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Book Reviewed by:
David Bahia
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The year is 2072. Soon a volcanic eruption will trigger catastrophic devastation, and the only way out is up. While the world's leaders, scientists, and engineers oversee the frantic production of a space fleet meant to save humankind, their children are brought in for a weekend of touring the Lazarus, a high-tech prototype spaceship.
But when the apocalypse arrives months ahead of schedule, First Daughter Leigh Chen and a handful of teens from the tour are the only ones to escape the planet. This is the new world: a starship loaded with a catalog of human artifacts, a frozen menagerie of animal DNA, and fifty-three terrified survivors. From the panic arises a coalition of leaders, spearheaded by the pilot's enigmatic daughter, Eli, who takes the wheel in their hunt for a habitable planet. But as isolation presses in, their uneasy peace begins to fracture. The struggle for control will mean the difference between survival and oblivion, and Leigh must decide whether to stand on the side of the mission or of her own humanity.
With aching poignancy and tense, heart-in-your-mouth action, this enthralling saga will stay with readers long after the final page.
What do you stand for, when you're one of the last left standing?
Chapter 1
JULY 19, 2072
I startle awake to a world that's alive. Everything is a tumult of sound and motion, a siren howling overhead, a glow pulsing through the barracks' windows, a bare bulb over my bunk trembling like a furious fist. I sit bolt upright as the screaming starts.
For an instant I can only stare at the rows of bunk beds in chaos. I know exactly what's happening—I just don't understand how. The eruption isn't due until next spring. Soon is the shorthand that news anchors have been using, as in, soon, cubic miles of lava and ash will explode from Mount Shasta, a peak in Northern California, and cause a chain reaction that will render the planet uninhabitable. Since the announcements, we've watched the ground swell like an abscess and waited for the lance to drop, hoping and praying for more time.
Now I don't hope. I don't pray. I'm rolling out of my bunk and cramming my feet into my sneakers. If the last three years have taught me anything, it's that denial is ...
Leigh's subjective first-person narrative combines the disquieting deep-space isolation of Captain Janeway's small crew on the television series Star Trek: Voyager with the post-apocalyptic, existential dread of Commander Adama and the others on the show Battlestar Galactica. Redgate uses rich descriptions of her characters' endearingly idiosyncratic mannerisms and personal nostalgic memories of Earth to capture the reader's undivided attention, especially through Leigh...continued
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(Reviewed by David Bahia).
E. K. Johnston, New York Times #1 bestselling author of Star Wars: Ahsoka
Redgate explores what makes us human and what makes us teens with excruciating precision, revealing the best―and worst―of both. A fast-paced, beautifully put together story of a girl getting it done. Romina Russell, author of the New York Times bestselling Zodiac series
An enthralling adventure that's at once intimate and cinematic, with heart-pounding twists and vividly drawn characters. Redgate's gorgeous prose poses fascinating questions about the future.
From the first description of its maiden launch in the year 2072, the fictional Lazarus is more than just a spaceship in Riley Redgate's Alone Out Here. It is a cryogenic ark filled with extensive samples of Earth's faunal DNA, and an integrated archive for preserving a cross-section of humanity's archaeological treasures. Moreover, the Lazarus is a monumental engineering wonder. Built at a scale we have yet to see outside of science fiction, the ship can house 900 times the passengers that SpaceX's Starship prototype can. Its outer shields are designed to weather over a millennium of galactic cosmic rays and the frequent micro-impacts of space dust hurtling up to 6,700 miles per hour. The life support systems inside form an integral ...
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