Do You Dream of Terra-Two?
Temi Oh
Saga Press
2019
Ms. Hen decided to read this novel because she researched African science fiction novels, and this one came up. She checked it out of her local library.
This novel is about a group of teenagers who study to go to another planet, Terra-Two. A special school outside of London trains students to compete to go to another planet someone discovered one hundred years ago.
The idea is that they will get to the planet in twenty-two years when they are in their forties, and can colonize the new planet, and prepare it for other travelers.
This novel is an alternate history novel. In this timeline, people have already been to Mars in 2012, and Britain has a space program.
The teenagers go to space, but one of them, Ara, commits suicide before the mission. Everyone is devastated, and they have to find a backup crew member, which turns out to be Jesse, who had the same specialization as Ara, horticulture.
The crew travels slowly through the solar system. Six beta members and the adults on the crew work together. They have problems, but they find solutions, or at times they don't.
Ms. Hen enjoyed this novel, but there were a couple of problems. She had a difficult time imagining the area of the ship they were on. It is large, but she didn't understand the spacial differences between the quarters, and what they looked like.
Also, some of the novel reads like a teenage romance. Romance usually shows up in sci-fi, but here it seems like it's poured on thick.
The characters are well-drawn, and the plot moves along well, and surprises occur, which Ms. Hen appreciates.
Ms. Hen liked this novel, but it's not the best she's ever read. But it's a great recovery novel from DEATH'S END, which she just finished, which was very heavy, whilst this was charming and light, and refreshing, though not perfect.
