Planetfall

Today's post is on Planetfall by Emma Newman. It is 336 pages long and is published by Ace. It is a standalone novel. The cover is white with the form of a woman in the center. The intended reader is someone who likes hard-ish science fiction. There is mild foul language, mild sexuality, and mild violence in this novel. The story is told from the first person perspective. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the back of the book- Renata Ghali believed in Lee Suh-Mi’s vision of a world far beyond Earth, calling to humanity. A planet promising to reveal the truth about our place in the cosmos, untainted by overpopulation, pollution, and war. Ren believed in that vision enough to give up everything to follow Suh-Mi into the unknown.
More than twenty-two years have passed since Ren and the rest of the faithful braved the starry abyss and established a colony at the base of an enigmatic alien structure where Suh-Mi has since resided, alone. All that time, Ren has worked hard as the colony's 3-D printer engineer, creating the tools necessary for human survival in an alien environment, and harboring a devastating secret.
Ren continues to perpetuate the lie forming the foundation of the colony for the good of her fellow colonists, despite the personal cost. Then a stranger appears, far too young to have been part of the first planetfall, a man who bears a remarkable resemblance to Suh-Mi.
The truth Ren has concealed since planetfall can no longer be hidden. And its revelation might tear the colony apart…

Review- This is an interesting science fiction novel with problems. The colony part of the story is very interesting, the characters are real feeling but then the ending happens. Ren is eaten up with guilt about whatever happened after planetfall that changed everything. Then a stranger comes to the colony and he upsets everything. He makes Ren think about the past and it begins to drive her mad. So much is going on in this novel from Ren having a problem with hoarding, which feels like a bad plot device to a end game revenge plot that I really had some trouble connecting with this novel. About the hoarding, it could have not been in the novel and nothing would have changed with the story. Ren still would have been eaten with guilt and grief. She would have still ended up in the City of God and still would have died. I think that Newman did some interesting things with this novel but I did not connect with the overall themes of this story.

I give this novel a Three out of Five stars. I was given this novel to review by Ace/ROC published in exchange for an honest review.