By Matthew J. Kirby 

Dutton Books, 2023. 305 pages. Young Adult 

2199. Deep-space exploration is a reality and teleportation is routine. But this time something seems to have gone very, very wrong. Seventeen-year-old Jessica Mathers wakes up in a lander that's crashed onto the surface of Carver 1061c, a desolate, post-extinction planet 14 light-years from Earth. The planet she was supposed to be viewing from a ship orbiting far above. The corridors of the empty lander are covered in bloody hand prints; the machines are silent and dark. And outside, in the alien dirt, there are fresh graves carefully marked with names she doesn't recognize. Now Jessica must unravel the mystery of the destruction all around her--and the questionable intentions of a familiar stranger. 

Lately I’ve been having a hard time getting sucked into the books I’m reading, but this one broke that streak. Right from the outset it was hard to set down, and when I had to put it down I could hardly wait to get back to it. The author did a great job of creating a creepy, futuristic world without bogging the reader down in excessive details. I also loved the ideas it provoked regarding what makes you, you. In this world, teleportation is basically scanning the body and “printing” it in the new location, with the original body getting destroyed. Generally, this works flawlessly, but what if the file gets corrupted? I really loved this book, and will easily recommend it for anyone who enjoys YA sci-fi. 

Aurora Rising

By Amie Kaufman 

Alfred A. Knopf, 2019. 470 pages. Young Adult 

Relegated by a misguided act of heroism to a squad comprised of his school's hopeless misfits, a graduating cadet in a 24th-century space academy rescues a centuries-hibernating girl from interdimensional space only to be swept up in an interstellar war millions of years in the making. 

Pitch Dark

By Courtney Alameda 

Feiwel and Friends, 2017. 378 pages. Young Adult 

A boy who has been in stasis aboard a ship preserving Earth's most valued artifacts and a girl from a shipraiding family who is hired to steal the ship's invaluable cargo become unexpected allies in a battle against invading aliens who use sound to kill. 

ACS