eBook review copy; 320 pages
ISBN-13: 9781501142932
Hold Back the Stars by Katie Khan is a romance in a science fiction setting. I accepted a review copy based on the description, but I was bitterly disappointed. This is, above all else, a romance, not science fiction. The universe is unrealistic and the sci-fi elements are laughable. I powered through to the end hoping it would get better, but my opinion of the book just kept plummeting with every chapter. This reads like a YA novel.
The description: "Trapped in the vast void of space, Carys and Max have only ninety minutes of oxygen left to live. None of this was supposed to happen. After a freak accident, Carys and Max are left adrift in space with nothing to hold onto but each other. As they fall, they can’t help but look back at the world they left behind. A world whose rules they couldn’t submit to, a place where they never really belonged; a home they’re determined to get back to because they’ve come too far to lose each other now. While their air ticks dangerously low, one is offered the chance of salvation - but who will take it?"
Carys and Max are both annoying characters that I could neither relate to nor muster any sympathy for them. Perhaps if the world building was better I could have overlooked my annoyance, but the world building was worse than the actual "star-crossed lovers." For future reference, please, if you are going to write science fiction... if you are going to set your novel in space... if you are going to have an asteroid field circling the Earth, (if... I could go on) please do research. And don't even get me started on the societal rules that are not logically explained. The poor world-building was not just found in the science fiction bits in space.
Now, if you enjoy romance novels, something I avoid, perhaps this novel will be just fine for you because you can ignore all the parts that I intensely disliked.
Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Gallery Books.
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