That's not how this works! That's not how any of this works! - My response to nearly everything in this book.

I won this book in a Goodreads Giveaway. This is almost a DNF. Several times I kept reading to see what new absolutely wrong thing would be described. I got to page 192 and just could not take it anymore. I skimmed the remainder of the book.

My first clue that there is something amiss is that this is a self-published book. Not all self-published books are bad and there are a ton of Publisher books that are trash, but in general, I'm finding self-published books are not a good fit for me.

I played with the suggested app. It wasn't working in conjunction with the paperback novel. Initially I thought I'd just suggest reading the book through the free app. I don't think I'd even suggest that. Like another reviewer, I received a letter with my book saying the author wished she'd had a book series similar to one I'd never heard of. This book does have similarities to The Expanse with the descriptions of some of the races of people - and how this doesn't work in this book I'll get to. It has echoes of Ender's Game, which has some major issues and this book only compounds some of those issues.

The writing is not very good. There are a number of reviews on Goodreads that outline exactly how the writing is done poorly. I was bothered by the POV issues. For the most part, the story is told through the main character, Emi. Every once in awhile we slip off to another character, but that's so rarely done, it's confusing. The book also feels like it is a series of scenes rather than a story. The scenes are all very short, and feel almost like the author is writing with a move in mind.

I had a very hard time suspending my disbelief of the CEO of Tusk Enterprises would contact all the hires she wants to sign contracts. What CEO has time for that? If I were reading this book in the 1960s or 80s and was under 12 years old, I might be able to swallow that, but many of the interactions Tusk has with other characters are just not in any way believable. Furthermore, the timeframe is not believable. I'm supposed to believe there will be colonies and babies born in space in 40 years and that Earth will have reduced its population so drastically and humans would have evolved into different statures in 140 years? That's not how this works! That's not how any of this works!

The author indicated she wanted to encourage young girls to take an interest in STEM. Did she at any point talk to a working scientist? Every single aspect of how to get science done is presented wrong in this book. I am a working scientist who's job it is to support other working scientists. I nearly threw the book off the bus when I read

And so Emi's mother planted the seed in Emi's heart that great scientists are solo heroes who toil away at tough technical problems, only to emerge through independent thought and resilient intellectual exertion with a brilliant insight that pushes the boundaries of what is possible.

That's not how this works! That's not how any of this works!
Her mother did Emi a huge disservice because that's not how science works in the 21st century and it isn't likely to work that way going forward.

Moreover, Emi is a horrible person and takes on the worst traits of many famous but unethical scientists. She constantly has her drone eavesdrop on conversations. That's how Emi learns quite a few things. Emi uses insider trading to get her friend money, which is unethical. Emi steals Han's ideas and work for the masks and presents it as hers. She stands on the shoulders of Celeste Tusk and Volta but does not realize it and that she could have done none of her work without them. She constantly has to do things by herself it seems, except when she wants help from Jack/Jilli or her other "friends." It seems very hot/cold and like she is using them rather than it being a true friendship.

I also have a big problem with a book supposedly engaging kids in STEM when they get the science wrong. Again, talk to a chemist or a biochemist about your plague/cure plot-point. Because none of that made sense. Also, I find it very hard to believe there was a plague of this type and there weren't biochemists by the lab-fulls working to figure out that problem. There is a lot of outright incorrect science in this book. I tried hard to believe that these young high school were very advanced in their studies. Have you ever seen the teens in the Google science fair or the students who do the Chemistry Olympiad? These are amazing students with advanced knowledge. However, when Florin goes over the chemistry lesson, I realized that the coursework was middle school level, not even high school level.

I was also irritated by Emi's "focus" causing her to not sleep sometimes but being overcome by sleep others as well as her lack of eating. I wondered if the author read "Lab Girl," which presents science and focused scientists in the same way yet later reveals she has bipolar disorder. Extreme focus like that tends to be more a mental disorder than a trait of scientists. I don't like when mental health issues get conflated with the best way to science.

Overall, I cannot recommend this book. People seem to like the app. Maybe play with the app if you have any interest.