Titan of the Stars

Another absolute banger by Tundra. I feel like it's hard to lose with this publisher, and Titan of the Stars definitely delivered on its promises. Yes to the class consciousness and the way that government *could* step in after a disaster but is disincentivized to do so. Yes to marvelous discoveries turning to chaos in deep space. Yes to a beautiful setup for a sequel. I loved the characters, the suspense, and even the un-put-downable factor that kicked in about halfway through. My sleep hygiene may not be as excited about that last bit, but I had suspicions and wanted to see them through! I will be waiting to see where Johnston takes us next.

Dominic and Celeste are both traveling to Mars on the gigantic new luxury spaceship Titan of the Stars, but he’s with his bratty boyfriend and their rich parents who funded the whole thing, while she is an engineer, performing maintenance on the engine and keeping the whole thing running. Also on the ship is a shocking new scientific discovery - the long-frozen bodies and eggs of aliens unearthed in the arctic. Celeste finds the aliens intriguing and unnerving, and comes up to the luxury deck to see them frequently, bonding with Dominic in the process. Midway through the voyage Celeste wakes up to a screeching ship-wide alarm - the aliens are not dead after all, and the ship is no longer headed toward Mars…

A very delightful young show more adult mashup of the 1997 movie Titanic and the 1979 movie Alien, complete with a scientist named Dr. Ripley. I loved the art deco vibes of the spaceship and the vivid descriptions of purple aliens with tentacles bursting from people’s chests. Dominic, Celeste, and Ren are great characters, and I loved their backstory of being orphaned by a disastrous Canadian earthquake (I learned a lot about the St Lawrence Rift!) and ending up in very different circumstances. More than half of the book is exposition, before the aliens even register as a problem, but that didn’t bother me much because I loved the scene-setting and also because this is the first book in a trilogy. I’m looking forward to reading more! show less

Titan of the Stars is a very entertaining sci-fi-horror about a voyage to Mars on a new luxury space ship which goes wrong. The book uses multiple perspectives - a wealthy passenger, a crew member working on the engine, and bits of thoughts from an unnamed something that is coming for everyone. The back describes the book as "Alien meets the Titanic", which basically sums up the plot.
The story was fast paced and engaging, and the characters felt believable and had enough depth to make me genuinely interested in them. It's a YA novel, so while there is gory violence after things start to go badly, it's not as graphic as a horror novel for adults would be. It was a really enjoyable read and I will definitely read the sequel.
I've read a show more few different books by E.K. Johnston, and they were all different genres, but all really enjoyable, entertaining reads with characters I was rooting for, and this is no different. show less

While it has slight resemblance to Alien, this stands extremely well on its own merits. Imagine a monster space craft, built entirely in orbit. It carries the ultra-rich in luxury, desperate folks who signed indenture contracts in a locked section with minimal supplies far below them. The players are interesting, starting with Celeste and Ren, best friends and survivors of a huge tectonic rift in Ontario when they were toddlers. Both have scratched their way through multiple challenges to become crew members. Their chance encounter with Dominic, who also survived the cataclysm, but was adopted by rich parents, starts the story off.
Adding to the intrigue are a display of aliens, excavated from permafrost in northern Canada. When show more something happens to break their cases and revive them a few days into the voyage, it's the beginning of a non-stop series of tense and deadly situations. The characters are sharply defined, most as really sympathetic or despicable, with Dominic moving from the former to the latter as the story evolves. The ending is a dandy cliff-hanger, and in reading the author's acknowledgement at the back, a sequel is very likely. show less

I really enjoyed this sci-fi/horror book. I've read some of E K Johnston's other books, so knew I liked her style. The juxtaposition of luxury cruise ship with indentured servitude was on full display in the characters interactions. Dominic's situation in particular was an interesting inversion of rags to riches, he was saved from squalor by his adopted parent's to be their posterchild for their good deeds. He entered the ship having no control over his future, but then made friends and decided to stand up for himself as the plot progressed. The surprise display cases full of aliens excavated from the permafrost made for a creepy revelation once the trip to Mars was already underway. The passengers were all stuck on-board not knowing show more the danger they were in. There was a decent bit of gore and character deaths, but since its YA it wasn't extremely graphic. The cliffhanger ending left me wanting more. show less

There are so many very good things about this book. Firstly, EK Johnston is just exceptionally good at writing prose, that's why I was interested in the book, I was not wrong to be interested, they have not stopped being great at that thing. Also I liked the two protagonists, and many of the side characters. I was excited to learn more about the best friend's large family and the different ways characters were striving to find better lives for themselves. I *loved* the intense Canadianity of the book and was hungry for any and all worldbuilding around their version of future Earth's social structures, education systems, science, politics, etc etc etc. There were a lot of endearing touches throughout.

that said the faults in the book were show more mostly faults of 'I should not have expected EK Johnston to overcome my personal dislike for this thing merely by the sheer awesomeness of their awesomeosity.' thing i don't really care for 1) horror romance. i just don't enjoy the juxtaposition of unresolved gore and unresolved feels. at least not in horror mode (in paranormal romance or urban fantasy mode i seem to like it just fine). even though this one handled it in a far superior and more believable fashion than most I have tried. 2) MY PEEVIEST PET PEEVE IN ALL OF PET PEEVEDOM is first-person present tense that isn't stream of consciousness. I don't hate it the most of any perspective (that would be 2nd person to which there are only a handful of exceptions ANYWHERE), but i do find it the most irritating because I don't hate it enough to stop me from reading if there are other reasons I am enjoying the book but i do hate it enough to be constantly annoyed throughout. Again there are a few exceptions to this but they are mysterious. It was reasonable of me to think this might be one of them! But it was not.

That said, will I still be reading the sequels? Yes, because that's how readable I found the book. Just that readable with just enough exciting worldbuilding details that left me wanting to know more about the setting. Plus the dang thing ended on a cliffhanger and I MUST KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT.

(Note: The publisher gave me a finished copy of this book.) show less

E.K. Johnston’s Titan of the Stars follows passengers aboard the eponymous Titan, a state-of-the-art ship bound for Mars with politicians, leaders of business, and workers for the colonies on the Red Planet. The ship, decorated in the upper levels to resemble an early twentieth-century ocean liner, replicates the social divisions of its time. The engines are at the core of the spherical ship followed in radiating layers by steerage, the crew cabins, second class, and first class. The story alternates between the perspectives of Dominic and Celeste. Both are orphans of the St. Lawrence Rupture, the result of a massive earthquake that devastated Ottawa. Dominic was adopted by a wealthy family who believed that the adoption would look show more good from a public relations standpoint. Though Dominic wants to be an artist, his adoptive parents expect him to follow the path they chose for him to secure their family’s legacy. This extends to his boyfriend, who comes from the right family but is a total snob. Celeste was left to grow up in the Rupt, where she learned to get by and showed an aptitude for engineering, leading to an apprenticeship on the Titan. They begin to form an unlikely friendship, but find that the Titan is not simply a physical manifestation of social stratification. It also carries a hidden cargo: the preserved remains of aliens recently discovered by archaeologists in the thawing permafrost. The eerie remains disturb all who see them, but soon prove not quite so dead. What follows is an exciting mash-up of Titanic and Alien with come Canadian flair, great for teen readers looking for a new sci-fi series just beginning. show less