ARC Review: The Space Between The Stars by Anne Corlett

Title: The Space Between the Stars
Author: Anne Corlett
Publisher/Publication Date: Berkley; June 13, 2017
Genre: Science Fiction; Dystopia
Source/Format: First to Read; eARC

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Synopsis 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...

My Thoughts:

The Space Between the Stars by Anne Corlett was a book I happened to see when it was up for review, and decided to go ahead and get it while I had the chance because it seemed interesting. Honestly, The Space Between the Stars is a book I feel mixed about. I don’t know if I like this book or not. It’s hard to say because there were things I liked about the story and others that I disliked entirely—with extremes in both the latter and former categories.

In my opinion, the beginning was the best part. It started with the main character waking up after coming down with a virus that had a low survivability rate. Right there, that’s where the story got its start, when the novels goal was set up, and the main character, Jamie Allenby, was introduced. I liked that Corlett made the decision to tell the story from the point of view of a survivor of this virus, and chose to show what immediately came after beating-the-odds. Actually, I liked Jamie’s narrative in the beginning. Her voice was strong and her experience was both emotionally raw and compelling. In her situation, I could understand her reaction and her desire to seek out familiar places and people. Jamie was a character I could get behind.

However, the direction the story partially took later on didn’t end up being my kind of thing. I kept reading because I wanted to know what the end would bring for Jamie and the people around her. While the beginning was awesome, my problem stemmed from the middle section of the book. It focused on the travels of the characters and how they interacted with one another. Some of the places they visited just made me stop and wonder why it was necessary since it was quickly forgotten.

Sure, near the last couple of chapters, I had to go back and reread certain bits of dialogue, but it was worth it because the details ended up making a whole lot of sense.

So, I wasn’t the biggest fan of the middle of the book, but the things that I liked about the beginning of the book came back at the end. Things I didn’t think would get resolved did, and I was pretty happy about that.

Rating 3/5

Disclaimer: This copy of the book was provided by First to Read (Publisher) for this review, thank you!