In The Deep Sky, a group of youth train for years to leave the earth for a new planet, bearing children as often as possible along the way to form a new colony. Asuka is a Japanese-American who was very nearly not chosen for the mission; she’s only along as the alternate, after someone dropped out. When she and a team member go out to investigate something attached to the side of the ship, an explosion kills three of the crew. Asuka is tasked with investigating what happened.
As Asuka investigates, she has to confront her complicated relationships with the other crew members, some of whom were once her closest friends. She has to figure out who she can trust, in a system where everyone’s lives depend on each other and what’s real isn’t always clear.
Most of the concepts in this book aren’t new. Kitasei explores the idea that the Earth will probably become inhospitable and a colony on another planet may be the only way humanity survives. The mission depends on women (and trans and nonbinary characters) who can both operate a space ship and bear children. The stakes are high, relationships are tense, and the mission is a long one, never to return to Earth.
I liked Kitasei’s exploration of Asuka’s character, from her complicated American and Japanese identity to her insecurities – she never feels good enough to be there, as evidenced by her inability to get pregnant and her lack of a clear role on the ship. At the same time, as an alternate she learns all the workings of the ship and in fact is much more valuable to the crew.
Asuka loves birds, and throughout the book bird behavior is used as a metaphor to describe what is happening on the ship (for example, the cuckoo bird sneaks her own eggs into other birds’ nests so they have to do the work). This reminded me at times of the way Star Trek plays with symbolism to make larger points about humanity.
I also liked the use of alternate reality as a way to keep each crew member feeling good about life on the ship. Each crew member gets to design their own reality to make the ship feel inviting. The trouble is that each character’s reality is different and solitary – so is that keeping each crew member happy or increasing their isolation?
The book felt unevenly paced, slow at times, and the development of the other characters was limited. The book follows two parallel times, the present on the ship and the past in Asuka’s boarding school/training program. I don’t love constant switches back and forward in time and I think the book would have benefitted from more time in the present. I did appreciate the intensity of the competition among the young people forced to compete against each other for limited space on a one-time mission, but I think too much time was spent in the past.
I enjoyed this book but did have some issues with it. I could see it making a great movie or show. If you like space thrillers, you can’t do better than the Planetfall series by Emma Newman. I also recommend Light From Uncommon Stars and The Space Between Worlds.
Thanks to NetGalley and publisher Flatiron Books for this advanced review copy. This book published July 18, 2023.
