Disclosure: this work was provided as an advance copy from the publisher through NetGalley.
This is a story for hardcore space fans, or those who want/need a grounding in hard sci-fi.
Through probably the first quarter of the book I never really seemed to get over the fact that Martin ended up on a manned crew two Enceladus. I really had a hard time biting that off, but at the same time, this book is supposed to be a work of fiction and fun. How many space geeks out there who are technically unqualified to be astronauts wouldn’t give their right leg (or any other limb) to become an astronaut? I know I would.
From that point, it really seemed to capture the focus on the mundane, and how everything trivial isn’t trivial. That helped solidify the isolation piece for me. That said, I do really enjoy that aspect, but that really messed with the pacing. Even after arrival at Enceladus, the pacing seemed a bit off. That’s honestly what took me so long to read this book, otherwise I would’ve finished it in two days.
One thing I really wish would have been explored in greater detail was the potential “hive-like” extraterrestrial. Hopefully, from what I gathered in the Author’s Note, the next book titled The Titan Probe will answer this question, and whether or not it tries to communicate thanks to Martin’s last minute idea. It’s a shame that it just fell really flat for me though. Anticlimactic. Reminded me of a weekly TV series...”tune in next week to see if So-and-So survived!”
Overall, I enjoyed the book. Definitely worth the read for hard sci-fi fans.
My review on GoodReads is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2577744187