I really enjoyed Beneath the Surface. It is so much more than it appears to be at first. It is a science fiction story, yet there is romance, deception, corruption, greed, fear, hate and more. The characters were wonderful, and a lot of amazing things came to light as the story is told. This is a story where things aren’t always as they seem. The ending did a great job bringing this tale to a close. If you are looking for a different kind of science fiction book to read, the you will want to check this book out.

This was overall a fun read! The world was fantastic and I truly enjoyed the politics within it. The one thing that let the book down was the romance. Despite being excited for a F/F romance I found the pairing lacking, and one of the least engaging parts of the novel. However I still enjoyed the characters so would probably pick up the next book.

This isn’t going to be for everyone. Those who prefer the fantasy end of sci-fi are probably going to find this difficult to digest unless they have an equally strong affinity for harder sci-fi. That said, I really enjoyed this. The world building was excellent. The themes were discussed intelligently and with poignancy – sometimes it teetered on the edge of lecturing but I think this was an attempt to be accessible. (Harder sci-fi is just not going to be accessible to everyone any more than sweet romance is). The two things I loved most about this were that one, this book is all about ideas – science, technology, racial equality, sociological systems and politics. I love books that don’t talk down to the reader but trust that you’ll keep up. It was so intelligently done. The second point is the diversity. It was seamless, natural and part of the story rather than at all exploitative or used as a USP. All in all a very strong start to a series and I look forward to the next book.

The world, story and Lydia’s journey are all interesting, and I genuinely couldn’t tell where the story was going, which was refreshing. However, ALL the story is driven by character dialogue and the MC pondering things, which doesn’t make for a very exciting read. Also there were 3 POVs but only the MC really gets a journey. None of the characters felt particularly realistic, which was a shame because their situation was highly engaging.

Beneath The Surface wants to be like A Long Way To A Small Angry Planet but doesn’t have as many memorable characters.

This wasn’t for me I’m afraid. A good idea in principle but it was just too clunky and slow moving,

This book is so so good! 4.5/5* from me. Firstly thank you to NetGalley and NineStar for a free ebook of this novel in return for an honest review. I had attempted to read a NineStar published Sci-Fi already this year (again thanks to NetGalley) and disliked it so much that it's the first book I have ever DNF'd. I was pretty worried coming into this book that I would end up doing the same but Rebecca Langham has written an absolutely engrossing novel. It isn't a faced paced Sci-Fi, instead, it is a slow moving, dystopian world, where you gradually learn more about the characters and their backgrounds and start to form certain suspicions about the Outsiders (one of my suspicions was confirmed near the end of the book). As anyone who knows me is aware, I really really don't like romance in books. The mushiness has always just annoyed me in the past, but I absolutely love how it was written here and the way it plays so naturally into the story and does not feel forced at all. The only issue I had with this book was that the ending felt a little rushed to me, as everything was wrapped up very quickly. I understood how the author was attempting to make the reader feel, but I don't think she quite managed to capture it the way she wanted. All in all, this was an amazing book and I will 100% be reading any sequels to learn more about these characters and the world they live in. The writing in this book is very well done, and without having read up on it I would never have known it was Rebecca Langham's first novel. Looking forward to seeing more from this author!

I found it very difficult to finish this novel. The characters just are not distinct, developed, or interesting enough to keep the narrative moving as quickly as it needs to, and the world is built in, at times, a very convoluted and confusing way (it's obvious that this is intentional at times, and that the author wants to develop the world organically, but it happens often at the expense of narrative cohesion or comprehensibility).

I had to force myself to keep pushing through this tale of a privileged daughter of a high-ranking government official working for a futuristic Teach For America, but doing her poverty tourism with a highly-controlled alien species. As with a great deal of dystopian fiction, the idea is fascinating, but the execution misses the mark.

Beneath the Surface is a book I admire for tackling the important issues of equality and discrimination, which is why I’m sad to also say this book was not for me. I like to visit the science fiction genre for its tendency to overlap with fantasy, but that was not the case here (and probably why the book and I didn’t get along as well as I had hoped). Though extremely well detailed, this sci-fi world was one I struggled to immerse myself it, and with some weak storytelling elements, I felt that is novel failed to deliver the punch it was trying to relay.

This novel follows a variety of perspectives, but its two main protagonists are Lydia, the daughter of the Quadrant 4 Governor (human civilization is divided into 4 quadrants in this futuristic world), and Alessia, one of the many repressed Outsiders (aliens) living under the jurisdiction of humans. When Lydia decides to take a job as a teacher for Outsider children, she moves to the colony where the Outsider population lives. As she begins to develop friendships and connect with her students, she starts to realize how inhumane and discriminatory her world is. Alessia, on the other hand, is already well aware of this, and struggles with how to peacefully progress towards equality for her people.

As I stated before, I loved the clear advocacy for respect towards the LGBTQIA community and the protest against racist ideology. Though it could have been a little more subtle, I appreciated the clear relevance of this message for the world today.

Along with the important message of this book, I loved the ideal culture that Langham crafted for the Outsiders and how she used it to lay out an example of how accepting the world should be of sexuality and the way people chose to identify. Honestly, Langham was amazingly detailed in all the worldbuilding she did for this book, both inside the Outsider community and for the rest of human civilization. Right from page one readers are thrown right into this well thought out world.

Despite this noteworthy message, I felt that the writing weighed down impact was this book was trying to have. Right from the beginning, I was off put by the usage of weird adjectives and the awkward & excessive dialogue of the characters. Additionally, I found a couple instances of missing words or phrases that didn’t seem grammatically correct.

Another weak element of the book that I noticed was the characters. They felt very bland and only minimally fleshed out. Additionally, I felt that Lydia’s character development was way too rushed and set too early on. I wanted to see her struggle more with the stereotypes and lies she had been fed her entire life.

My biggest pet peeve for this story was the fricking insta-love and attraction. Two characters have met what, three times(?!?!), and then there’s already roaming hands and kissing? WHAT? I get that instant attraction is a perfectly normal and regular occurrence, but to have a character’s thoughts instantly bombarded with touching their future love interest? I love romance, but this immediate obsession almost seemed a little, I don’t know…creepy?

My final issue with the book was the ending. The conclusion felt rushed and anti-climactic. Additionally, I felt that there were a few minor plot holes that only seemed to expand by the ending’s plot twist. I concluded the book feeling confused and relieved to be finished, which is not how I like to feel when I complete a book. It was very unsatisfying, and not the unsatisfying-because-I-want-the-next-book.

To summarize, Beneath the Surface was a well thought out book that would have been ten times better with some fine tuning in terms of writing style, character development, and plot-hole-patching. Despite my multiple critiques, this book was in no way a bad one, but by being in a genre that’s very hit or miss for me and with writing that wasn’t as strong as I would have liked, I’m sticking with a mediocre rating for this book. I do believe that there are readers out there who would enjoy this novel, so I recommend this book to anyone who loves intense science fiction and a star-crossed romance!

“What worth do we have if we don’t love our own people, even when they lose their way?” (Ch. 9)

Beneath the Surface was a very interesting book mainly because of the “Outsiders”, this society that came from space a long time ago and it’s now living underground because everyone is afraid of them, they couldn’t be more inspiring. Throughout the book we get to see some of their rituals and how they get along with each other, a lot of times all I could think was “I wish our society could be like this right now” because they were so accepting among each other, they didn’t care what gender they were nor their sexuality the only thing that mattered was if they were good people or not, and that is the goal.

Now talking about the characters, Alessia was amazing I loved the way she thought and how she was always worried about every single one of her friends. She was a lovely girl that knew what she had to do to make a progress in her situation. However, my favorite character was Fermi, Alessia’s best friend. We get to enjoy some chapters narrated by him and those were incredible since we could see him and his lover whose story I think was adorable, I’d even want to read another book but with only their love story. The main character, Lydia didn’t stand out for me personally, she was a nice girl maybe a little bit clueless and distant, but I get that she’s that way because of her past.

The relationship between Alessia and Lydia was love at first sight and for me we didn’t get to see that love develop, I do think they have a great future and that someday they can be in love but for now they are more like getting to know each other and that was a little bit disappointing because I was expecting a little bit more of romance.

I must mention that the beginning of the book was a little bit off for me, we immediately get involved in this world that we don’t know much about but then things slow down drastically which turned up a little bit boring sometimes, but we got to know the characters well. I think that maybe halfway into the book is where I couldn’t nor wanted to stop reading.

As I mentioned before the world and both societies are interesting because they have a lot of technology inventions that do not exist today, so it was incredible to see how much technology could improve in the future according to the author’s point of view. I would really encourage you to read this book to witness this incredible world.

The ending was extremely easy and that didn’t make sense for me, but it left in a cliffhanger so I’m hoping we get to see more action in the upcoming books.

In conclusion, I really liked the world built in this book because it had a lot of technological inventions and an ideal society that I would love to live in, full of great acceptance among the community. However, there are some negative aspects such as the love at first sight and the ending that wasn´t as entertaining as the rest of the story.

3.5 Stars. This is a futuristic/dystopian/sci-fi read. It is Langham’s first book and I must admit I was impressed that this was a debut novel. I thought the writing was better than expected. I do have to say this book slowed down a little too much, in certain places, for my personal tastes. I like my sci-fi to have a bit more action. But the quality of the writing/story was well done.

Aliens have finally landed on Earth. But instead of embracing them, humans turn their backs on them. The aliens are eventually rounded up and forced to live underground in detainment centers. Humans are their oppressors and most of the aliens still living have never even seen the sky. Lydia, is the daughter of a powerful governor. When she takes a position to teach the alien children, in one of the containment centers, she never expected them to be so human. Everything Lydia thought she knew is about to be tested, and her life will never be the same.

I enjoyed the premise of the book. It hooked you in fast and there was nothing too scientific or too hard to understand. The book flowed well, but like I mentioned, it did slow down too much for my personal tastes. The last 1/3 really picked back up and I enjoyed the read again.

There is a romance. It is not a huge part of the book, but it is really sweet. I liked the two main characters as a couple quite a bit.

The way the book ended, it wrapped up enough storylines that it could be the end, or a book 2 might be coming. If there is a book 2, I will absolutely read it. I think sci-fi or dystopian fans will enjoy this. As long as you can get past some of the slower parts, it is a good read.

I just have to mention, it wasn’t until last year that I started noticing NineStar Press as a publishing house. While they publish all types of LGBT fiction, they have been releasing more and more lesfic fantasy and sci-fi, which just makes my heart happy. While I have not loved all of the books I have read from them, they have all been well edited and quality reads. On top of that the prices for their books are less than we normally pay. My point, I’m going to be keeping my eye out for what they put out in 2018.

I have barely managed to read 30% of it but realized that I wouldn't even be able to skim through the rest.

Huge chunks of random info dump, unnaturally sounding dialogues, several POVs, that are kind of alike, and a really slow pace. It did not work for me.

4.5/5 stars

This was such a fantastic and interesting sci fi read! The world building was so unique and I found many of the characters, especially Jez, to be thoroughly captivating. I thought the main romance, while being pure and Fem/Fem was one of the least interesting things about this story, hence this not quite hitting five stars for me. That aside, this being a debut book was especially impressive. The politics were well thought out and intriguing and I am certainly going to be eagerly awaiting book two.

Beneath the surface is about several main characters, Lydia, Alessia, Fermi and Damon (Lydia's father).
It's about a community were aliens and humans live together. This story takes place  at the colony where Lydia (human) teaches and Alessia and Fermi (both aliens) live and work.
Humans and aliens are supposed to be equals, but of course that doesn't happen.
''Nothing, I've just - ah, I've never seen anyone get beaten up before. Not in real life, I mean' 'Oh. Of course. Fair enough. it's okay, though. she's just an alien.''
This book consists of a lot of diversity, the aliens can choose their gender but could also stay genderless if they prefer. There is also a lesbian relationship.
But unfortunately this book was a bit boring for me, to slow paced. around 2/3 of the way through I started skimming the story more than actually reading it.