Science fiction and mystery make excellent companions, and setting a “whodunit” in space is kryptonite for many science-fiction readers. If that’s you, do yourself a favor and check out the backlist of Yume Kitasei’s first novel, dark sky. It’s hard to believe that Kitasie wrote this page-turner only three years ago, as she’s published two more books since its release. But it was this novel that got me and more fans hooked on its futuristic, high-risk adventures. Content warnings include abortion, reproductive problems, and death of the baby.
dark sky By Yume Kitase
It’s bad enough when there’s an unknown killer roaming around on the loose, but when you’re stuck with that killer in a metal box speeding through space? No, thanks!
Asuka and her fellow crew members find themselves in the same predicament. Oh, also, their ship has derailed and they have a limited time to correct the error. dark sky There’s a ticking time bomb that leaves a space team responsible for colonizing the new planet they’re bound for. Asuka, whose alt role identifies her as a jack of all trades master of any kind, is forced to play amateur detective while her team, many of whom are pregnant, focus on the problem of the larger ship.
The explosion that occurs when Asuka and one of her companions go on a space trip, and alerts the members to strategic acts of terrorism, a-ha! In the ending reveal, Kitasei makes this book hard to put down. The heroine driving the thriller is Asuka who is burdened by the feeling that she is always and forever different from her peers. She’s biracial, has a complicated family life, moves between two countries, and struggles with the insecurities of not being good enough for anything. On top of all this, Asuka has old feelings with the crew, but everyone else either has old grudges, have skeletons in their closet, or have vague backstories due to growing up competing against each other for a spot on the spaceship Phoenix. No one is beyond suspicion, anyone among them could be a traitor.
It’s a messy, emotionally thrilling ride filled with danger, deception, and flawed characters. One of my favorite aspects of Kitasi’s books is that they are inclusive. The crew of this ship full of potential baby-makers includes trans and nonbinary people, and Kitasei explores biracial identity with the intimacy you only get from lived experience.
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