Under the Heavens (1) (The Ark Trilogy)

Fox's Under the Heavens is a blend of space opera, speculative climate fiction, and young adult dystopian. Admittedly, I went into it not realizing there'd be such a heavy YA dystopian element, and I think that's what largely threw off the fix for me. I absolutely loved the larger story and the concepts involved, but I was really in the book for the speculative climate fiction element, and the bridging of eco-fiction/biological concerns with science fiction. Instead, though, that dystopian YA and the hard space opera feel often left me feeling anxious for the story to get on with itself, and I didn't ultimately enjoy the book anywhere near as much as I'd expected to. Especially since the hard sci-fi was a little too belabored in some show more spots and could have used some editing down, this just wasn't what I was hopiong for.

I probably won't go on with this series, but if Fox turns to writing adult work, especially if it involves climate or marine concerns in either fashion, I'll certainly be anxious to try it. show less

Under the Heavens
By Ruth Fox
If you only read one book this year and you only read feel-good books, this one is for you!
A young gal, with lots of secrets, is escorting various types of whales to a new world to save them from extinction. This batch has human DNA in them and fitted with a link in their brain whereas they can communicate with their caretaker, the girl named Kim. Kim also has the implant.
Once the whales get to the world, the goal is after multiple breeding seasons, the human DNA will be diluted until gone. That's the plan.
Kim is alone, except a bossy computer and helpful droids, but she swears she sees someone else. She also notices a few things different. Someone is walking around in her ship!
Now the fun begins! Who, why, show more and how? None of this goes well with her secrets!
It's a fascinating story with tension, dread, action, love for the whales (especially certain ones! ), and doing what is right!
A feel-good book with a happy ending for the whales! I really loved this book!!! show less

I do like reading sci fi books. As someone who is into technology, these types of books spark my interest. Thus, the reason I wanted to check out this book. Which I do have to say that I did like it but wished that I loved it more.

Although, I knew that Kim had a different persona with Hannah, I was still a bit thrown off balance in the beginning with the change in names. Luckily, when Hannah was talking, the font was written in different text so you could delineate between the two personas.

The story did seem to start out slowly but did pick up steam in the latter half of the story. I could see the story playing out in my head. Overall, I would give this author another chance.

Okay, I had this for a while before I got to it because I got behind, so I forgot what it was about. Anyway, after reading for a bit, I started figuring out what it was about but didn't fully understand the story/plot until the end. This also isn't my normal genre since I thought it was fantasy when it's clearly sci-fi so that colors my view a bit. I don't usually like or read a lot of sci-fi. This was interesting, but it was slow-moving. There were a few parts that were more fast-paced, but through other parts, I felt like I was dragging or it was dragging for me.
It's a different story about this girl on a spaceship taking herself and some whales that are the last of the species to save them and transfer them to a new planet. Then she show more also has a secret mission/secret identity and as things go along, we find out more about that and the whales. Kim/Hannah and the whales are connected by a neural link to communicate since she is their caretaker while on this ship and we find that not all the whales like her, in fact, a few have a deep hatred/strong dislike of her and a few love her. I don't know what to say or how to say much about this story without maybe giving away too much, but it's a definite head trip.
It's a decent read, but not my favorite and maybe a bit too weird for me. If you're into sci-fi, space, whales, and such, then you might like it if you try it, but it wasn't as much for me. show less

Thank you netgalley for letting me review this book.

This is not a genre I read a lot from.

What would you do if you were in charge of returning some whales to another destination, but there may be a ploy to stop you from accomplishing that goal.

I really enjoyed the storyline of this book. Being able to communicate with whales and understand them would be fun.

#netgalley #undertheheavens