Review: Satellite by Nick Lake

Title: Satellite
Author: Nick Lake
Format: ARC
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Publish Date: October 3, 2017
Source: Publisher

What's the Story?:

From Goodreads.com: "He’s going to a place he’s never been before: home.

Moon 2 is a space station that orbits approximately 250 miles above Earth. It travels 17,500 miles an hour, making one full orbit every ninety minutes. It’s also the only home that fifteen-year-old Leo and two other teens have ever known.

Born and raised on Moon 2, Leo and the twins, Orion and Libra, are finally old enough and strong enough to endure the dangerous trip to Earth. They’ve been “parented” by teams of astronauts since birth and have run countless drills to ready themselves for every conceivable difficulty they might face on the flight.

But has anything really prepared them for life on terra firma? Because while the planet may be home to billions of people, living there is more treacherous than Leo and his friends could ever have imagined, and their very survival will mean defying impossible odds."

My Two Cents:

"Satellite" is the story of Leo who was born on a space station. He wasn't supposed to be born there but his mother's circumstances made it so she didn't find out she was pregnant until she was in space and it would have been too much for her and the baby to reenter the Earth's atmosphere. The small space station is the only home that Leo has ever known. Now, his body may be finally developed enough to go home.

This was a really interesting premise. Every once in awhile there seems to be talk of humans someday being able to live in space on various planets (I'm looking at you, Mars). This book takes this idea and turn it on its head. Leo and the twins Orion and Libra are not supposed to live in space but they end up being the first humans to do so and it's not at all what the space agency involved expected.

This is a coming of age story with a twist. Leo thinks he knows the whole story as to how and why he's on the space station but he finds out that there is much more. The adults in his life haven't told the whole story. I really liked how the author was able to slowly drop clues to keep you wanting to read about the true reason that Leo, Orion, and Libra are on the space station. This was a good read that would appeal to young adult readers who like sci fi.