance he got and he always seemed like he was there to listen to the others when needed. Though he was a man of faith from before the virus, he held the good, moral aspects of faith and those shined through until the end.
Callan and Grace were not as well developed as I would have liked. Though they were necessary to the story and added some interesting details, I feel like we could have learned more about their backgrounds. I am happy with the turn of events involving Callan though.
Finn was my favorite character. He represented innocence and held a lack of understanding of what was truly happening in the world around him. Though the author did not say it outright, I came to understand that he suffered from a form of autism because of his mood swings, his freak out moments when someone touched him, his unusual intelligence, and his admiration for puzzles. Finn possessed the ability to bring out the true human kindness in some of our characters (Jamie and Callan), to love unconditionally (Mila) and brought out the immoral, religious fanatic characteristic in Rena.
Mila was an interesting character. I struggled with how I felt about her because I wholeheartedly disapprove of what she was (a prostitute), and yet she had a good heart and was brave and intelligent. She took care of Finn until the rest of the crew found them and she showed a huge act of bravery later in the story, but she had no qualms about her profession and even stated that she would most likely not change her profession. She was definitely hated by Rena, and even though she had an immoral job, she carried more morals and heart than Rena.
The more I think about this book, the more I like it. I am unable to relate to Rena’s faith and the idea that people can still believe in a “good” higher being after the end of the world, but I can relate to wanting to carry the ideals of love, morals, and the human connection with me no matter what happens. This story shows the emotional response to the end of the world and the good that can still exist beyond that.

The Review for this book will go live on it's release date at http://dewonthekudzu.com.

The writer has a good grasp on story structure, but needs to work on the plot and character development. There was no balance show and tell, there was too much attention paid to being philosophical without first providing a strong foundation to build upon.

This book was really amazing in so many ways. I was drawn to the book immediately upon reading the synopsis on NetGalley. I am a huge fan of dystopian fiction and it seemed as if the main character Jamie was someone I could identify with. The story is set in the future though what year it is remains unclear. People have settled new worlds, some by choice and others not. Jamie is a veterinarian at a remote cattle ranch on the planet Soltaire. The story begins when she wakes up after three days of an illness that has decimated the population across most of the known planets. She knows that survival rate is near .0001% and her fear of being completely alone overwhelms her. After taking what few belongings she owns she heads by horseback to the nearest spaceport to see if there is anyone there. She surprisingly runs into two more survivors Lowry and Rena. Members of a distant church who set up a distress beacon in hopes of flagging someone with a ship. Soon they are contacted by Callen, a lone pilot who agrees to take them to Alegria, the capital planet.
Jamie wants to eventually head to earth where she thinks her former love, Daniel may be waiting due to a long standing joke that if the world ends they would meet up there. Their group slowly forms with other lost souls with no other place to go. They eventually all decide to head to earth but there are others who have more sinister plans to rebuild the capital the way they see fit and Jamie and her crew may have more trouble headed their way.
Overall I loved the story, I kept picturing a Firefly cast of characters looking for a place to call home. I am hoping that there could be other books but as a stand alone book it works fine.

The Space Between the Stars is a dystopian novel of humanity after a bizarre virus wipes out all but .001 percent of humanity. The untold part of the story is that humanity has spread out to the stars, developed a fairly authoritarian government which divides people into two classes - the rich get the benefits and all the advantages, the poor have to scrape to get by - and then genetically engineers a disease which quickly wipes out a large portion of the human race.
When Jamie Allenby, wakes up, she quickly discovers she's alone as the only survivor on the farm where she works as a veterinarian. While Jamie is clearly supposed to be mid-to late 30s, she sometimes acts like a 20 something "new adult". The story is engaging, but some of the characters are very cliched versions that appear in every similar title in the dystopian, sci-fi genre.

The Space Between the Stars is a unique dystopian fiction novel that sends humans through space looking for survivors after a terrible virus nearly wipes out all human life. The characters are wonderfully wrought with both strength and fragility and they burn themselves upon the reader as each scene unfolds in vivid, immediate detail. This story explores love and loss in unexpected, emotional and thrilling ways. Once you plunge in you'll find yourself unable to stop until you reach that last, beautiful earth-bound shore.

An end of the world story that isn't quite an end of the world story--I'd like to give it 3.5 stars, but I can't, so I decided that I'd be gracious instead of stingy, so it gets four. The characters are interesting enough, the storyline works for the most part, and even though I figured things out before they were revealed, I never felt like the story was too predictable.

The space between the stars by Anne Corlett. This turned out to be a middling after-the-end-of-the-world story. The main character is much older than she seems; the reader is reminded several times of her advancing age and her ticking biological clock, but she acts like a teenager. It was hard to like her very much. The disease that starts the story is rather contrived: it seems outside of scientific possibility for a human body to turn instantly to dust, no matter the virus. It is a sad and convenient way for the character to not have to deal with decomposing bodies; dust is so much easier.

3 stars, would neither recommend nor purchase.

i enjoyed this book even though it's not really something i would pick up normally. three stars because i found it just a tad difficult to weave my way through, but overall, really good!

An original combination of science fiction and literary quality. The science fiction part was gripping but the author clearly did not concern herself with making those elements believable. The emphasis is on the human responses to tragedy and faiure. I hope that this book escapes the being considered as only science fiction, since it belongs beside books by Atwood and Lessing.

This is pretty amazing. Plot-wise, it felt like it meanders a little bit from one thing to the next, even though several sections had a definite feeling of urgency. I love how it touched on such a wide range of ideas, including authoritarianism and eugenics as well as all the usual dystopian/apocalyptic tropes. Firefly combined with Station Eleven. I really loved a lot of the characters too.

Ann Corlett has brought to life a colorful universe. It has a real Firefly kind of vibe, and I love that. The story progresses quickly, but the middle was a little slow for my taste. It picked back up in the last quarter of the book where exciting things happen and that's when I was on the edge of my seat, hoping that Jamie can save the day and humanity. Four stars for Corlett. This was a great read.

I found the concept of being the survivor of a post-apocalyptic event interesting particularly with the way Anne Corlett writes. It wasn’t just your basic space travel, let’s have some indepth examination of humanity, thing that is often so typical with this genre. Of course there was some of that there because if you’re a love of sci-fi you’ll expect that but there was an emotional depth to her story and characters I hadn’t expected when I began reading. I don’t often go in for this kind of thing unless it’s on a big screen so I thought it’d be a refreshing change of pace which by the end I was glad I diverged from my normal go to path of genres.

When I read a book with the purpose of reviewing it I normally do it in one sitting barring unplanned interruptions so that I can have everything fresh in my mind when I write. The one however I found myself stepping away often not because it was a bad book but because it forces you to ask a lot of questions about yourself and pushes you into an emotional journey you weren’t prepared for when you opened the pages. I loved that this book pulled me in and made me feel so involved in its mesmeric story line. You will crisscross along an emotional gamut rarely found in sci-fi books to the point your thoughts become intertwined with those of the characters leaving you to wonder what happened as if their journey didn’t end when you closed the book.

Though there is some of the prototypical examination of humanity, what will the actions of the few be, will they devolve, what questions will be answered, what choices will they make, etc there is also enough romance and thrills to keep you entertained. Think the TV show Firefly but on a literary level.

The character group takes on the stereotype often found in small group space movies where nearly everyone can find someone they identify with and they end up in various situations that all come to one driving conclusion; what kind of person do you want to be when the only mirror left is yourself? It’s a bit like a space version of Lord of the Flies.

I would definitely recommend this if Sci-Fi is your normal thing and if it’s not then give it a chance because it’ll be worth it.

I was attracted to this debut novel because of the beautiful cover and the hope that it would be a nice science fiction title to recommend to adults this summer. I am happy to report that this story met all of my expectations. A dangerous, deadly virus has spread throughout the universe and has killed almost all of humanity, A young survivor, stranded alone on a small planet near the edge of civilization, reaches out to find anyone who may still be alive. As they find each other, a small band of survivors begins a journey through the stars, searching for family, lost loves, and a new place to belong. I found this to be a very enjoyable first novel. Will look forward to more titles by Anne Corlett in the future. I recommend it to readers of dystopian fiction, science fiction and romance.

Great book! I'm usually not a fan of books dealing with science fiction, but this had me interested from the very beginning!

If you've ever wondered what life would be like as the only survivor of an apocalyptic event then this is the book for you. This book was full of so much emotion and I found myself having to put it down and walk away a time or two. But then it had me so involved that I couldn't walk away for long, and found myself drawn back in to what is just a fantastically riveting read.

Fortunately Jamie finds that she's not completely alone and she unites with a small band of people who want what she wants, to get back home. Their journey is exciting and sad and so full of a depth of emotion rarely found in most books. I've thought of this book and it's characters repeatedly since I finished the last page. I want to know how they are today, what is life like for them. I'm sure I will think of them and worry about them for years to come. It's a rare author who can create characters that you feel that way about.

I highly recommend this book to sci-fi and post-apocalyptic lovers, but also to anyone who enjoys a good thriller with a little romance in the mix. It's a book you won't soon forget.

When I first read the write up for this novel - I thought it would be an absolutely perfect read for me, sadly this was not the case.I am not exactly sure what kept me from reading past page 20. I just did not connect with the character and the story moved way to slow for me.

I couldn't get through the repetitiveness of the first chapter.