Satellite

Great quality book, my sister enjoyed the story. I purchased this as a gift for her and she read it in a couple of days.

I'm not a major sci fi fan, and this book kept my interest - there were interestingly complex human dilemmas to explore, and a unique premise.I did come to care about the people in it. The earlier part of the book was better than the end, where movie-like magic solutions and heroism came fast and furious, in a way that did not feel realistic for the world that was set up in the first half. It was interesting the way things in our world now were brought into the story, showing some possible developments that might happen. I liked the fact that it was made clear that gender issues were more relaxed in this future time, and that women were presented as smart, strong, capable people (why does that have to be noted as unusual? Afraid it still does.) The entire book was written in "text speak" with missing punctuation, etc., which I think makes reading it more laborious and I do not see the benefit of doing this for the story or for young adult readers who need to be able to use English correctly. I could have seen that if it was only used in screen communications, but to have the whole book written in it does not seem a good idea. I was disappointed in the ending, which I will not spoil, because most of the book was so enjoyable to read - with interesting metaphors between space elements and human psychology, etc.It seemed as if at the end a Hollywood screenwriter was brought in who tied up the actual literate author and then proceeded to tie up the story with unbelievable events that must be taken with a meteor of salt. Worth reading, but could have been so much better.

This is an excellent young adult book. Set in space in the near future where space travel is run by the company. The story is about three sixteen year olds who were conceived and born on a space station. They are brought back to live on earth. The novel is about the challenges they face on earth. I highly recommend this book.

This blew my mind. I read it in one sitting, just leaping from page to page, completely absorbed from start to finish. Will offer to my reluctant reader student boys as I think they will love it as much as I did.

Daughter LOVED this book!

I recieved an avanced readers copy for the purpose of reviewing. That said, this 'textspeak' that the book is written in is, I hope, just because of the unfinished status. Most ARC's are not totally edited, and there is always a disclaimer about this on the cover.But when the book comes out I'll be checking for that textspeak because it is obnoxious.Onto the actual book!This is told from the perspective of Leo, one of three teens born on a space station, in the not so distant future where 'the company' has taken over NASA and all other space programs. Leo's character growth is phenomenal, and watching him go from an intelligent, if naive, teen to a conspiracy cracker, was beautiful. His story was one of 'what it means to be human', which brings up wonderful discussion points.The other teens were a bit bland, and never really had growth despite going through the same struggles, although some of the side characters were well written.The plot was certainly intriguing-2 astronauts give birth in space (and before you say they would've sent those astronauts home, know that there's a reason for this) and those kids grow up in space, and are deemed strong enough to return to earth on their 16th birthdays. The consequences of them returning are well explored. They have almost no bone denisty to speak of, so they're very fragile, and the kids never realized how blue the sky really is down here. The effects of gravity are well noted, as is the taste of bacon. Everything you'd never think about living in space, most things we take for granted down here, Lake notes in fascinating detail.Some of the plot devices were a bit lazy for me; things just worked out too perfectly because of happenstance. The ending was a bit too well wrapped up and juvenile, but I won't spoil it for anybody else.On the whole, this book felt like an excuse to explore the consequences of human fascination with space travel-I mean, how often do those sci fi's mention that gravity is constantly pulling us down? And how much of a drag it is? The way certain sayings are taken for granted here, but to somebody who's only ever known space, they wouldn't understand. The discussion points this book provides are fantastic, and my husband and I discussed them for hours on end. Yet the plot was not the best, nor were the characters, so I am dropping a star.

Set in the not too distant and absolutely plausible slightly dystopian future, this is the story of Leo, a child approaching his sixteenth birthday who was born and has been raised on a space station orbiting the Earth. This is written partly in textspeak which I found mildly irritating at first but soon got used to it. I am a good twenty to thirty years older than the target readership though so I doubt that most would find it an issue at all! Great characters, lots of interesting science, superb action sequences dotted amongst slower-paced periods of introspection and discovery, bordering on the poetic. I really enjoyed it.

Good

This book is written in text speech, which is pretty unique, it took a little while to get used to but really enjoyed this book, where 3 children are born on a space station and live there until they are 16. They are then sent to earth to live out the rest of the life, however due to the gravity (or lack of) they come into difficulty. This book is sad at places, yet really creative and I think also a unique story line.I really liked the writing style, and I can see how this will appeal to younger people where text speech is common among that age group.

I liked this a lot. The voice of the main character was unusual, which fitted a person who'd been living in space all their life. The revelations about the character's family were well-handled and engaging and make this story appealing to teens who enjoy Sci-fi, but also those who enjoy stories about relationships.

My twelve year old son reads every night, he got this book with a few others and has since finished it. He has said its a brilliant read, very good story and couldn't put it down!