Off Planet

Off Planet

by Aileen Erin

Years ago, Earth's SpaceTech led a "liberation" of the planet from the dangerous Aunare aliens who had begun to live and work with the humans who lived there. A mass exodus of the aliens from the planet was the start and the systematic killing of every alien and half alien ("halfer") was the next step. Any full blood Aunare or halfer that is found is fed to rabid dogs on the evening news and humans cheer.

Maité Martinez is one such halfer. Her father is a high-ranking Aunare who made it off planet before the murders began, but he left his wife and halfer daughter behind to spend their lives in hiding. Maité remembers almost nothing of her young childhood or her father because her mother had her memories wiped to protect them both. Now all Maité knows is that she's a halfer and that she needs to hide her identity no matter what. Her capture could lead to war. 

Unfortunately, she's not as hidden as she'd hoped to be and a mistake leads her to prison and a sentence to hard labor on a fiery planet.

Rescue efforts are coming and she is strong, but can she survive long enough to be saved?

Final thoughts: This one is a mess. The reader is dropped into the middle of everything and clues are dropped throughout the book about Maité and her past, but it's a struggle to figure it out. It doesn't help that things that are obvious to the reader are completely missed by the main character. There's no room to breathe for the reader or the people who populate this story. It's constantly in motion and that makes it all a little claustrophobic as a story. That might be the intention of the author, but it makes for a strain on the reader. It's hard to track time and the logic of things isn't always explained. For example, I spent the longest time trying to figure out why they had to be in cryogenic sleep to travel because it made no sense. Near the end, there was finally a line dropped in about how human bodies can't handle the speeds the space vehicles must travel so that they have to be put to sleep. Ah! Why didn't you say so earlier! It seems that there are many things like that that are last minute add-ons to explain things that should have been edited earlier. I might come back to the sequel if I notice it, but I won't actively look for it.

Rating: 3/5

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.