A pretty good read but basically a love story ( )

I have to be honest and upfront about this book. I read the description from the publisher about the book and thought this would be a great exploration about humanity and one human's existence in the larger universe. I am being honest because that is the baggage that I brought to the table before starting the book. I state this because our main character Jamie is alone for approximately 3 e-pages or so before she sets off on her space adventure with the "ragtag" group. The book then becomes a space adventure leading up to a confrontation with Jamie's boyfriend and the group's trip back to Earth. There was not much exploration at all about the nature of humanity, except even when there are so few humans, people can still be asses and can de-evolve to a more primary function (there is a near rape scene). I wanted more from this book, but that is because I walked into the book thinking it was about something else.
The writing itself was just fine as was the story. The story was a most basic space travel story filled with conflicts and will they or won't they situations. That is not to say it is a bad thing, but her writing brought the story along further than I would have given it. That says something about the author.
Again, I am a bit skewed as I read the description one way and got another story, so I wound up giving the book 3 stars.

I want to thank NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. ( )

I bought this book recently, having enjoyed [a:Becky Chambers|8389735|Becky Chambers|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1494228249p2/8389735.jpg]'s 'Wayfarers' trilogy. The blurb looked interesting and I was in need of some "feel-good" SF. My first attempt was false, couldn't get into the story. Putting the book aside for some time, I picked it up again last week. The reading went smoother, but some frustrations soon started popping up, mainly because of the behaviour of Jamie Allenby, the main character.

What's the premise? A virus has wiped out almost all of humanity. Well, not all, just many British people (maybe I overlooked something, but I never had the impression that most of humanity was wiped out; there just isn't such a description of the events), as Jamie is from England, more specifically the Bamburgh region. Hah, isn't that the same region or place where Uhtred from [a:Bernard Cornwell|12542|Bernard Cornwell|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1504578807p2/12542.jpg]'s The Saxon Stories aka The Last Kingdom is from? So it is. Coincidence? In any case, Lindisfarne also plays a role in Ms Corlett's book.

What's it about? Well, a virus reportedly wiped out most of humanity, but many could flee to planets in outer space. But even there people were infected. Jamie, a veterinarian, got separated from her then-lover, Daniel. All she thinks of, is Daniel and how she misses him. She's supposedly the only one left on her planet, until she meets Lowry and Rena, both religious people. And so the adventure begins, especially when Callan and Gracie (engineer) pick up their call and Callan lands his ship to pick up the earlier three people.

As they travel on, more calls come in, other places wanting to rebuild society, and so on. But there's always a catch. Rena and Jamie want to go back to Earth, for whatever reason. Oh yes, prior to that, Jamie and Daniel to meet each other again. Oh, what a coincidence.

Yes, as someone else wrote, certain events are just a liiiiitle too coincidental. Some happenings seem to be thrown in for the sake of having something going on, so the story can continue.

Nothing really happens. Sure, people die - it turns out there are several hundreds, if not thousands, who did survive; Jamie needlessly worrying about her 0.0000001% or something like that -, Rena becoming at some point very religious and suddenly "seeing the light" (hence her desire to go to Lindisfarne), but we never learn much in terms of the science in this supposedly science-fiction story.

Spoiler! As Rena became more religious, she wanted to further wipe out survivors, so humanity could really begin anew, so God's work could be executed as it was intended (by whom?). Even more, Rena used to work for the company that actually developed and let loose the virus. She was in it all along, yet never betrayed herself. Even that is not really discovered. I mean, nobody asked questions, nobody tried to investigate.

Is it about how man reacts to such events and how rebuilding society is to happen? Even this isn't really explored in the novel, how survivors rebuild. Most just seem to live their lives as is, and when it's over, it's over. There's also no mention of any political actions, any governments, except at the place where Jamie (and co.) and Daniel meet again. The situation seems to be a bit better over there, more coherent, structured.

Is is about a woman (Jamie) who can't find a direction in her life, struggling with her desires and emotions and thus not thinking straight?

Another review mentioned that this story did not have to take place in space. This is correct. It could just have happened on Earth, with people surviving here and there: in Europe, in the US, in Africa, in Asia, ... and from there trying to re-establish connection or finding one's way home, for example.

There's so much that isn't explained. The focus lies on feelings, emotions, how people deal with them under such circumstances. Sadly, as a lot is not worked out and one can't really make up one's mind about the theme of the book, the story misses the mark, in my humble opinion. ( )

I liked this book. I don't love it, but that's for the realness of the main character's trauma. I understand the main character's need for space, though I think her encounters that ram home how important it is for people to have choice and their own space are a bit ham-fisted. Jamie was too much like me when I was at my worst depression, floating through life, and only making decisions when sudden panic told her to. Basically this is the story of someone with depression and generalized anxiety getting over her issues in a post-apocalyptic sci-fi setting. Also, I don't agree with Jamie about forgiveness or whatever that was at the end. Screw the zealously religious lady, and I'd be a great deal more upset with people like the priest and Daniel too. I feel like psychiatric drugs must have become taboo to prescribe or something because multiple characters needed them and some good therapy. I don't dislike the book for all that, but I must admit to being frustrated with it. ( )

I tried.

I guess it's just a matter of timing and perfectly misaligned expectations, but I couldn't bring myself to want to get into this novel no matter how much I tried. It was super-lite. The SF portions were too little, too contrived, and kinda worthless as a plot-device, while the character-heavy literary fiction feels never gripped me and from everything I've read in other reviews, it wasn't ever going to.

I might have made a good go at this and suffered through to the end if there was any kind of indication of a huge twist, some valuable insight, or a simple "I love this character"... but it looks like this book isn't even going to have something like that in it for me. So I'm calling it off. It's me, not you, The Space Between the Stars. I don't want to be bored to death.

Sorry!