3.5* Good read. Enjoyable.

https://theworldsofsff.com/2020/goldilocks/

I received and ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Firstly, let me say this is not the typical Sci-fi book I’d normally read. Now I have a blog up and running and have invited others to join me, I am working on expanding my reading horizons and promoting diversity. It is also the first book I have read by Laura Lam. I can safely say I enjoyed this book, having read it over two days.

Goldilocks follows an all-female crew of 5, who steal a spaceship and set out on a journey to Cavendish—an earth-like planet capable of supporting life. The backdrop is that Earth is approaching an apocalypse. Estimations state Earth will only remain habitable for roughly 30 more years; humans must find a new home by then. The political climate is heavily misogynistic: women are being passed over for new jobs and promotions, discouraged from working after giving birth, eliminated from contention for work in space, and myriad of other oppressive actions.

A lot of interesting topics are eluded to in Goldilocks, ones that make you think about where our future, in real life, may lead on our current course: global warming; meat being produced in vats; growing organs; growing babies in wombs outside the body; private police and firefighters; large walls holding back the seas; flooding; mass numbers of refugees; ownership and laws on other planets; vast differences in wealth and its distribution; and even the internet is so expensive it’s a luxury for the few. At one point a statement is made regarding the “ramshackle housing” many live in and how they are not classed as a permanent residence, and therefore, those people cannot vote.

Though these topics are eluded too, they are not explored, and I think an opportunity was missed there. I was asking myself a lot of questions regarding the above, as I do in life anyway, and wanted to know more about the world-state in Goldilocks. It wouldn’t be possible to explore it all, but there were some opportunities, and other opportunities could have been created, to explore these topics. Eluding to these topics brings up an awful lot of question about life on Earth in the book.

As mentioned, the story focuses on five women who steal the spaceship and their journey; it is told from the perspective of Valerie Black—a very rich person who is the mastermind behind the plan and leader of the group—and Naomi Lovelace—a leading botanist who was raised by Valerie after her parents died. The other members of the crew are Oksana Lebedeva (engineer), Irene Hart (doctor) and Nixon (pilot and I can’t remember or find her first name). Hart and Nixon are a married couple. The names of the crew were used inconsistently at times, at least to me. Hart, Nixon and Lebedeva were almost exclusively, referred to by their surname, yet Valarie and Naomi almost exclusively referred to by the forenames. On the ship, there is a command structure and surnames are therefore the norm, understandably, but it wasn’t always the case for Valarie and Naomi. It’s minor but I noticed it.

Regarding the crew, I thought opportunities were missed for more dialogue among crew members. It wasn’t until chapter 13 (possibly 14) that the crew had an important dialogue between them. You learn a lot about Valarie and Naomi, as many chapters are set in the past, painting pictures of events that led us to the present moment. I felt like I really knew both by the end; I understood their motivations. I was invested. I can’t say the same about the other crew members. We know bits about them but not much. Just one small chapter for each would have been enough to satisfy curiosity. Or use conversations and interactions on the ship to bring out their personalities. We learn Lebedeva is effectively not allowed back into Russia, but not much more. At one point, Hart discussed how Hixon didn’t leave a lot behind, how she hadn’t had a relationship with her parents since coming out. In this instance, a chance to explore the situation for members of the LGBTQ+ community in this future Earth was also missed. And in turn. A chance to challenge the prejudice and perspective of some towards the LGBTQ+ community.

Yes, these three are secondary characters, but they are on the ship with Valerie and Naomi and I didn’t think I got to know them enough. The book isn’t long and there was room to have a chapter for each of the other three crew members, which I don’t believe would have detracted from the book or story; I believe it would have enhanced it and made me more invested in Hart, Hixon and Lebedeva.

As I’ve said, I enjoyed Goldilocks. Overall, It’s a well-crafted story. What I was expecting to happen, was obviously not going to about 60% into the book, making me guess again. I saw a few probable scenarios, but I was still guessing towards the end until the story became apparent. The pace of the book increases around the 75% mark and it got me going. It tapers down at the end, with an ending I didn’t expect, after the main story if you like, and it becomes somewhat reflective which I liked.

It's been good for me to expand my horizons and read outside of my very comfortable zone. I'm glad I did! I would happily recommend this book to others. If this is your usual type of read, I suspect this book will be a 4* for you, maybe more.

An all-female team of astronauts are crewing the first mission to the planet Cavendish, having defied NASA's attempts to replace them with a team of men by hijacking the ship. Behind them, Earth is in environmental and social collapse, with women's rights gradually being further and further restricted. Cavendish offers the hope of founding a new society on a healthy planet. But something seems to be going wrong on the ship, and our protagonist and lead botanist, Naomi, determines to find out what it is.

I'm not sure why I felt so profoundly disappointed by Goldilocks, and have rated it higher than I would otherwise have done in recognition of the fact that it does a lot of things well. The worldbuilding is pretty solid for something that sits on the boundary of popular thriller and science fiction, and I became increasingly convinced by the scenario Laura Lam describes as I read on. In particular, I liked the idea of a patriarchal dystopia where birth is restricted rather than promoted; in the context of the climate crisis it makes sense for pressure to be brought to bear on women to have only one child then pour all their resources into it, and this contextualises the many ways in which women's rights have been reduced. The unfolding dilemma for the women on the spaceship also works well, given the situation back home, and there are some realistic questions raised about what trying to start a new society might actually mean in practice. There were a few echoes of the haunting Netflix film I Am Mother here, although the plot takes quite a different turn.

But despite Lam's thoroughly competent handling of this premise, the book still felt clunky and wooden to me. I think the fault might lie in the characterisation. The crew are pretty stereotypical. This is most obvious in the writing of the protagonist, Naomi, and her mentor, Valerie, simply because they get the most screen time. By the end, I was finding Naomi extremely irritating because of her lack of human flaws; there's nothing about her that brings her to life as a person. Meanwhile, *SPOILER* Valerie becomes a ridiculously cartoonish villain, responsible for almost everything bad that has happened on the mission, and in Naomi's life, so far! This book would have been so much more interesting if Lam had been brave enough to write a genuine conflict between Naomi and Valerie, allowing the reader to decide who they sympathise with the most, rather than giving Naomi all the moral cards. *END SPOILER* Despite these issues, I think other readers may get more out of this book than I did. 3.5 stars.

Thank you to netgalley for this advanced copy to review.

The structure of the book is that each chapter is told in a different time period. I enjoyed much more the chapters that were set after the shuttles launch.

An all women team on a shuttle are trying to heal combat climate change. Men’s Rights activists are against them. Plus things keep going wrong but is it for nefarious reasons?

If Sci-Fi is your thing give this a try.

I received this as an ARC from netgalley in exchange for an honest review. The book comes out in April.

I've been really excited about this book since I heard about it because I liked the concept so much - the Martian by way of handmaid's tale. This was that, but not quite - or at least the elements I was expecting from that crossover weren't the ones I got. The crew scenes from the Martian yes, patriarchal politics yes. Lots of science, and afaik pretty accurate too. (I like space stuff. I try to keep on top of it.) it had an Interstellar vibe too it as well.

(Actually it was just everything I love about humans in space kind of movies but in book form.)

This is: five women go to space to steal a planet.
It is also: fraught foster-mother/daughter relationship on a spaceship.
and it's also: political commentary on climate change and US politics that is not even remotely subtle about it.

It's kind of a quiet thriller. That doesn't make sense, maybe, but it wasn't the kind of thriller that had me at the edge of my seat with my heart pounding, but that's not to say it wasn't a tense book - it just also had its quiet moments to balance out the tension. The non-linear narrative helped to both balance it out and intensify it, and I really liked that structure. It was like a slow unfolding of layers that revealed more about both Naomi and Valerie, giving you a deeper understanding of who they both are as people, and I enjoyed how that structure also allowed for a lot of mystery. Even though I'd figured it out off the bat, I didn't feel that the fact I'd worked it out diminished the mystery.

Anyway, I really enjoyed it. I came to really sympathise with Naomi and I loved how her relationships with the other characters unfolded (which is about the most non-spoilery way I can put it. I don't want to write a spoilery review right now. Maybe I'll amend it later). Valerie struck me very much like a female version of Elon Musk, which was very interesting, not least because they generated their wealth through different types of science but ultimately both spend it on Go Live In Space projects, and the gendered difference (if gendered? discuss) could be pretty interesting to get into.

Climate change, the erosion of women's rights, women's reproductive rights especially, global pandemics, climate change denial and far right politics, this book feels politically poignant and thought provoking in the present day. All pulled together in the back drop of a sci-fi novel, I haven't enjoyed a new book or new (to me) author this much in a long time.

I was really quickly drawn into the book after the first few pages, it wasn't a slow burn, the world described for me was intriguing from the start and I wanted to know where the story was headed. I am admittedly a lover of the sci-fi genre, but it wasn't just this theme that made me want to keep reading, I wanted to know where the relationships were going and i cared about the characters. I think one of the books major strengths is the pace of the characters story lines developing and the explanations of the relationships. I never felt like i was waiting for something to inevitably happen and it didn't fail to surprise.

The only very minor criticism of the book is, i would have liked to know more of the history in building up to time the book was set in, more detail on how things were changing and how they had changed so radically for women. But this is only a minor fault and the creeping erosion of women's rights is easy enough to imagine if you just look around the current political climate.

Overall a really unique and thought provoking sci-fi thriller that i thoroughly enjoyed and finished in less than 48 hours, i found myself not wanting to put the book down for long.