The story, however, doesn’t live up to the interesting blurb. The thing is, the blurb makes it sound really interesting so I went into it really looking forward to it. To say Planetfall was a disappointment was an understatement. Something happens and the reader spends most of the book having to endure numerous hints as to what that something was until we are finally treated to the information near to the end just before the weird and really crappy ending occurs. It centres around a woman called Renata Ghali (or Ren), who left earth with a bunch of scientists who were part of a religious cult looking for a new world.

I have to admit, I was a bit surprised to see the amount of mentions of religion in Planetfall because the blurb does not reference it at all. It was just something about a group of religious zealots flying off in a spaceship trying to find God’s City that made me instantly think of the Cat people looking for the promised land of Fuschal. I immediately thought of the Red Dwarf episode Waiting For God when reading this book. And its revelation might tear the colony apart…

The truth Ren has concealed since planetfall can no longer be hidden. 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. Ren continues to perpetuate the lie forming the foundation of the colony for the good of her fellow colonists, despite the personal cost. 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. 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. Ren believed in that vision enough to give up everything to follow Suh-Mi into the unknown. A planet promising to reveal the truth about our place in the cosmos, untainted by overpopulation, pollution, and war. Summary: Renata Ghali believed in Lee Suh-Mi’s vision of a world far beyond Earth, calling to humanity.

And the righteous in the second ark flew ever onward, knowing they were indeed righteous.” “And the ark that left first followed the sacred signs, and lo, they flew straight into an asteroid. “And Cloister gave to Frankenstein the sacred writing, saying, `Those who have wisdom will know its meaning.’ And it was written thus:

Planetfall by emma newman