From Goodreads:
In a breathtakingly vivid and emotionally gripping debut novel, one woman must confront the emptiness in the universe—and in her own heart—when a devastating virus reduces most of humanity to dust and memories.
All Jamie Allenby ever wanted was space. Even though she wasn’t forced to emigrate from Earth, she willingly left the overpopulated, claustrophobic planet. And when a long relationship devolved into silence and suffocating sadness, she found work on a frontier world on the edges of civilization. Then the virus hit…
Now Jamie finds herself dreadfully alone, with all that’s left of the dead. Until a garbled message from Earth gives her hope that someone from her past might still be alive.
Soon Jamie finds other survivors, and their ragtag group will travel through the vast reaches of space, drawn to the promise of a new beginning on Earth. But their dream will pit them against those desperately clinging to the old ways. And Jamie’s own journey home will help her close the distance between who she has become and who she is meant to be…
The Space Between the Stars by Anne CorlettMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Left with mixed feelings after reading yet another apocalyptic saga. Interesting premise around picking up isolated strangers left on various worlds after a virus decimates humans. Some slightly predictable interactions with the colonies they visit with quite diverse characterizations. The leading protagonist is complex, and honestly, I found her to be a little demeaning of women. She is too complex for the sort of reality they find themselves living in as frankly are most of the survivours.
No spoilers but the ending was somewhat of a disappointment as I envisaged a much less predictable finish which ended being a little simplistic with an almost impossible probabilistic outcome.
That negativity aside it was well written, good dialogue, interesting settings but just too many plot opportunities. Pales against The Girl With All The Gifts. Worth reading though if time permits.
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