Planetfall - Emma Newman - Mel's Bookshelf

Planetfall (Planetfall #1) – Emma Newman

From the award-nominated author Emma Newman, comes a novel of how one secret withheld to protect humanity’s future might be its undoing…

Renata Ghali believed in Lee Suh-Mi’s vision of a world far beyond Earth, calling to humanity. A planet promising to reveal the truth about our place in the cosmos, untainted by overpopulation, pollution, and war. Ren believed in that vision enough to give up everything to follow Suh-Mi into the unknown.

More than twenty-two years have passed since Ren and the rest of the faithful braved the starry abyss and established a colony at the base of an enigmatic alien structure where Suh-Mi has since resided, alone. All that time, Ren has worked hard as the colony’s 3-D printer engineer, creating the tools necessary for human survival in an alien environment, and harboring a devastating secret.

Ren continues to perpetuate the lie forming the foundation of the colony for the good of her fellow colonists, despite the personal cost. Then a stranger appears, far too young to have been part of the first planetfall, a man who bears a remarkable resemblance to Suh-Mi.

The truth Ren has concealed since planetfall can no longer be hidden. And its revelation might tear the colony apart…

My Review of Planetfall

I am not too sure what to make of this one. I only finished listening to the audio version an hour ago and I am not sure what I should even write about to be honest. And I’m not sure if that is a good or a bad thing! I feel a bit lost!

Over twenty years ago, Ren and the other colonists travelled from a dying Earth, to find a new planet. The events that led to them finding the planet appeared as though humans were destined to travel there. However, Ren is harbouring some dark secrets that could undo the very existence they travelled so far to ensure.

I have been sitting here a bit longer now. Trying to think of what to even say about this one. I loved the slow build up of tension, Newman slowly revealed piece after piece of the puzzle until things started to take shape.

I really enjoyed Ren and her story. Without spoiling anything, as the story goes on you begin to see just how bad things really are and the hole just keeps getting bigger and bigger.

The atmosphere at times really reminded me of the Netflix movie ‘Annihilation’ with Natalie Portman – And the book to a lesser extent (even though I wasn’t a fan of the book and DNF). The feeling of the city and weird things that were happening made me think of that show, creepy but I couldn’t stop listening!

I wasn’t too keen on the ending. It was a bit of a ‘WTF just happened?’ ending, and although I think I kind of get where she was going – it just fell flat for me. That is where my points were lost for this one. It was brilliantly written and had a really interesting atmosphere. I would be interested to read the next ones to see where she takes it.

Did I enjoy the audio version?

I loved the narration! I have listened to some awesome narrations by the author lately and this one was no exception. Loved her voice! She has narrated a few other audiobooks too according to Goodreads, so she was perfect for her own one!

Would I recommend Planetfall?

It won’t be for everyone, but the plot and the writing were really smart and I really enjoyed the majority of it. I will be interested to see what happens in subsequent books. If you are a hardcore sci-fi fan you are most likely to enjoy it. I probably wouldn’t read it if you are a sci-fi novice.

(4 / 5)