Vendor
	Fritz Agency Christian Dittus
Original language
English
Categories
Science fiction
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http://www.yumekitasei.com

THE DEEP SKY

Yume Kitasei

It is the eve of Earth's environmental collapse. A single ship carries humanity's last hope: 80 elite graduates of a competitive program, who will give birth to a generation of children in deep space. But halfway to a distant but livable planet, a lethal bomb kills three of the crew and knocks The Phoenix off course. Asuka, the only surviving witness, is an immediate suspect.

Asuka already felt like an impostor before the explosion. She was the last picked for the mission, she struggled during training back on Earth, and she was chosen to represent Japan, a country she only partly knows as a half-Japanese girl raised in America. But estranged from her mother back home, The Phoenix is all she has left.

With the crew turning on each other, Asuka is determined to find the culprit before they all lose faith in the mission - or worse, the bomber strikes again.

Yume Kitasei is a Brooklyn-based Japanese and American writer of speculative fiction. Her stories have appeared in publications including New England Review, Catapult, SmokeLong Quarterly, Baltimore Review and Nashville Review. THE DEEP SKY is her debut novel.

Available products
Book Published 2023-07-01 by Flatiron Books

Comments

Hungarian: Agave;

There are so many things to love about Yume Kitasei's debut, but I especially adored how real every moment felt: the politics of boarding school and our future world; the lapsed friendships and estranged parents; the guilt of surviving, of being chosen. In The Deep Sky, Kitasei puts us under the microscope not in judgment but with a fair and caring eye; she looks for the best in us. -- C. L. Clark, author of The Unbroken

The Deep Sky is a beautiful tightly-wound mystery. It is both an intimate character portrait and a thriller. The space geek in me loves the way the voyage feels like a completely plausible extension of our current billionaire-fueled space race. ?Mary Robinette Kowal, winner of the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus Awards

Czech: Host

In this debut science-fiction thriller, the crew on The Phoenix, a ship bound for a new livable planet, have their world (ship) rocked by an explosion that kills several, including the captain. Each of the members of the 80-person crew has a specialty that supports their mission, and the ability to carry a child. Except for Asuka. Asuka, a half-Japanese girl raised in the United States, was always dead last in the training and classes required of those on the journey, and now that she's on the ship, she continues to struggle to find her place. She is often given the extra jobs that don't fit anyone else's specialties, and after the explosion, when it becomes clear that it wasn't just an accident, she is assigned to investigate. Her investigation leads her to the realization that there's a saboteur on board, and if she doesn't find them, the ship won't make it to the destination and will be lost, not only to the crew's loved ones on Earth, but to space itself. VERDICT: Readers will be engaged by the mystery and suspense and find familiarity and connection in the humanity of Asuka and the journey of The Phoenix. Read more...

"Kitasei sets her action-packed near-future debut against the backdrop of impending human extinction. In the face of global warfare, terrorism, and ecological collapse, the ambitious EvenStar project offers humanity a chance to start fresh, sending the spaceship Phoenix to colonize a new world. Asuka is selected for the crew from the crème de la crème of Earth's youth, but she grapples with imposter syndrome, convinced that her crewmates are all more competent and deserving than she is. When she fails to conceive a child en route, a critical component of the mission, it only compounds her feelings of failure and inadequacy. An explosion throws the Phoenix off course, prompting concerns there may be a terrorist aboard the ship. When suspicion lands on Asuka, she must -- with the aid of a buggy and enigmatic AI -- find a way to clear her name and keep all hell from breaking loose on the cramped ship. Frequent flashbacks to Asuka's past on Earth interrupt this tense spacefaring mystery, and though some readers may find this distracting, they successfully add context for and complexity to the resilient heroine. The result is a remarkable story of endurance and hope." -- Publishers Weekly Read more...