Planetfall
Written by Emma Newman
www.ink2quill.com

“Planetfall” is a science fiction, psychological thriller, mystery novel written by Emma Newman. It´s an interesting story that incorporates many themes. You have the space colony that is very cult like and sets out to live in a better place, the highly skilled and yet oblivious colonists who somehow never ask the important questions about their environment and the idea that some secrets, or more precisely going along with something that is very wrong, can eat a person from the inside and drive them mad.

“Planetfall” Goodreads webpage

“Planetfall” Amazon webpage

“Planetfall” Penguin Random House webpage

Emma Newman website

Renata Ghali is the main character in this story about a group of colonists who left Earth to build  better life and find a nicer place to live. She part of a group of people who follow Lee Su-Mi to another world where they build a colony. They flee war, overpopulation and pollution, among just some of the problems, to a planet with a strange city or structure and decide to live right under it. On the colony she works as a 3-D printer engineer which basically means that she manages the machines that print all the colony´s tools. When a stranger that likes a lot like the late Lee Su-Mi appears the lie about the colony and crimes committed start to unravel. We discover what a mess going along with such a serious lie has turned Renata into. However, her problems are far deeper than just her hoarding and she eventually discovers the truth about the alien structure.

I really enjoyed this story and its originality. You really got the feeling that the main character Ren was falling apart as she was losing control of her life and I would say even lonely and depressed. This is as much the story of a group of people who have stuck their heads in the sand as it is a woman refusing to come clean and tell the truth about all that has happened some 20 years earlier.

I still had unanswered questions at the end of the story but that didn´t keep me from thinking that it was a good book. I also wished for more interactions with the alien structure/ city/ technology as it was so fascinating. You could call it food for the imagination. The main character was tortured but intelligent and I loved the way she put the pieces of the mystery that was the alien structure together.

I really liked this story for its originality, world building and its mysteries. This is definitely worth the read and I regret their won´t be a sequel because I would have liked to see the transformation in Renata after everything she went through and learned. The stranger kinda forced her to take an honest look at her situation and shook things up which is what she really needed.

Written by John

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