illegible_scribble
10/22/2017
If you're into psychological horror and don't know or care much about science and space travel, you might enjoy this book.
OMG is this book bad. It is epic levels of bad.
This book is what results when someone decides to write science fiction without doing any research. Starting on Page 1, there are so many unbelievable plot points, discrepancies, and contradictions, that this book is in the running for – if not the outright champion of – the worst SF book I have read in years.
On page 1, the astronaut brags about having deliberately dehydrated himself (which increases the risk of impaired cognition and slowed reflexes), because he’s so egotistical that he doesn’t want to make his historic speech upon reaching orbit with wet astronaut diapers. And it’s downhill from there. In the next 50 pages, we learn: there is only 1 astronaut, not a class of 3 or more in case any of them become ill or wash out for some reason; that astronaut, rather than being the usual expert in 2 or 3 specialties (such as piloting, navigation, medicine, chemistry, computers, robotics, etc) and in superb physical condition, is an academic with one specialty, astrophysics; he was selected for being a celebrity rather than professional and temperamental suitability; he has had less than 6 months of training as an astronaut; he is a hair’s-breadth from full mental illness, because psychological stability was not a criterion in his selection; and he is simultaneously very concerned and not concerned at all about the danger posed by loose food crumbs flying around the cabin of the spaceship.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg of how bad the science in this psychological horror novel marketed as a “science fiction” book is. As a bonus, throw in some dodgy cosmology and astrophysics. I am the one who loves the space operas in which many readers poke scientific holes, and this one stomped on my notoriously-generous willing suspension of disbelief so hard that it still hasn’t completely recovered. This novel is what happens when an American MFA grad student (who emigrated from Prague as a teenager) decides that their novel will be science fiction, but that there is no need to do any actual research for the novel, nor to acquire a beta-reader with a science background to provide scientific accuracy. (I checked the Acknowledgments: there’s one “Dr.” listed, and they’re an assistant professor of literature with a PhD.) Curious to see whether other readers had a reaction similar to mine, I Googled and discovered that not only is the science part of the book awful, but (according to some Czech readers) the author has apparently butchered Czech cultural history due to lack of research as well. The only recommendation I can make for this book is to burn it in a very, very hot fire.
Not recommended in any universe.