was provided with a copy via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Care Warnings: Pandemic, discussions of abortion, miscarriages, pregnany, suicide, emotional abuse.

Goldilocks by Laura Lam begins with five women stealing a space ship to travel to a different solar system. The world they leave behind is racked by environmental disaster, an increasing wealth gap, and a society concerned with removing women from the workforce. While they dream of creating a new type of society on a new world, the journey tests their relationships with each other and with the world they left behind.

This is unlike any novel I have ever read about space. Most of the stories I have come across are lead by a group of male protagonists. It was really refreshing to read about space from a women’s perspective. The narrator for most of the novel, Naomi Lovelace, is a skilled botanist who left NASA when they made it clear that she would never be able to go into space. Her narration is compelling and draws attention to the many ways women are systemically excluded from roles they are qualified for.

The spaceship is a backdrop to the larger story of a group of women taking an opportunity from those who would keep it from them. On top of that, it is an exploration of what a new beginning may look like on another planet without ignoring the potential and ramifications for those left behind. It also questions what it means to attempt to attain a goal at any cost as tensions rise on the journey to the new planet.

My only complaint is some of the convergences of events felt a little heavy handed. Especially in the introduction of the pandemic narrative. I don’t know if it is due to the current circumstances of the world and I understand it was used to raise the stakes for specific characters, but it felt like one aspect too many combined with other complications.

Goldilocks is a searing examination of the future of humans on Earth and the sacrifices needed to explore the universe. I will gladly pick up another novel from this author.

Four out of Five Stars.

Goldilocks by Laura Lam is everything that you’d expect it to be and then some! I don’t think I’ve ever read a book that’s so spot on about it in its description “The Martian meets The Handmaid’s Tale.”

In this wonderful book, you follow Naomi, her surrogate mother, and their team of astronaut women into space as they commandeer the spaceship they helped build. Their main goal? Travel to the Goldilocks system to a new planet to replace Earth, but they end up running into quite a bit of trouble..

I found this book was amazing. With the amount of detail in this book, you won’t be left disappointed. It’s not so heavy that it’s overwhelming either. I definitely recommend it. It left me interested with every page.

In GOLDILOCKS, by Laura Lam, the near future Earth is quickly becoming a wasteland, with depleting resources along with virus' and diseases that are constantly decimating the worldwide population. Valerie Black, the influential head of a company working towards space travel and eventual relocation, has assembled a team of women to travel to a new world and start a new human colony. The five women seem to have a unified vision of how to save the human race, but as the trip continues, true intentions are revealed and it quickly becomes clear that this hallmark voyage to the new planet might become the demise of both worlds.
Lam's vision of the future is a dark, sad one (in light of the recent pandemic, perhaps also prophetic). Her technical presentation of the future, especially in regards to space travel, seems well researched and a very logical and grounded possibility. She infuses hope with this voyage to a new world, which the reader rides happily along with, which makes the deception and lies that get revealed that much more emotionally impactful. As the tension mounts, Lam masterfully balances pragmatic problem solving with emotionally charged decision making that constantly keeps the reader guessing until the very end.
Great build to a exciting finish, GOLDILOCKS is one of the best space thrillers I've read in a long time and Lam leaves the reader with hope that while a individual can make rash, brazen, and narrow-minded decisions, a group of people can work together to try to find the best decision.

This was a fantastic book.about an all too possible dystopia future of climate collapse and the patriarchy suppressing woman's rights. Lam has done an excellent job going from writing historically fantasy to well researched and convincing hard science fiction. The books follows the journey of 5 women on a stolen space ship as they travel to a Goldilocks zone planet that has the potential to be a new home for humanity while looking back in time to major moments throughout the main characters life. This dual time perspective does creates a great depth of character.

Thank you Orbit and NetGalley for the eARC of Goldilocks by Laura Lam in exchange for an honest review. Goldilocks is a standout gem of this spring. Five female astronauts steal an interstellar space craft from a future version of the United States that has sought to oppress women. The crew makes up a great character study for many of the faces of feminism. You have Naomi and Hart, the fearlessly compassionate, Vallerie the entrepreneur who will stop at nothing for success, Lebedeva the loyal to a fault. And Hixon with her military background, a follower of rules and orders.

This isn't to say they are cookie cutter characters that follow these descriptions. For a standalone novel of ~350 pages, the characters are complex and grow throughout the book.

The story starts with the astronauts stealing the Atalanta intersteller space craft, a project in which they been kicked off.. It follows them as the voyage progress to a jump gate. If they reach it, they will become the first humans to leave the solar system. The story is told from the viewpoint of Naomi, Vallerie's adopted daughter, and jumps between the voyage and past lift events that lead up to the stealing of the Atalanta.

The book strangely parallels current global events with governments turning towards conservatism, progressive climate change, and pandemics.

The Atalanta crew faces many difficult decisions that will make you turn to the next page as your heart pounds.

"...𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯'𝘴 𝘶𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘢 𝘶𝘴𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦'𝘴 𝘥𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘢..."⁣
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Goldilocks by Laura Lam takes place in a very near distant future.  Earth is quickly becoming inhabitable. The air in major cities is dangerous to breathe, the water is rapidly rising, and climate change is causing extreme heat. On top of it all, the current President Cochran is bringing fringe group sexism into the White House, costing women jobs all over the country. Everyone is also limited to one child unless you want to pay a high tax on any additional children. ⁣
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The world had found a Goldilocks planet in a galaxy close enough to travel to in under a decade, and NASA has planned a 5 man mission to go start colonizing it.  The 5 woman who were initially selected for the trip are annoyed they've been pushed out, and decide to commandeer the rocket at the last minute.  Now traveling through space to be the first women to land on humanity's new home,  they are hated at home, being chased by a second mission, and are starting to face troubles on board.  ⁣
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Eye-opening, thrilling, and timely, I absolutely devoured this book.  The main character has a real depth to her, adding a more human aspect to a book about space travel and saving humanity.  Lam writes in a way that is engaging and keeps you wanting to read "just one more chapter".  ⁣
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𝘋𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘳: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘲𝘶𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘢𝘯 𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 Orbit Books 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 NetGalley 𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸.⁣

I had assumed that Goldilocks was going to be my kind of story. Space shenanigans often are, and desperation even more so. I am happy to report that this didn't only meet, but exceeded my expectations. And I shall now tell you why.

►Badass female crew trying to save the human race. Okay this speaks for itself, yeah? Well, kind of. Naomi is the main character, but I think we learn quite a bit about all the women on the crew before the end of the story. Which was delightful. Sometimes the crew is more background, but I loved how interwoven the women became. In this book's world, a horrible racist, sexist, orange troll man eerily reminiscent of our current monstrosity of an administration has taken control of the country and basically deemed women useless. They no longer have a place in the workforce, and certainly not in space. Also, the world is a mess because humans have destroyed it, so again, pretty much the near future of our current climate. So Valerie takes it upon herself and the others to make sure the world will be saved, via an illegal trip on a stolen spaceship to Cavendish, a planet in a Goldilocks zone.

►Gray morality out the wazoo. I do not envy any of the decisions that had to be made in this book. I can't really go into any detail, but pretty much every character in the story, at one point or another, is forced to make an impossible choice. And I love reading about those. This of course leads to a ton of thought-provoking self reflection, in the "what would I do?" sense. Love it.

►A "mother"-daughter dynamic that is full of complication is at its center. Oh boy is this one messy! Valerie isn't Naomi's biological mother, but Naomi has been living with her since the death of her parents, and sees Valerie as both a mother and a mentor. But Valerie is one hell of a force to be reckoned with, and life as Valerie's protege has never been easy for Naomi. With the two women in close quarters with secrets between them, will they manage to work out their past?

►The science stuff made sense to my brain. I love when the science parts are explained in a way that the common, non-scientist can understand. When the author explained how certain aspects of the travel were possible, I didn't have to suspend any disbelief, nor did I have to be confused by overly technical explanations. Also, there was a lot of algae talk that would have made Monty Green very proud.

►Tons of twists and turns. Goodness, there were so many things I did not see coming here! Some of them were brutal. Some just genius. But I was never, ever bored.

►But also, tons of character growth and development. When we meet Naomi, she's a very different woman than she will be by the end of the story. So is everyone else. We also get a lot of insight into Naomi's past, and it explains a lot about her dynamic with Valerie, and also how extra hard a lot of her choices will be to make. While Naomi seems cold and aloof at first meet, by the end she's anything but.

Bottom Line: I fell in love with this tale of incredibly strong women on a race to save humanity. The twists and turns sucked me in, the characters were complex, and I fully enjoyed the whole ride.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Goldilocks was another random find, and I was intrigued by the concept of a story that both dealt with the familiar elements of dealing with a deadly virus and working to find a way to build life on another planet, as well as the more unique aspect of discussing women’s issues within that context.

Lam does a pretty good job with some of it. She masters the delicate balance of accuracy/attention to detail and managing to convey it so you don’t have to have an interest in science to enjoy the book.

And she does get some elements of the characterization right. Valerie, Naomi’s mentor, has the most complex motivations, and I felt like she was the best drawn out of the cast with her moral ambiguity, leading to some important questions we would have to ponder in a similar situation.

I didn’t much care for the protagonist, Naomi, however. There are glimmers of the “women’s rights” aspect in her narrative, but I was never given a real reason to root for her, or any of the other characters for that matter.

I didn’t 100% love this one, but I do like that Lam tried to discuss difficult topics with this book, even if the execution didn’t totally work. I’d still recommend giving this one a try if you like science fiction, especially stories about space travel.

Honestly, this is the space story we need. Laura Lam says it in her dedication:<blockquote><i>"To the Mercury 13 and all the female astronauts since, and those still to come."</i></blockquote>This is a story of women who have spent their lives doggedly pursuing the stars. But on Earth, things are heating up, time is running short, and women's rights are being rolled back. Women are pushed out of the workforce, pressured into having (just one, though) child, and leaving the rest to the guys.<blockquote><i>It hadn't happened in a moment, but a series of moments, as slow and insidious as the melting of ice caps.</i></blockquote> The U.S. of A. has a nightmare president, and devilish VP to back him up, and they've pushed through certain punitive acts against families for having more than one child, but in reality - and <b>in</b> reality - most legislation is a political maneuver against the 98%. Or is is 99% by now? This is all background noise to the main plot of the story. <b>Dr. </b>Valerie Black is the CEO of Hawthorne, a private scientific research company, with a passion for saving the Earth, or at least herself, and when she decides Earth is done for she launches her massive fortune and Hawthorne's top brains at space. Working with NASA and the U.S. government, Dr. Black begins work on building her spaceship, the <i>Atalanta</i>, to get humanity off of Earth and to a new home in the stars. Specifically to Cavendish, a planet 10 lightyears away in the fabled Goldilocks zone. Unfortunately for Dr. Black, President Cochran's legislation pushes her off of the project before it's finished, ensuring that neither she nor any women make the trek across the sea of stars... on her spaceship.

Well, she is a Dr. and she has a fortune. You know what they say about a woman scorned? Dr. Black turns to her adopted daughter, a former NASA scientist herself, with the botany background needed to feed a crew on a ship and their best hope to grow crops on an alien terrain. Lucky for her, Naomi has had her own share of heartbreak from NASA, after years of hard work putting her nowhere closer to space than Valerie Black. <blockquote><i>Naomi tore open the white envelope. Slid out a card with a cartoony illustration of the Earth on the front, curling white clouds, the sea an even blue. She looked closer. No. Instead of larger continents, the world had smaller islands.
It wasn't Earth.
She opened the card.
Happy birthday,
Let's go.
V.</i></blockquote> The now <b>Captain</b> Black puts together a crew of 5 women, and they steal back the <i>Atalanta</i> from Earth's orbit.

I think it's important to note that [author:Laura Lam|5806077] herself mentions that she envisions Jodie Foster as Dr. Valerie Black. This is pretty indisputable. I <i>saw</i> Jodie Foster as I read this book. I won't bore you with quotes, but trust me when I say that you will see her crossing her legs, walking, standing, <i>looking</i> in this book. That's a little of the magic of the writing within, I suppose.
I also don't want to continue to lend to the impression that this is "<i>The Martian</i> meets <i>The Handmaid's Tale</i>," because that seems really simplistic, and I haven't read <i>The Martian</i>. I have read <i>THT</i>, and the only similarity is the rollback of women's rights in the background history of the story. Although it is a necessary element of this story, so is climate change, overpopulation, and politics. We have doomed the Earth, and <s>Elon Musk</s> <s>Jodie Foster</s> Dr. Valerie Black is going to get humanity to Cavendish, <b>no matter the cost.</b>

I recommend this book. To any lovers of sci-fi, space exploration, feminism, bad-ass women, <i>science</i>. Those of you who loved <i>The Martian</i>, and <i>Pandorum</i> or <i>Lost in Space</i>. If you like space exploration, you will like this book. I only hope. Hope, hope, hope, for a sequel <spoiler> that tells us more of the years between the end of the mission and <i>30 years after</i></spoiler>

Wow, I just loved reading this book, it totally didn't go where I expected! I loved the science and the thriller, and how logical Naomi was, she faces a lot of difficult situations in this book, and she keeps a level head, and I really enjoyed reading her story!

I really enjoyed how this story was told, back and forth between the crew on the ship, and Naomi's past, not in chronological order, but when it was important for the story, like her history with her ex-husband, with Valerie's son. It was really great to read, and I really enjoyed how it all came together!

The whole plot mentioned in the synopsis about time for life on Earth, yeah, that was interesting to read, given the current circumstances of the world. After all, this book was written well before the pandemic was a thing, given that traditional publishing is a multi-year thing. So to read a book with this plot line at this time, it was just so weird and I enjoyed it. Though I'm also a introvert who reads, so quarantine life is my usual.

That ending, with the very beginning, well, it was pretty interesting to read and there was a pretty small, but important reveal/twist there, that I enjoyed so much! Like I said, this book didn't go where I expected, so I was thrilled with that ending!

This book was fantastic, and I enjoyed it so much!

I’ve heard this book being described as The Handmaid’s Tale meets The Martian. I think that is an apt comparison. Due to climate change the earth is on the brink of collapse and women’s rights are slowly being taken away. We follow our main character, Naomi, as she and a crew of four other women steal a spaceship that is headed to a new planet. However, things don’t go as planned and the crew is faced with some difficult decisions.

Goldilocks starts slowly, and it does get quite sciencey. I love sci-fi, but sometimes too many science descriptions lessen my enjoyment of a story. I would say that this book has just the right amount of science. It’s also considered a feminist thriller due to the government’s oppression of women. While I enjoyed both of those aspects of the story, neither are my favorite parts. For me, this book was about the relationships and interactions of the five female astronauts. They are faced with many difficult decisions, and their moral dilemmas were my favorite parts.

If you’re looking for a slow paced, feminist, science fiction story with plenty of science descriptions and interesting female characters then this is the book for you.

Thanks to NetGalley and Orbit Books for an ARC of this book! Release date - May 5, 2020

This book was SO great, I truly enjoyed it more than I ever expected to. At times I felt like I was going to give it 5 stars. I was so invested in these characters and this storyline. Basically because of environmental disasters Earth is dying, and so NASA makes a plan to escape. A ship, Atalanta, is built with a crew of 5 men to go scope out a planet that appears to have all the properties to sustain human life. But a crew of 5 women who had been involved in the project but not selected for the crew steal the ship and take off for the new planet ahead of schedule. It also tells flashbacks of the main character Naomi and her life before Atalanta as well as her tumultuous relationship with her adopted mother Valerie, who is the captain of the stolen crew.

IT WAS SO GOOD. There were SO many developments that I was really not expecting, including a very unconventional love story - "We'd win longest distance relationship." I don't want to say more than that because of spoilers, but the stealing the ship/space storyline is really only the setting. There is so much more to the plot and I really came to love the characters, Naomi especially. There were twists throughout, and there are secrets being kept on this ship that constantly kept me guessing. All of the characters have secrets, some bigger than others. The reveals constantly surprised me. I never knew what was going to happen next.

There are vibes of The Martian because there are some parts that are pretty science-y, plus Naomi is a botanist like Mark Watley, but I enjoyed this book so much more than The Martian. It was science-y but never too much to where the average reader (like me) couldn't keep up, which is the main problem I had with The Martian. Plus, because there are more than just one character, there is so much more to the plot.

I was also really invested in the Earth is dying/find a new planet storyline. I honestly do think that if mankind continues to live on the earth the way they are now, it would lead to a future exactly as described in this book, pollution so bad you can't go outside without a filter mask, natural disasters destroying cities. Mankind is ruining the earth, so I did not find this storyline to be far-fetched.

Towards the end the book did take a turn I was not expecting. And the turn itself was SO GOOD. What a twist. It really amped up the storyline. In hindsight the story was always leading to this point. My one complaint is that the twist caused the characters to make a decision that led the ending of the book in a direction I personally wasn't wanting. It's hard to explain without spoilers, but I didn't dislike the twist, just the direction it made the characters go. I would have probably made a different choice, and would have liked to see the last few chapters be different than they were. But other readers may love and agree with it. The end end was really satisfying though, so I can't complain too much.

If I have one more small complaint it's that I don't really get the title. The planet they are traveling to is located in the "Goldilocks zone," but that is literally mentioned once in the entire book (from searching the world "Goldilocks" in the Kindle version). If they wanted to go that direction with the title, they could have named the book "Cavendish," which is actually the name of the planet, not a random zone. But personally I think a better title would be "Atalanta," the name of the ship, or "Atalanta 5" which is what the crew is called.

All in all, I definitely recommend this to any fans of science fiction, especially space. It was such a great storyline that at times had me on the edge of my seat and at times gave me all the feels. I'm so so happy that I gave this book a chance.

<I>Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a copy in return for an honest review.</I>

I liked this much more than I was expecting to. Lam writes a smoothly paced, easy to read novel that was enjoyable to binge. The near future world Lam writes is effortlessly believable and she uses enough science throughout the book to make everything seem plausible without making the reader feel as if they have started reading a textbook.

However, there were a few issues that kept me from giving this book four stars. First is that, while the main story idea is pretty original, the majority of the interpersonal problems Naomi deals with throughout the book are generic. On top of that, there are several overly convenient things that happen that you have to buy into for the story to work.

Second, there are two paths the ending could have taken and Lam unfortunately chooses the much easier of the two. To be clear, I did not think the ending was bad, just that it could have been better had Lam been willing to make some more difficult choices and not needed an ending that is perfectly tied up with a big red ribbon on top.

The last, and this is a bit more minor in comparison, is that the book can be a touch repetitive, especially for one that will be a fast read for most people. For most of the book the problem was occasionally noticeable, but not detrimental to the overall story. The only place I thought "yes, yes I already know this," was in the last chapter which gave a bit of a summary of the whole book. It was not an issue that, by itself, would have made me remove a full star.

Overall, this is a book that I would recommend for a good summer SF read, but not one that I would likely re-read.

This book was very difficult for me to get into. I felt as though the story, while well-developed, did not leave room for the history about why things are the way they are. As a result, I found myself trying to understand the reason for the actions of the characters. While it was an entertaining story, it felt like it lacked depth.

Goldilocks is a raw look at a near-future that feels too close to our reality right now. It is in many ways a difficult read, and I had to set it down several times. I read fiction to escape, and Laura Lam brought our reality right back to my doorstop with this book. It was a good read, but I cannot say that I found it a particularly enjoyable one for that reason.

However, I have to give the author credit. She did a solid job in several areas (including believability!). This is a book about a group of women that steal a spacecraft to escape from a from a country sliding back into an age where women were meant to be kept barefoot and submissive on a dying planet to a brighter future on another world, and it wasn’t a man-hating bitchfest. It also wasn’t a book that was all Ra-Ra! Women Are Perfect, either. It would have been easy to fall on either side of that line, but she did not.

She includes a cast this is diverse, both in race, nationality, and sexuality. The only downfall here is that none of the characters except their communications person really ever developed defined looks inside my head. They were just sort of amorphous characters relaying the dialogue that they were given. At one point when it was mentioned (probably again, to be honest) that one of the characters was black, I was like “Wait, what?” And considering that the majority of the book revolves around just 5 people in close proximity, you’d think there’d be some more definition there.

I read science fiction primarily for hope (when I’m not seeking out sci-fi horror, that is). Goldilocks is not a story I would link the word hope with. It’s a story of perseverance, of good against evil, and of the main character realizing that almost everything she had thought true pertaining to one certain thing in her life was horribly wrong. Most of the story is tense enough to make your muscles tighten up enough that the thriller label is a well-earned one.

For a long part of my reading experience, I honestly wasn’t sure where things were headed in regards to the larger picture. As blunt as Lam was with the set up and looking at the stupidity, deceit, and underhanded politics, I didn’t know if I could expect a feel-good type of ending. I liked that.

This is a timely novel with a release date that is somewhere between scary and unfortunate, especially given one of the events in the book. Lam is a talented writer and I hope to see many people pick up Goldilocks and give it a try, though this is not a story to make you forget the world around you. It’s a story that reminds you with just a couple steps to the right, this world could get so much worse.

You can read this well thought out novel several ways- female empowerment, sci-fi, post-apocalyptic- but read it with an eye toward how carefully Lam has created her world. Don't miss the names she has given to people and things for example. These women, who have essentially hijacked a space ship, are trying to get to Cavendish, a place where it's safe for human habitation. Naomi, the adopted daughter of Valerie who has spearheaded things is the botanist and in a sense, main character. I enjoyed reading about her efforts to grow things in space (neat stuff) and her spirit. Things aren't as idyllic as these women thought it would be when they became the first all female flight crew- someone's sabotaged things on the ship. The tension as the problems become evident is well done. The relationships, especially between Naomi and Valerie, are believable, and don't forget to keep an eye on Valerie's son Evan. No spoilers. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Sci=fi fans and those looking for something a little different will enjoy this. I'd not read Lam before but I'm going to look for her again.

Goldilocks is The Handmaid’s Tale meets The Martian, a thought-provoking new sci-fi thriller set in a near—and believable—future.

Earth is in environmental collapse. Women’s rights are deteriorating, especially in all the sciences and reproduction rights. Scientists have identified a planet light years away that has conditions favorable for human habitation, and have a spaceship nearly ready for launch.

The political climate is such, however, that the ‘good ole boy’ policies will simply be carried into space, to continue the same climate errant disregard and destruction that doomed Earth.

Goldilocks follows a Dr. Valerie Black as she covertly assembles an all-female team of astronauts. The plan is simple: Steal the waiting spaceship and attempt a jump to Cavendish, the planet similar to Earth in the Goldilocks Zone.

Despite being shouldered out of the space program, Black has spent a significant amount of time and her own vast fortune acquiring the perfect crew of five women. Hixon, a master pilot who has traveled to Mars; Hart, Hixon’s wife and the ship’s resident doctor; Levedeva, an exiled Russian engineer tasked with the ship’s maintenance; and her most important member, Naomi Lovelace. Naomi is Black’s surrogate daughter, and a botanist responsible for keeping the crew alive and fed, and their air breathable.

Naomi is a character easy to cheer for, as she struggles with issues on the ship, as well as her Captain’s secret agenda for the mission. Captain Black, a controlling Elon Musk type, is harder to admire. As the mission progresses, problems crop up and suspicions increase, and Naomi digs for clues to uncover the grim secrets Black concealed from the team. She discovers that humanity’s extinction on Earth may be coming much sooner than anyone thought.

Despite being science based, the heart of Goldilocks is the moral and ethical issues the women must face. Is it acceptable to kill one person to save many? The women are planning to establish Cavendish as world that rises above human’s previous missteps. But does that altruistic goal outweigh using any means to achieve an admirable end? How much can you enforce rules on human beings without their consent?

Overall, I think this book will appeal more to people who enjoy character-driven sci-fi or dystopian fiction, or even thriller, rather than hard sci-fi. Think Ursula Le Guin more than Isaac Asimov. Lam explores many of today’s hottest topics, and I thought those moments were some of the best in the novel.

Be prepared for the book to jump back and forth in time as we see the crew members developing in their careers. In this case, the flashbacks work well, and the slow reveal of information increases the tension.

The only thing that didn’t work for me was when I stopped reading to ponder the big picture, the, “how and why did this happen?” For instance, how was this style of government able to take control? Why is the current society so set in its misogynistic ways? I felt the book could have spent some time fleshing out this back history.
On the other hand, if the author had spent more time on the Handmaid’s Tale-like backstory, some readers might cry, “foul!” “Too liberal!” I guess it depends on how much you relate the Goldilocks world to today’s true life. For this reader, it doesn’t require a significant amount of stretching, especially if our current political climate continues unchecked.

Thank you to Netgalley for provided me with an advance copy of Goldilocks in exchange for an honest review.

Goodness gracious, this book was amazing. First of all, the characters are simply brilliant. Nearly all of the main characters are fierce women scientists and engineers making their way in a dystopian version of our world where women’s rights and opportunities have been purposely diminished. That alone had me fired up to read this novel. Not only are the women strong and fierce, but they are also smart, feminine, complicated, and maddeningly complex.

The relationships between each and every one of the characters is thoroughly developed, and I loved that not every relationship has a shiny, happy ending. Life is complicated, relationships are complicated, and Goldilocks doesn’t shy away from that. If you like reading about complicated family dynamics, this is a great book that explores that without focusing too heavily on it.

This wouldn’t be a Sci Fi book without some crazy science-y business going on, and that’s definitely here, too. The space travel and other science bits [spoilers to explain further, I’m afraid] were well done, even though I am not an expert at all for what is factual or possible or remotely viable for space travel. What matters is that Goldilocks was believable, and I enjoyed its science fiction elements a whole lot.

Lam’s writing is spectacular, and I am so excited to have found a woman SciFi author whose writing I enjoy this much. From the progressive themes to the unreliable narration to the complex women characters, Goldilocks was nearly perfect for me. 5/5 stars

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me a copy for review!

Goldilocks is about the first female led mission to the stars. I liked how in a typically male-dominated field, we not only get to see the perspective of women in charge, but the story is also woven with space stuff. And that's pretty much badassery. I was a fan of this book within the first few pages and it actually reminded me a bit of the Apple TV+ show For All Mankind.

Goldilocks publishes 5.5.2020.

4/5 Stars

Review for Goldilocks by Laura Lam

Thank you so much to Orbit and NetGalley for sending me a copy of this to read and review! All opinions are my own.

Trigger Warnings (TW): Sexism, viruses/pandemic like circumstances, emotional abuse/coercion, manipulation, cheating in a relationship, cancer, death of a loved one, abortion.

Summary:
“Despite increasing restrictions on the freedoms of women on Earth, Valerie Black is spearheading the first all-female mission to a planet in the Goldilocks Zone, where conditions are just right for human habitation.

It's humanity's last hope for survival, and Naomi, Valerie's surrogate daughter and the ship's botanist, has been waiting her whole life for an opportunity like this - to step out of Valerie's shadow and really make a difference.

But when things start going wrong on the ship, Naomi begins to suspect that someone on board is concealing a terrible secret - and realizes time for life on Earth may be running out faster than they feared . . .”

My Thoughts
I came for the characters and the story, but ultimately stayed for the writing.

We follow our group of five women as they leave a quickly dying Earth in pursuit of an “Earth 2.0” known as Cavendish. I was so excited to read this, because who could be upset about an all female crew going to space to help everyone on Earth?

I would ultimately give this book a 3.5 (rounded up on Goodreads) because while I absolutely adored the writing, the characters ultimately fell flat for me. Most of our group didn’t stand out or have huge personalities, and meant that I didn’t care too much for them. Valerie is the one I feel that we are given the most background of, so we better understand her motives, and the way her thought process works. I was hoping we would get more of that for each character throughout the book, because I am personally a very character driven reader.

The bouncing timeline ultimately made sense, but I do think we could’ve gotten even more background from our Fab Five before they left Earth, to really understand their dynamic a little better, and maybe to get to know them more. I would have loved to known how Earth got to be in such a dismal state, to better set the stage for the need to flee so quickly and abruptly.

As a biologist myself, I enjoyed the real science that was interwoven, and that it was written in a way that was easy to follow for most anyone. It helped me to feel that the stakes were very real, especially given the worlds current state.

Overall (TLDR)
I really enjoyed the writing in this one, the plot was enjoyable and the book itself was easy to fly through, and I think that the time jump chapters really helped this story progress quickly.
However, I felt it failed to deliver on its full potential, and would’ve loved more history of our main characters pre-flight, as well as on the world getting to the state that it’s in at the beginning of the book.
I'd say that this is more of a science fiction/drama rather than a thriller.
I would absolutely read a follow up about what it would be like when humans make it to Cavendish.

A huge thank you to Orbit & NetGalley for providing me with an early copy!
This gets released this Tuesday (May 5th in the States) and is already out in the UK.