I read an advance reader copy of this book. This book will be published on May 1, 2018. It is uncorrected proof.
And now, it is time, for a SPACE OPERAAAA!!! Are you excited? Get excited!
An amazon summary BUT skipping all the hype, "Stella Ainsley leaves poverty behind when she quits her engineering job aboard the Stalwart to become a governess on a private ship. On the Rochester, there’s no water ration, more books than one person could devour in a lifetime, and an AI who seems more friend than robot.
But no one warned Stella that the ship seems to be haunted, nor that it may be involved in a conspiracy that could topple the entire interstellar fleet. Surrounded by mysteries, Stella finds her equal in the brooding but kind, nineteen-year-old Captain Hugo. When several attempts on his life spark more questions than answers, and the beautiful Bianca Ingram appears at Hugo’s request, his unpredictable behavior causes Stella’s suspicions to mount. Without knowing who to trust, Stella must decide whether to follow her head or her heart.Alexa Donne’s lush and enthralling reimagining of the classic Jane Eyre, set among the stars, will seduce and beguile you." AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE
FIRST OFF, everyone is up in spaceships because there's an ice age currently happening on Earth. The entire planet is frozen, so some people were able to escape into spaceships in space, but not everyone. The planet has been frozen for a few generations and they're in space just waiting for it to be on earth again. No, they never bring up any ideas of colonizing the Moon or Mars. I should say, it's a romantic space opera.
SECOND OFF, it is a reimagining of Jane Eyre. If you've read Jane Eyre, there will be a lot of similar plot points between the two stories, but just remember SPACEEEEE, right? Space makes everything more exciting, or something like that. Eh?
THIRD OFF, the main character is an engineer but also a teacher. Which means, when the ships has repairs, she is involved with the process. However, there's not a lot of hard science going on, just kind of a general layout of what systems need to be repaired, and what they're general function is.
I think that's enough offs, right?
So Stella is a engineer/teacher on board the Stalwart, but she's been desperately applying for jobs on other space ships as she really just wants to be a teacher. However, her skills as an engineer are too valuable on board the Stalwart in order for her to be a full time teacher. However, however, she's also originally from the Empire, and was part of an orphan relocation program. She wound up on the Stalwart and became BFFs with George. They refer to themselves as the Empire orphans.
Anyways, Stella manages to land a job as a teacher aboard the Rochester. She leaves the Stalwart to join the eccentric crew on board the Rochester. There's a huge difference between the Stalwart and the Empire; the Stalwart carries a lot of people, has farming on it, and is kind of falling apart slowly but surely. The Rochester has maybe 10-12 people at most, doesn't seem to accomplish a particular task in the survival of the human race (it's a rich private ship), and is fully functioning. Stella has gotten a serious upgrade, but there's something kind of creepy going on aboard the Rochester.
That's enough summary...
So, despite some of the problematic things about the book, I kind of loved it until there was a turning point. Then the pacing of the book went full throttle rather than the great character development, relationship portrayals, and world building that was happening until this point. It's almost like the author was in such a rush to reveal a lot of the kind of mysteries going on, that they couldn't be bothered to do the rest anymore.
I also found the lack of crime super problematic about the book, especially when there was a lot of distinctions about the wealthy versus the poor and how they were treated. There was a lot of thinly veiled like, "Haha they'll just shove them out of the air lock if they're badddd" which only asks for more questions that are never addressed.
So while I enjoyed the lead up for the most part, there was a lot more aspects about the world I expected to be addressed, especially because it's set in space. Especially because they were shoved up there because of the ice age. Like how did the governing body form? Was it a power struggle? How did they manage to not fight amongst themselves? I suspect it was set a few generations after the freeze so these questions wouldn't be answered........but the main character is a TEACHER. There was ample opportunity to use some lessons to cover some of these basic questions, but Stella would think like, "The kids love it when I teach art!" ...and that's kind of it. I just needed a few more critical elements about the world to make more sense.
Happy reading!
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