Aetherbound

 Aetherbound

by E.K. Johnston

Dutton Books, 2021. 244 pages. Young Adult Fiction.

After escaping her abusive family's interstellar merchant ship, seventeen-year-old Pendt lands on a remote space station run by the Brannick twins, and together they make plans to thwart the destinies they never wanted.

Johnston packs a lot of world building into a really small space with this book. Each thread of point of view adds to the history of the Pendt’s galaxy, like the brutality of long spacer missions and the unfair gene manipulation of the Staevenger Empire. The characterization is solid; each character shows growth as Johnston reveals facets of their personalities. The story is fast paced and compelling; it will keep you thinking long after you have finished the book.  

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Aurora Rising

by Amie Kaufman

Alfred A. Knopf, 2019. 470 pages. Young Adult Fiction

2380. The graduating cadets of Aurora Academy are being assigned their first missions. Tyler Jones is ready to recruit the squad of his dreams, but his own boneheaded heroism sees him stuck with the dregs nobody else in the Academy would touch, from a sociopath scientist with a fondness for shooting her bunkmates to an alien warrior with anger management issues. But Ty's biggest problem is Aurora Jie-Lin O'Malley, who he just rescued from interdimensional space. Trapped in cryo-sleep for two centuries, Auri is a girl out of time-- but she could be the catalyst that starts a war millions of years in the making.

The Darkness Outside of Us

by Eliot Schrefer

Katherine Teegan Books, 2021. 397 pages. Young Adult Fiction.

 

Two boys, alone in space. Sworn enemies sent on the same rescue mission. Ambrose wakes up on the Coordinated Endeavor with no memory of a launch. There's more that doesn't add up: evidence indicates strangers have been on board, the ship's operating system is voiced by his mother, and his handsome, brooding shipmate has barricaded himself away. But nothing will stop Ambrose from making his mission succeed--not when he's rescuing his own sister. In order to survive the ship's secrets, Ambrose and Kodiak will need to work together and learn to trust each other . . . especially once they discover what they are truly up against.

AGP