On the edge of gone

TW: drug addiction, mentioned animal death, casual racism, ableism
3.3

Denise's sister is still missing, her mother is using, and the comet isn't waiting for them. By now they should have been evacuated to their mandated safe house, prepared to hunker down while the comet crashes and changes the atmosphere of Earth. But after a series of mishaps, Denise and her mother find themselves let in on a massive secret- there is still one spaceship grounded on Earth. They're let on with strict plans to evict them again before they take flight, but Denise is desperate to find a way to stay and keep all of her family safe. But how is she going to make a case for an autistic teen, an addict, and a girl who isn't even there?

This is the only Duyvis book I hadn't read yet, so I picked it up based on that alone, but also because I liked the idea of an autistic main character and a desperate bid for limited spots on a spaceship. It sounded like a great blending of high stakes, epic scifi and relatable characters & odds. Some of it worked for me, while some didn't.

I, as always with Duyvis, really appreciate the representation. The main character is an autistic POC and her sister is trans. There's also a more nuanced take on addiction than many books would give in this situation.

I also do like the concept, as I said, and the high stakes stay constant. You never lose sight of it being life or death, and the ability to expand the focal point enough to show all the people and other living things that are effected by the comet helps it feel bigger and more universal.

The ending was something I have more complicated feelings on, but I do think the idea behind it is a good one and an interesting idea as a compromise between all the details given.

For me, Denise was often a hinderance in my enjoyment of the story. As much as I appreciate her conceptually, I found myself both feeling a bit annoyed at her more stereotypical nature, and the main plot point her intentions are built off of felt unrealistic and made it hard to get invested. The very idea that Denise could waltz onto a spaceship and prove her family of incredibly average people deserve to skip a waiting list is really self centered and didn't make any sense to me. It's often framed that the problem lies with Denise being autistic, but that almost never appears as an obstacle on its own. The fact that she keeps blaming the situation on her autism was frustrating because it felt very entitled and like the entire story was overlooking how impossible it would be for anyone to get on that ship.

The romance aspect felt flimsy and there was no space in the story, or Denise's arc, at all for it to make an impact. I'm glad it gets dropped, and allowed to be a friendship, but it still took up too much time when there was more important drama and worries to be dealt with.

And I do really have mixed feelings about that ending. It didn't make any sense to me for Denise to make that decision, and it felt like a let down after reading the entire back and forth of the book. The idea behind it, again, is interesting, but as a whole it just felt unsatisfying.

This is an interesting idea for a novel, and as always has additional diversity that elevates the experience, but this book left me a bit wanting.