Reading Journal Details
Book: Inner Space by Jakub Szamalek
Format Read: Audiobook (~12 hours, 38 minutes long)
My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4/5)

My Quick Take Review
An engaging space drama featuring strong characters and delicate cross-country tensions. Despite occasional slow pacing, it remains compelling and well-developed, especially impressive given its a Polish translated novel.

Some Key Features
🗣️ Translated novel
👩‍🚀 Astronauts
🚀 Space station
🌍 International politics
😵 Personal conflicts

My Full Review
Inner Space is quite the thrill ride; it's a character-driven thrill ride that kept me hooked. The narrative balances political tension, personal conflicts, and an intense space setting with remarkable detail and intelligence. Even with some dialogue that felt a little stiff, likely due to it being translated from another language, the storytelling strength still shines through strongly.

I appreciated the tense, almost claustrophobic vibe created by the US-Russia tensions on the mission. That underlying friction amped up the suspense and made every interaction feel incredibly charged and meaningful.

That said, I wasn't as engaged during chapters featuring Nate, Lucy's husband. It wasn't because his arc wasn't as relevant, but because those sections often followed intense, tension-filled space scenes with more ordinary moments that felt comparatively mundane. These frequent perspective switches disrupted the momentum and sometimes felt jarring.

Despite those pacing hiccups, Jakub Szamalek's Inner Space is a thought-provoking and intellectually engaging read. The rich characters, more dilemmas, and geopolitical stakes make it compelling and very memorable.

Tensions rise as an ammonia leak threatens the International Space Station in this sci-fi Thriller by Jakub Szamalek.

I ended up really liking this one, but man did it drag in the middle. I enjoyed the beginning, the characters were interesting and obviously the setting is fascinating, I loved all the tidbits about various challenges astronauts face in space, but by 25% in or so I was looking for there to be much more going on. I don't read sci-fi super widely, but I read enough that I love the genre specifically for its crazy high stakes and generally quick pace and this one just felt very slow for a space sabotage story. That being said, the last 30% of the book was phenomenal. The tension and the stakes picked up a lot and things moved much more quickly, much more in line with what I'd hoped for. Overall, it's a very solid book and I would definitely recommend this to readers who enjoyed other space thrillers like The Martian and Delta-V.

I also think it's important to note that the translation in this book is really good. I have read a number of books translated to English and sometimes the translation is choppy or doesn't come off as authentic, but this one was really impressive. At no point while listening did it occur to me that it was translated, and it hadn't been listed in the description I wouldn't have known. 10/10 on that one.

Overall, I think the story was interesting and mostly well executed. I liked the mystery/thriller aspect of the story and the continuous guessing at who is the saboteur. However, I didn't realize it was going to be set into current affairs of the world as much as it was. I think it just took me off guard and by Suprise to hear things like "Space X" "MAGA" and Russia gearing for war against Ukraine. Due to this, it took me out of the story a few times. Outside of that I did find that there was one character who has anxiety, and they make it seem as all he does it overthink and be extremely anxious. I felt like the character was only there to show how anxious he was and didn't showcase how he dealt with anxiety other than taking a pill and becoming zonked out. There were a few other thing - primarily related to the characters - I wish would have been flushed out a little more.

At the end of the day, had I of known this was going to be set within current events, maybe it wouldn't have taken me out of the story as m uch. Either way some of the characters weren't as relatable as they could have been, nor was there nearly as much character development then there should have been. So, this teeters between a 2.75-3/5 for me. As it sets right now, I'm giving it a 3/5.

Thank you Netgalley & the publisher for the ALC.

Inner Space by Jakub Szamalek is an interesting case of a book in translation which is set in America, staring American characters, that feels 100% as if it is written by an American. This speaks wonders to the translator Kasia Beresford for her fantastic translation skills.

Lucy Poplasky has spent her entire life striving towards becoming one of the first female commanders on the ISS. But when she finally gets the chance, an ammonia leak is only the start of her problems with a crew deeply divided by international politics.

This book sits easily alongside other near-future (or contemporary) sci-fi like The Martian or Gravity. But whereas both of these are survival stories, Inner Space is decidedly a thriller. Is the ammonium sabotage? Who has control of the one gun onboard the ISS? These questions and more plague Lucy as she navigates a crew full of shady characters and secrets.

One note on politics: there are so not-so-subtly jabs at American politics sprinkled throughout the book. Readers should be prepared to see a Republican fit snuggly into the cowboy stereotype, a Democrat described as looking out only for her own interests (over those of her constituents), and quite a few favorable remarks about SpaceX and its billionaire owner. One of the risks of near-future sci-fi is how the author navigates modern politics and I found how it came out in this book jarring.

I listened to the audio version of Inner Space. Sophie Amoss does a fantastic job bringing the characters to life. She brings a special insight to Lucy and manages to navigate multiple accents from the international cast of characters.

Thanks to HarperAudio Adult for my audio copy of Inner Space in exchange for my free and unbiased review.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperAudio Adult for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook.

Voted up. This was a ok sci-fi. I was curious for the outcome.- I did finish the whole thing. A time or two I did consider DNF. I was hoping of more of a Andy Weir feel....
This is defiantly worth a list to.. BUT it missed a bit for me. No valid reason.

American and Russian astronauts are trapped together in the International Space Station as war breaks out in Ukraine and life support functions begin to fail in this action-packed debut technothriller that ripples with the tension and danger of Solaris and Andy Weir’s Project Hail Mary.

When an ammonia leak threatens the astronauts on the International Space Station, NASA directs Lucy Poplasky, one of the ISS’s first female commanders, to investigate the cause. Russia has just invaded Ukraine and tensions are running high—could the leak be a brazen act of sabotage?

The Russian cosmonauts aboard deny tampering with the ship’s systems and insist on the issue stems from the American side. As levels of the poisonous gas rise, Lucy’s investigation shatters trust between the Russian and Western crews, exposing deep fissures in the partnership thousands of miles below.

Intense and unrelenting, Inner Space questions what truly draws us to the the urge to explore the unknown, selfish ambition, or an instinct to run away from the entrenched troubles on Earth?

Wow. When I got approved for the ARC I was a bit worried. I didn’t think I’d get chosen and was in the middle of at least 5 other books. It turned out not to be a problem though because I paused ALL of the others because I couldn’t stop reading this one. I was hooked from about chapter 3 and couldn’t put the book down until I finished it. All of my other reading time deadlines be damned! It was absolutely worth it! I call books like this character studies in space. Think the tv series Away on Netflix or book Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. Space provides the perfect unique atmosphere for vulnerability and psyche exploration. And this one was done perfectly. The space drama kept my attention but took a backseat to the bigger interpersonal messages of the story. I enjoyed it so much. I will absolutely be buying the audiobook to reread in the future and I highly recommend you do too!

Content warning: this book does contain elements of American politics. I think they fit well in the story and added depth to the message. But not everyone will agree.

Thank you especially to NetGalley and HarperAudio for the chance to read this so soon. It’s going to be a hit!!