Gemstone Reviews [Closed for Catch up]

Review #7- So Far

Title: So Far

Author: Makenna Collette (panicking--) 

Genre: Science Fiction 

Rating: PG

# of Chapters: 4 (Ongoing)

# of Chapters I've read: 2

Summary/Blurb: 

Earth isn't such a bad place to be, all things considering. It's safe and familiar, and it's home for fourteen-year-old Tierce Davidson - up until his world abruptly changes for the worse.

Tierce wakes in a shuttle jetting away from Earth with only one piece of information at his disposal: his life as he once knew it is over. Nothing will ever be the same for him. But when he sets out to find the reason for it all, what costs will he be forced to pay as a result?

Review:

Cover:

This is definitely something I haven't seen before. It looks like a movie poster for a science fiction movie (You know how they like huge movie titles). Fitting, really, when we consider that this story revolves around leaving Earth and going on some kind of space voyage.

The reason why this cover works is because the title isn't a mile-long and it basically summarises the plot of the story: so far from home, planet Earth. I also like how" it acts as some kind of window through which you can see space—I, as a potential reader, can easily imagine myself as being on that space shuttle, along with the main character. My only concern for this is the fact that the author's name is stark white, which takes the attention away from the title and puts it on the name (in addition to the title not having borders)

Other than that, it's very creative and definitely attention-grabbing. 

Blurb:

After the cover, the blurb was like a punch in the gut. Frankly, I didn't feel compelled to read this story—nothing about it stands out to me amongst other books written with the same prompt. So, suddenly, the MC wakes up on a space shuttle leaving Earth. This is the introduction of about a hundred other books, and it isn't a climactic moment in the story. You could have intergalactic fight scenes, an exploding star, a human being disguised as a bloodsucking alien—but if none of this stuff is included in the blurb, why would I pick this book over another one?

For some reason, the fact that you've also included the MC's age is a little off-putting. I've read enough Teenfics to be prejudiced against ninth graders, and even the mere thought of having to read the story of another whiny kid makes my skin crawl. I'm pretty sure that the age isn't a vital piece of information (unless that's the magic age to leave the planet?) so that can be removed.

The ending: "But when he sets out to find the reason for it all, what costs will he be forced to pay as a result?" I don't really get it. He's already setting out to leave the planet, where else could he be setting out? Mars? Pluto? Planet XYZ? There's an entire part missing before that telling me about conspiracy theories. Also, I wonder what price a teenager can pay on a shuttle for wanting to know why the hell he's leaving his planet. Getting ejected into the vacuum of space sounds expensive.

Overall—Unimpressed, but I'm sure your story is much better than this. 

First Impression:

he introduction to the story was expected–character wakes up in a pod (but in the blurb it said that he was in a shuttle, so I was expecting it to be an actual NASA-style space shuttle. Those are two very different images in my head)—but then Earth exploding and all that wasn't. At all. They must've ejected him into space right before shit went down. What a lucky bugger he is.