Remember when I reviewed Katya’s World and complained that there wasn’t stuff like this when I was growing up? Add David Colby’s Debris Dreams to the list of “WTF, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL MY LIFE?” books.
How to describe it? Part Ender’s Game, part Firefly – not the hardest of sf, but no pandering to young readers either. This was one of my Read-a-Thon books, so I kind of zoomed through it, but I knew I would going in. I’ve only been waiting for this book to come out since I first heard about it back before they even had a cover.
AND WHAT A COVER IT IS! No seriously, this cover pretty much perfectly encapsulates what you’ll find inside the book. A quick pulpy YA read that doesn’t want to talk down to its audience.
Our protagonist is gay, but that’s kind of not a big deal. It’s YA so it’s not like there are tons of sexy situations – even when Dru meets up with her back-on-Earth girlfriend in a VR environment. All it means is that she’s not available, and the boys kind of stop hitting on her.
Mostly, this book is about how very much war sucks. Especially war when you’re not really sure what/why you’re fighting, and even if you’re fighting for the right reasons.
I loved it. If I’d had more time to just READ, I’d have had it done in one sitting. I hated putting it down because I just wanted to know what happened next. I was attached to Dru and Jillian and Sarah and David and Jason and even Liam. I was invested in all of these kids and when bad things happened (and bad things DO happen, there’s no sugarcoating the horrors of war in space, here) I felt like I’d lost my friends.
It’s amazing how incredibly close you can grow to fictional characters in less than 300 pages, isn’t it?
Debris Dreams will drop November 13. If you’re dying to pre-order, you can via the print release kickstarter currently going. There’s also a physical copy giveaway going on goodreads right now! Visit the microsite over at Candlemark and Gleam for a preview of the first chapter, and more information on the book and the author.
Thanks again to Kate over at Candlemark and Gleam for the review copy. If you’re looking for awesome DRM-free ebooks, check them out. Everything is inexpensive but worth it.
I need to stop raving about things, I’m losing my snarky cred, aren’t I?
Seriously, though. This is an excellent year for YA sf. An EXCELLENT YEAR.
Yay, then I’ve done my job!
