I struggled to engage and get into this book. It felt really political and not the space thriller it was set out to be.
I definitely felt the synopsis duped me and I was left frustrated and disappointed.

This book is a lot to process. I usually devour books and it took me several days to finish this one. While the author’s writing was detailed and realistic, sometimes it was too detailed. I found myself skimming several parts of the book even though I wanted more from the story. I enjoyed Walli’s interactions with her parents, Sonia, and Jasper, but I felt like there was still something missing.

The story did its job though as it opened my eyes to the destruction of the Amazon. Anytime I read a novel and then must search the internet to determine what’s true is a win in my book.

I found that the combination of space, politics, and the destruction of the Amazon along with the bravery and determination of a strong female protagonist kept me intrigued even though I wasn't able to fully connect with the characters.

There are many of genres of books that capture my attention. I love a good thriller. I love a good literary fiction. I love a good character-driven science/ political fiction. I love them all, but normally they all don't come in the form of one novel.

What sticks out to me the most about Jeffrey Kluger's "Holdout" is its unique genre classification. I wouldn't call it science-fiction or political-fiction or really even a thriller or contemporary literature, but rather I'd wrap all of these genre's into one surprisingly well-integrated plot-line. But, where Kluger hit the nail on the head with plot - for me - he failed in character development. While I found the storyline to be captivating and interesting, I found the lack of character development to directly determine this books' believability.

With a bit more depth to its characters and attention to the smaller nuances of relationships, this book would've been a 5-star winner for me. However, it falls short of 4 stars at a strong 3.5.

Altogether, an enjoyable read; just nothing revolutionary.

After finishing Project Hail Mary I was looking for my next Sci-Fi fix. Holdout seemed to be just the book for that. Sadly, it couldn’t live up to my high expectations. A lot of things I loved about PHM I just couldn’t find in this book.

The story was boring, and it needed a lot of will to power through. Especially the parts I though would be most exciting, e. g. everything in space, were the parts I was most disappointed and disinterested in. The Amazon storyline was the far more interesting part of this story, but I felt like both stories didn’t fit that great together and were just put together by sheer force. Sometimes the book felt more like a political thriller than the sci-fi adventure I was promised.

The characters weren’t for me either. I didn’t care for both and couldn’t build a connection with them. Walli’s reasons to stay on the station felt strange and out of character. The way she was described and characterized didn’t seem to fit with how she acted.

The writing style was okay, I can’t say anything bad about that at all. I think there will be people who enjoy this book, it just wasn’t the perfect fit for me.

Holdout is a book about space, politics and the environment. Some things you don't always associate with each other. The politics got to be too much for me and I did not finish it. I'm sure a lot of people would like this but it wasn't for me.

Received an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Netgalley.

I tried reading this and pretty quickly it was clear this wasn't for me. I found all the space and science talk confusing. It was a lot very fast (science talk).

I could have moved past the being confused, but I wasn't finding this interesting. I was pushing myself to read and I hate doing that.

This has an interesting synopsis, so I'm sad this wasn't for me. Maybe if I could have gotten past the first 1/4 of the book, maybe it gets better.

Summary: Walli Beckwith is a model astronaut. She graduated at the top of her class from the Naval Academy, had a successful career flying fighter jets, and has spent more than three hundred days in space. So when she refuses to leave her post aboard the International Space Station following an accident that forces her fellow astronauts to evacuate, her American and Russian colleagues are mystified. For Walli, the matter at hand feels all too clear and terrifying for her to be worried about ruining her career. She is stuck in a race against time to save a part of the world that seems to have been forgotten, and also the life of the person she loves the most. She will go to any length necessary, using the only tool she has, to accomplish what she knows is right

A little outside my comfort zone of reading. I’m not crazy about sci fi but it was well written . A little shallow at points but I did love a female astronaut, it was very unique !

Story was OK, but was hoping for one more like Martian. Wanted more survival and less politics. ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.

A principled, maverick female astronaut holding up the International Space Station to seek justice for the indigenous peoples of the Amazon? Fantastic premise!

Author Jeffrey Kluger oversees TIME magazine's science and technology reporting, and it's obvious by the way he handles space travel in this book. Kruger explains it all in an accessible way, which I appreciate.

Immediately, I was plunged into the action up at the International Space Station. To say this book is plot-driven would be putting it mildly; it's the Fast & the Furious of the book world (on steroids).

The novel's two MCs are females, and I couldn't connect with either one of them. While I wanted to be passionate alongside Walli, I didn't care enough about her to care about her cause. Readers have access to her head but not her heart. This is where the novel fell short for me. The writing was strong but too clinical. Kluger is a talented writer, but this book isn't for me.

I didn’t expect this book to be so political. It’s not outwardly obvious that this is a book about a woman trying to start a revolution to save the Amazon.

Walli is on board the International Space Station when a routine docking procedure goes awry and crashes into the station. When ordered to leave the ISS with her injured crew, Walli refuses. She reveals that a Brazilian initiative nicknamed the “Consolidation” is systematically destroying the Amazon rainforest and pushing native tribes into four internment-like camps.

On the ground, Walli’s niece, Sonia, is in the middle of the Consolidation. As a doctor, she is trying desperately to help the natives as they are violently pushed out of the on,y home they have ever known. Her camps are targeted and while the doctors are allowed to help, they are prohibited from sharing the true state if the camps and conditions brought about by the Consolidation.

From space, Walli can monitor the destruction of the Amazon, show how the fires are systematic and targeted, and encourage American citizens to push their representatives to vote for American military intervention. She shares everything from the ISS and quickly becomes both an outlaw and folk hero.

While the book was interesting, I was ultimately put off by the content. It’s both based in reality, and not. Humans are certainly destroying the rainforest and committing genocide across the globe, and I have to read about it in real time, in real life. I read mostly to escape the world these days, and this is bringing attention to just a few of the things I’d like to forget, just for a few hours.

Aside from subject matter being a turn off, the writing wasn’t exactly top tier either. A lot if things are explained in more detail than needed, like why Sonia has a certain nickname, or how Walli became known as “Walli.” Not to mention, the story telling is very cyclical- I feel like it goes around and around in the same way, the same argument: NASA asks Walli to come home, she says no, something happens, they ask her to come home, she says no, something happens…It’s predictable.

While the story didn’t enrapture me, I liked the characters for the most part. They were all very passionate about the things they believed in and fought for. They seem real in that way, especially since more and more people are vocal about issues that are close to their hearts. They all seem angry, but refuse to be pessimists.

At the same time, I feel like some of the things Kluger expects to happen are still a little outrageous, even in a book where a rogue astronaut commandeers a space station. Walli gets people riled up about the Consolidation within days; over two million people stateside say they’re going to protest in DC during the vote to intervene or not, and a single law student has managed coordinate global efforts to stop the Consolidation. And that’s not even mentioning the politics of it all: politicians have morals in this book, but in real life we all know that politicians are more likely to vote on party lines and whatever makes their donors happy, not their constituents. Plus, this is all exposed- and resolved!– in less than three months! Politics never moves that fast. In some ways, Kluger is optimistic, but that’s a problem when you’re aiming for realism.

Also, the ending is too “happily ever after” for the reality you’d expect. People are injured, but no main characters die. Walli is threatened with persecution from more than 25 countries and comes out with the lightest possible punishment I can imagine. There’s nothing really threatening the main characters because they always seem to, miraculously, escape true trouble, even if they walk directly into it, on purpose.

I originally thought this was going to be some kind of paranormal story or about something near-apocalyptic; not so grounded in current real life issues. Honestly, I think it would’ve been better if it was more removed from today’s world events. Who wants to dwell on them in fiction when it’s your day-to-day?

Although I was intrigued by the summary, I didn't finish the book and found it to be so implausible that it was difficult to get into. The plot unfolded in a disjointed way and the main character and others were sketchily depicted. An astronaut drawing attention to climate disaster is a great angle but the book for me was not able to pull it off.

Holdout is not a typical book I would request, but when I read the synopsis and was offered the chance to read it I could not say no. Holdout was a wild ride of a book and was not at all what I expected. I don't know that I would read it again, because I expected more of a space adventure versus a book about the destruction of the Amazon. Thank you to the publishers for the opportunity to read Holdout.

Holdout caught me by surprise. I was expecting a full on space story but instead, got a whole lot more. I really enjoyed Walli and all of her stubbornness up in the space station. I was surprised when the story shifted to the ground in Brazil and focussed on Walli's niece and the political turmoil that was happening in the rainforests. It was wicked clever how both the space and land drama synced up forging a super unique story. Kluger's writing is smart and intriguing and I thoroughly enjoyed his book.

This is a well written book . Great action and a string message with viable characters you connect with . There is a great story but plenty of science tech for those that are all into that . Great sci fi book

Thank you to the publisher for sending me this ARC. I unfortunately, cannot finish the book. The overall story was not what I was expecting. It was described as similar to The Martian or Project Hail Mary, but it did not feel that way to me. The emphasis on the political story line was not something I could get into. I dropped this at 25%. I will not be posting my reviews on other sites.

Fans of Project Hail Mary should pick this up next. This was a little scarier, but I could not stop turning these pages and am so glad I went out of my comfort zone to read more science fiction. Walli is a super memorable character and I found it very easy to root for her.

This was NOT what I thought it was. This was described to me as being great for fans of Andy Weir's Project Hail Mary...and I did not see the things I love from Weir in this novel at all. Where I was expecting a semi-tense, space focused sci-fi, I got a slightly disjointed story about the horrors and destruction of the Amazon and it's people. Don't get me wrong, I honestly felt more interested in the Amazon storyline than the space one, but overall the stories did not feel as if they meshed well together. I felt jerked out of one storyline like I was being thrown into a different book altogether.

This will probably work for some people, but this was not for me. I couldn't connect with the characters, and I felt myself lacking in investment when it came to the plot. This left me feeling like I didn't want to pick this up and read it at all, and I found myself reaching for other books instead.

Thank you netgalley, Penguin Random House Dutton, and Jeffrey Kluger for giving me an advanced review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Walli Beckwith is an Annapolis trained Naval officer on the International Space Station, who refuses to evacuate the ISS when ordered, a peaceful protest trying to draw attention to violence in Brazil. Her daughter/niece, as she calls her, Sonia, has been in the Amazon volunteering with the indigenous population, who are being systematically wiped out violently by the ruling regime. Walli decides to use her position in order to force the US government to intervene in this conflict.

A lot of people are going to try and draw comparisons to Project Hail Mary. This is not that book. Yes, both books are set in space, but that's really all they have in common.

The best parts of this book are the scenes with Walli in the ISS, as well as the parts in Mission Control. The author clearly knows the inner workings of NASA, of both Russian and US Mission Control centers, Soyuz, and the ISS. Sometimes it was technical, but I enjoyed that. I also didn't mind the political scenes as US government officials try to decide what they will do about Walli's standoff. But I found my eyes glazing over at most of Sonia's scenes. The middle of the book seems to drag on, however the last 20% of the book is great.

3.5 stars, rounded up.

Female badass protagonist you can’t get enough of…check. Keep on the edge of your seat with mystery added….check. The Martian meets MII, this one is fun!

Great book, i really enjoyed this science fiction book that was actually sciencey (not just a space opera).

To see my full video review, click here; https://youtu.be/TgBEbohtxWo