This One Made Me Think
4.5 out of 5 stars
It’s weird. I went back and read my review of the third book in this series, Before Mars, and I started that one off the same way that I would start this one… This one took me a little longer to get into than I expected it to. I think I started it too close to another book that I absolutely loved this year. I finished two of the best books I’ve read in 2020 right before this and then I was like “okay, let’s listen to Atlas Alone”. Now I’m mad that I didn’t listen to this one last year because it was really interesting.
The whole thing has a payoff in the last maybe 20 minutes and wow was that payoff worth it. Totally unexpected and caught me off guard – Newman threw me for a loop again with Atlas Alone and definitely left me thinking.
The entire story was interesting, but really the final half of it was really where everything comes together. It started off a bit confusing and I was trying to figure out if it was because I was starting with books 3 and 4 or if it was because Newman was just trying to give us as much info about the ship and the people as possible. But, once we got into the nitty-gritty stuff (and into the games/mersives) this book picked up.
Overall, an interesting story that poses a lot of questions once you finish it. I won’t go into what those questions are because they would be considered major spoilers but it definitely makes you think back to the story and what choices were made.
Book Description:
Hugo Award-winner Emma Newman returns to the captivating Planetfall universe with a novel about vengeance and the lengths to which one will go to save the future of humanity.
Six months after she left, Dee is struggling to manage her rage toward the people who ordered the nuclear strike that destroyed Earth. She’s trying to find those responsible, but she’s not getting very far alone.
A dedicated gamer, Dee is endeavoring to discover a mersive good enough to enable her to escape her trauma. When she is approached by a designer who asks her to play test his new game, she hopes it will be what she needs – but it isn’t like any mersive she’s played before. When a man suddenly dies in the real world, she realizes that at the same time in the game, she killed a character who bears a striking resemblance to the dead man – a man she discovers was one of those responsible for the death of millions on Earth.
Disturbed but thinking it must be a coincidence, Dee continues the hunt for information. But when she finds out the plans for the future colony, she realizes that to save what is left of humanity, she might have to do something that risks what remains of her own.
Atlas Alone by Emma Newman
Narrator: Emma Newman
Length: 10 hrs and 50 mins
Series: Planetfall #4
Published by Tantor Audio on April 16th 2019
Genres: Science Fiction
Format: Audiobook
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Also by this author: Before Mars
Also in this series: Before Mars
- No Rules of Engagement by Tracey Richardson (Narrated by Joana Garcia) - September 28, 2023
- Love at First Set by Jennifer Dugan (Narrated Narrated by Lori Prince) - September 26, 2023
- New and Notable Audiobook Releases for the Week of September 23rd on Brian’s Book Blog - September 23, 2023
