Goldilocks

It would be easy to dismiss Goldilocks by Laura Lam as a space drama. To do so, however, would mean ignoring the most interesting aspects of the novel, at your detriment. For, the power of the novels lies not in the fact that a majority of it occurs in space but rather all of the factors that brought the women together and keeps them on their mission.

At its heart, Goldilocks is a depressing and yet hopeful extrapolation of climate change projections and political policy harbingers. In other words, Ms. Lam simply looked at current data and political trends and made some guesses on what the future would look like should we, as a globe, continue on our same course. What she shows is not pretty. In fact, most of what she shows is downright show more depressing.

Thankfully, Ms. Lam does not dwell on what is but on what can be. Goldilocks becomes a call for widespread action to save the planet and save ourselves because, unlike in the novel, there is no backup planet. Even if there was, we still have no way to get there within one person's lifetime. Ms. Lam shows that we all must make tough decisions and that those decisions must not mean abandoning our moral compass.

In addition to the climate issues, Ms. Lam presents a hypothetical scenario should current nationalistic tendencies in global governments continue. Anyone living in the United States for the past three years will understand the growing misogynistic tendencies occurring in healthcare and education and will recognize Ms. Lam's future as a possibility, however distant. Readers immediately understand the frustration of all five women and the actions they take. Still, we must take heed of the warning and take steps to ensure the future of our daughters does not mimic Ms. Lam's hypothetical one.

Goldilocks is a book club's dream novel. It provides ample opportunities to discuss fact versus fiction and reality from imagination as it pertains to our current situation versus that posed by Ms. Lam. For those readers not in a book club, the novel still presents scenarios worthy of reflection and may even induce you to action. You can't ask for more from a novel than that. show less

Goldilocks is a humdinger of a sci-fi thriller. When Earth is on it’s last legs, ravaged by climate changes, five women steal a spaceship with plans to colonize a new world. Told from the point of view of Dr. Naomi Lovelace some thirty years later, we learn how at that time women were not valued as equals and these women, all highly trained in their field, had been forced out of their jobs.

Under the leadership of Dr. Valerie Black an entrepreneur who raised Naomi and became her mentor, they take the Atalanta spaceship which was built by Valerie’s company. The plan is to warp from Mars to a distant, habitable planet called Cavendish. But the crew of four find out some disturbing facts about their leader. At first the crew have to show more deal with mechanical failures that threaten to shut them down, but the drama heightens when the conflicts become betrayals and double-crossings. Valerie’s ambitions have leached her humanity and the crew must finally decide whether to let their home planet die or try to fix the pandemic that Valerie left in place.

Exciting and original, I found Goldilocks a book that I couldn’t leave alone. The author included enough real science to keep it interesting without going overboard and although I felt the main character was a little distant, this space travelling story was engaging and fun. show less

Well, I was up past 3:00 am listening to this audiobook. A group of five women steal a spaceship and are headed to the distant planet of Cavendish to start a settlement. Earth is dying with maybe 30 years left. While it seems like this is the best chance to start saving humanity, it all starts going very wrong. Dr. Valerie Black is the captain, her adopted daughter, Naomi is the ship's botanist. It doesn't take long for Naomi to start noticing things going wrong on the ship and that someone is hiding a terrible secret. Very enjoyable space opera!

An Earth gasping out its last days leads a group of five women to steal a spaceship and head for a habitable planet called Cavendish that could be the new home for humanity in Goldilocks by Laura Lam.

Climate change is making the Earth less hospitable every day. Political change is bringing down the glass ceiling on women harder than ever. Five women, led by industrialist Valerie Black and her adopted daughter Naomi Lovelace, steal the ship Atatlanta and head out for the planet Cavendish.

The early part of the novel focuses on some of the mechanical and logistical challenges of the space voyage. It becomes clear in the second half of the book that there are different agendas at work and some among the crew may be hiding secrets.

The story show more is seen mostly through Naomi's eyes and dominated by her and Valerie's viewpoints. The other characters form a nice balance of competing personalities and dispositions. Conditions and politics on Earth are interestingly portrayed both in the present and through flashbacks. They highlight what has led these women to make the decisions they made. The story is more of a slow boiler than fast-paced action. The challenges and close quarters of space flight highlight the tension in the early part of the book. In the second half of the book, distrust among the crew about secrets the others may be hiding ramps up the tension.

Lam does a good job of highlighting the science not only of long-distance space flight but the challenges and possibilities involved in settling a new world. The book also shines a light on societal changes that are one possible extrapolation of both the current political and actual climate.

Goldilocks is a thoughtful book and one that leads to reflection after you turn the final page. A couple of leaps of faith are required in the scheme to steal the spaceship, but they don’t detract from the excitement. Goldilocks does a good job of balancing the science and adventure aspects with thoughtful character exploration. Recommended read.

I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher. show less

In a not-too-distant future when climate change has made Earth almost uninhabitable, humans have figured out faster-than-light travel and they've found a distant planet that has good conditions for human habitation. Women's rights have eroded, and even though there are many women who are highly qualified to fly in space, a group of men is going to be the first to go to the new planet. However, a crew of women steal the spaceship and plan to go to the planet first. The mastermind behind this plot is a rich entrepreneur (imagine a female Elon Musk). The book is narrated by her adopted daughter, Naomi, who has dreamed of space flight her whole life and has worked hard to achieve that goal.

The book is the story of their spaceflight, show more interspersed with flashbacks to the deaths of Naomi's parents, being raised by her adoptive mother, and her difficult space career.

Naturally the crew of the spaceship start to encounter difficulties - they're in big trouble on Earth for stealing a spaceship, they discover that there's a cryogenically-frozen crew of men on board, the ship's life-support systems have problems - and these create some moral dilemmas for the crew.

This is an engaging thriller, with just enough foreshadowing to keep you guessing. The two main characters are very well developed. The other characters are a bit flat, but the book is really about the psychological tension between Naomi and Valerie. show less

This is absolutely outstanding and had me gripped from the start. Five women steal a spaceship from Earth orbit. How will they get away with it? Can they get all the way to the exoplanet that they are destined for? What will happen when Earth catches up with them? This book has everything: trans-inclusive feminism! Science! Suspense! Climate change. The cold equations. Criticism of the trolley problem. Brilliant.

There's plenty to enjoy here - a far too believable dystopian near-future, a cast dominated by women full of ambition and determination, the shining promise of a new world - but I wasn't sold on the split timeline narration, which undercut tension and reduced my engagement.

However, it's a competent space thriller and - more interesting to me - a gripping personal drama. For all it has to say about the patriarchy and climate change, I think it's at its strongest in examining the relationships between children and parents, and in asking what it takes to step out of their shadow - both as individuals, as as a species.

Full review

I received a free copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.