Welcome friend! A book that had been on my TBR since 2020, through an online book club, I finally had to leave my excuses behind and read Do You Dream of Terra-Two? by Temi Oh. A standalone science fiction story about a group of astronauts chosen to be the first ones on Terra-Two, this book was a thought-provoking read.
Do You Dream of Terra-Two?
By Temi Oh | Goodreads
When an Earth-like planet is discovered, a team of six teens, along with three veteran astronauts, embark on a twenty-year trip to set up a planet for human colonization—but find that space is more deadly than they ever could have imagined.
Have you ever hoped you could leave everything behind?
Have you ever dreamt of a better world?
Can a dream sustain a lifetime?
A century ago, an astronomer discovered an Earth-like planet orbiting a nearby star. She predicted that one day humans would travel there to build a utopia. Today, ten astronauts are leaving everything behind to find it. Four are veterans of the twentieth century’s space-race.
And six are teenagers who’ve trained for this mission most of their lives.
It will take the team twenty-three years to reach Terra-Two. Twenty-three years locked in close quarters. Twenty-three years with no one to rely on but each other. Twenty-three years with no rescue possible, should something go wrong.
And something always goes wrong.
Content notes include suicide, death, grief, mental illness, eating disorder, cancer, car accident, depression, anxiety.
Do You Dream of Terra-Two? – Review
The Foundations of the Story: Part One
Mankind’s search for life on other planets has been ongoing. We may not yet be able to send people further than the Moon but we continue to advance our technologies so that we can go to other planets and colonize them. Set in an alternate version of Earth, Do You Dream of Terra-Two? explores this dream coming to reality. We finally have the technology to do it but there is also another reason to make this leap: the fact that climate change is rapidly affecting our planet and we need another place to call home. Terra-Two, though older than Earth, looks to have the conditions for life but none have been found. In a race of space agencies around the world to send people there, the United Kingdom is in its final stages of putting together a team. The senior members of the crew have long been decided. It’s the young ones who are still unknown.
The Characters
Do You Dream of Terra-Two? is told from multiple perspectives. It starts off with Jesse. He recounts his years of gruelling study from 2004-2012. The prolonged high pressure environment surrounded by equally smart and driven people led many to the breaking point. He has finally made it through all that and the decision letter from the program is in his hands.
The first hook for me in this story was that Jesse doesn’t make it. I was crushed alongside him. His dream of leaving the planet, all the hard work he had put in did not pay off.
The following couple perspectives are those of teenagers who have been chosen to go on the mission. Known as the Betas, I got to read about their motivations to join the program, their background and ghosts that haunt them to keep going. There is Poppy, a girl proficient in many languages, Astrid and Juno, twin sisters, Ara, a free-spirit amongst all of them, Eliot, the youngest of them all, and Harry, their commander-in-training. The crew are friends. The competition is over and they have all emerged winners. Now, all the training they have in their specialised fields will be put to use in real time.
The day before the launch, they are bombarded by medical tests. Some of them decide to ignore the rules and regulations in the pocket of free time they get and instead get away for a few minutes from the suffocation of protocol and mission. Take some personal time in what is left of their time on earth.
They didn’t realize that one of them never wanted to go to Terra-Two. This is an interesting turn and portrays the tension of calamity so close to an important event. The show must go on, too much time and effort has been spent on preparing astronauts for this twenty-two year journey, not to mention the glory to the nation. There is no backing away.
This tragedy changes the mission and Jesse afterall gets to go.
On Space Travel
We have thought about it but what does space travel really entail? What kind of pressures are we putting our bodies and minds through? A journey of twenty-two years to get somewhere is a long time to be in a small space. Even if nothing goes wrong, it would be mentally draining. In the parts following the first one, the characters of Do You Dream of Terra-Two? face many challenges, some planned and others unplanned. While they can rely on their training and protocol, simulations only go so far. As contact with Earth becomes less frequent, the loneliness of space and being alone with their thoughts for what seems like eternity and eternal night is hard to do.
The team members react differently to the situation and each has their own coping mechanism to make it through this time. Jesse throws himself into gaming and tending to the garden while Poppy shuts off from the world. Astrid dreams of Terra-Two that gives her the fuel to keep going. Juno craves strict routines and when team members start to fall behind on chores, she is harsh and authoritative.
On top of all this, there is grief and denial of what happened on their last day on earth. A close friend of theirs passed away and they had to leave for their mission. There was no time. They were joined by Jesse and a doctor who they didn’t train with. There is resentment of replacement. There is a lot left unsaid. The cracks appear early and everyone knows that there are more than two decades still to go. It’s one thing to think of this reality in broad strokes and another to actually live it.
I haven’t read a story like this one before. Most science fiction has advanced enough technology that the travel part to get from one place to another is not an issue. The journey does not take years and hence does not require a look at the psyche of people who have to work and live together before they can actually start living and working on the planet – the mission.
All the characters went through a tough time and I loved how much each of them grew in the face of the unexpected. Who stepped up when things went wrong, what gave them hope in the face of destruction, how shaken they were in their cores, how they questioned their education and the futility of the mission they had taken on, a fever dream from tween years is a nightmare to live in their 17/18/19 years.
There is support and guidance from senior members of the crew but everyone’s battle is their own. The older crew is seasoned and has gone through what the young ones are going through now. That moment when they realize that their engineer on board is not going to survive the whole journey is devastating to them. Nothing has happened but everything has changed.
Do You Dream of Terra-Two? is about life in space. While shows like Lost in Space have had families to man a ship, this book is about one of the first missions to outer space. It is fraught with politics, emotion and extreme situations. There is bullying, depression, doubt, hope, friendship, love and so much more. Reality is harsh and unforgiving. People are gone in a blink. And that is true on earth and in space. Will they make it to Terra-Two? What will it take?
I believe this book to be a great book club/buddy read. There are lots of characters and situations to discuss. There are moral dilemmas and unexpected events. Underlying all of that is the question of the feasibility of space travel. What does it take to get there and in some ways, astronauts like the kids in this book, are just guinea pigs in an experiment that may not be repeated until technology gets much much better.
There is hope in this book too. There is a chance to carve out their own path and show up as responsible for their own choices and destinies. I enjoyed this book and though I have a digital copy of it (well highlighted of course), I will be adding it to my home physical library. It’s such a good one! Will you read it?
Book Club/Buddy Read Questions for Do You Dream of Terra-Two?
- How is this book different from other scifi?
- Who is the most surprising character?
- What positive feelings are hidden in this book?
- What are the turning points in the story?
- What is the significance of the title?
If you are interested in Do You Dream of Terra-Two?, add it to your TBR on Goodreads. If you have read it already, tell me your thoughts in the comments or link to your review and I will give it a read.
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