REVIEW: Do You Dream of Terra-Two by Temi Oh

by |March 12, 2019

temi ohDo You Dream of Terra-Two?
by Temi Oh
Review by Bronwyn Eley

I loved this book. I just had to start with that and, by all means, you can stop here and just go buy it because you won’t regret it. However, if you want to know why I loved it…

I am a huge science-fiction fan and have been since I was a little girl. I’ve read and watched a lot of sci-fi over the years and I’d like to think I know what to expect of the genre by now, but debut author Temi Oh really shook up my expectations with Do You Dream of Terra-Two?

This book was beautifully written. Temi Oh has a way of exploring emotions that is so raw and moving that it ripped straight through my chest and into my heart. Her characters felt so real to me. Their pain and fear, their uncertainties and desires, all seeped into me as I read, to the point where it felt like I was the one going off into space and leaving everything I knew behind.

So what is this story about? It’s about the hope a new planet brings. Years after a new planet is discovered, we follow the journey of the ten astronauts who are leaving a dying Earth to find it. The crew is a mix of decorated space veterans and fresh, naive teenagers who have spent their lives training for this mission in the exclusive Dalton Academy.

This isn’t Star Trek. This isn’t Stargate. There are no wormholes. No light-speed. No short cuts. The mission these astronauts embark on is one that will define and consume their entire lives. The journey to Terra-Two is going to take twenty-three years. They will be awake for this entire time, living in close quarters, dreaming of Terra-Two.

I was immediately overcome with a sense of utter loneliness. Perhaps it was because space, while magnificent and powerful, is endless and unknown. These brave (and perhaps foolish) people have chosen to spend the next twenty-three years drifting through space in what could very-well become their floating, metal grave.

Something always goes wrong in space, right?

But again, this is not the story I was expecting. Rather than aliens, wormholes and explosions (although there are a few of those), Temi Oh exposes what it means to be human in a brilliant and brutal way. Her characters are flawed, afraid, arrogant and hopeful – in every way they are real and complex humans.

If you loved The Martian, The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet or anything by Ursula K. Le Guin, you must pick this up. Do You Dream of Terra-Two? is wonderfully refreshing and mercilessly confronting. I cannot wait to pick up Temi Oh’s next book and I will do so with extreme eagerness!

Do You Dream of Terra-Two?by Temi Oh

Do You Dream of Terra-Two?

by Temi Oh

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet meets The 100 in this unforgettable debut by a brilliant new voice.

A century ago, scientists theorised that a habitable planet existed in a nearby solar system. Today, ten astronauts will leave a dying Earth to find it. Four are decorated veterans of the 20th century’s space-race. And six are teenagers, graduates of the exclusive Dalton Academy, who’ve been in training for this mission for most of their lives.

It will take the team 23 years to reach Terra-Two. Twenty-three years spent in close quarters. Twenty-three years with no one to rely on but each other. Twenty-three years with no rescue possible, should something go wrong. And something always goes wrong.

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About the Contributor

Before entering the exciting world of books, Bronwyn served in the Royal Australian Air Force, travelled extensively and worked (still does!) as a barista on the weekends. Books are her true passion. Bronwyn's debut fantasy novel Relic is coming out in 2019 with indie publishing house Talem Press. They are to publish her entire trilogy called The Relic Trilogy. In her spare time, Bronwyn writes, reads and enjoys keeping fit (which she undoes by eating loads of chocolate) with Martial Arts and personal training. She can't answer what her favourite book is but she has a soft spot for Peter Pan (J.M Barrie), Outlander (Diana Gabaldon), Stardust (Neil Gaiman), The Illuminae Files (Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman) and Six of Crows (Leigh Bardugo). Fantasy, sci-fi and YA make up the majority of her bookshelves.

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Comments

  • May 31, 2019 at 3:43 pm

    I too am a tragic sci-fy fan, having read all the way from Clark/Asimov through to Robinson/Pratchett. Started this new entry with an open mind and early on liked the style and approach, the plot was okay. However as the book progressed I realised that I’m clearly the wrong target, not being a YA given to an overtly emotional lens on life that’s filled with flawed but rich, strong and centred females and shallow, weak or irrelevant males. Real and flawed they may well have tried to be but I couldn’t help finishing the book with an uneasy sense of a group of brats who were born without a good moral compass. Like an updated Lord of the Flies without the bump at the end or a Teen Girls Guide to a Weekend camp. The thematic frame of a space vehicle crew occupied by invisible adults and children running amok lost any sense of reality early on and the ending was like the author just couldn’t think of a way in which to turn the ship around, somewhat literally. The book reminded me of the description of a certain British car, a lovely (gender unspecified) model for the front half and quasimodo for the back half.

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