Paradise-1. Earth’s first deep space colony. For thousands of people, it was an opportunity for a new life. Until it went dark.
No communication has been received from the colony for months. And it falls to Firewatch inspector Alexandra Petrova and the crew of the Artemis to investigate.
What they find is more horrifying than anything they could have imagined.
Paradise -1 by David Wellington. Book #1 in the Red Space series. Narrated by Laurel Leftkow. Published by Orbit, 2023. Run time is 21 hours and 12 minutes.
Ok, I’m going to get right to the point. Paradise -1 is entertaining but there is wayyyyyyyyy too much set up! When I say way too much set up, I mean almost the whole book is set up. :o I’m not even kidding. We spend the whole story learning about the characters and what is going on around the planet Paradise -1.
I understand it is book #1 in a series, so there will be set up for the series. BUT, 681 pages / 21 hours + is a lot. It almost felt like too much at times. I was honestly kinda bummed that we actually only had the last few minutes of the book on the actual planet the book is named for! :/
I want to talk about that ending too…. MEGA cliffhanger of all cliffhangers!! I don’t mind a good cliffhanger, but we only JUST got to the colony and then it just ENDS kinda abruptly after giving us a huge mystery with zero answers! I didn’t mind too much, but I think some people might get annoyed at it, so I just wanted to give a heads up on that.
Now, to the fun part- the crew!! I LOVE these four main characters. :D We really get to know them. There is tragedy. There is humor. They have great chemistry. The show depth and growth. They really are the highlight of the book.
Even though Paradise -1 runs a little (too?) long, the plot is pretty gripping. I do love the mystery of what is going on in the space around the planet. Very creative, and I am curious what will happen in book 2. There is an entertaining story under all this build up.
I did enjoy Paradise -1. It felt a little too long but the mystery has a great hook that kept me wanting more. The ending is abrupt but dammit it does indeed hook me! >.< The main cast are the gems of the book, and they really do shine. I am looking forward to seeing them again.
Creature From The Book Lagoon 