Blog Tour: Goldilocks by Laura Lam

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

A gripping science fiction thriller where five women task themselves with ensuring the survival of the human race; perfect for readers of The Martian, The Power, and Station Eleven.Despite increasing restrictions on the freedoms of women on Earth, Valerie Black is spearheading the first all-female mission to a planet in the Goldilocks Zone, where conditions are just right for human habitation.It's humanity's last hope for survival, and Naomi, Valerie's surrogate daughter and the ship's botanist, has been waiting her whole life for an opportunity like this - to step out of Valerie's shadow and really make a difference.But when things start going wrong on the ship, Naomi begins to suspect that someone on board is concealing a terrible secret - and realizes time for life on Earth may be running out faster than they feared . . .Goldilocks is The Handmaid's Tale meets The Martian - a bold and thought-provoking new high-concept thriller.

Space exploration.  It’s always been the unattainable for the regular man.  Its been my ultimate dream to see the black and ever stretching unknown.  What would you see and hear?  Could it possibly be everything that you had hoped or dreamed, or would it never live up to your fantastical expectations?  Goldilocks gives the reader a first-class ticket to far away planet, Cavendish.  Your feet will be the first to touch down, to see the sights never before witnessed but what would life truly be like being one of those first woman on an unknown world.  What happens as one of those chosen ones?

Goldilocks was a no brainer for me.  Anything space is an immediate yes.  The idea of five women being the first to land on a new potentially habitable planet.  Feel the wind through their hair, to touch the dust covering the surface and discovering the best place to establish colonies.  The synopsis hinted at secrets being hid in plain sight.  The words contained on each page threatened to suck me into its cleverly crafted black hole.  I knew I shouldn’t have got so attached to the characters and the wonderfully enchanting setting.  Laura Lam has concocted a sublime cocktail of equality, heart wrenching emotion and a narrative that is so stunning that your gut twists and turns. 

Earth is in crisis.  It is reported that it only has thirty years left.  Humanity has ravaged the earth and brought about its demise much sooner than predicted.  Our buying of plastics, the eating of red meat beyond our means and polluting our seas.  The devastating narrative flew very close to home as this is ultimately the future that our children are facing.  However, we have no planet B.  Our technology hasn’t been developed that far.  It is a race for survival. 

With the varied skill set of our protagonists, Goldilocks offered me a rare, money can’t buy look into the fascinating world of space exploration.  We had youth, experience, military, medical and botany expertise and teamed with problems with extreme stress we were given a front row seat to witness the good, the bad and the downright evil of humanity.  Valerie Black has determined that Cavendish, which happens to be in the Goldilocks zone, is where we need to be.  She has the means and more importantly the money with some financial backing to get her and a team there.

Valerie’s company Hawthorne and NASA build a drive that enables them to warp time and space and can make a jump just outside Mars to make the ten light year journey vastly reduced.  They build a spaceship that is to carry Valerie, her adopted daughter, Naomi, Hixon, Hart and Lebedeva.  Things hit the proverbial fan when new president, Cochran is elected, and the women are removed from the mission – apparently a woman’s place is in the kitchen pffft.  Well, this isn’t going to be an order that Valerie Black take lying down.  She has pumped everything into this mission and nothing will stop her seeing it through.  The women take off from a disused Russian take off strip and essentially have stolen a craft to do it with.  Naomi discovers that Valerie has been keeping secrets from her crew mates and doesn’t know if she has ever knew this person she once looked up to as a motherly figure. 

Goldilocks is a captivating science fiction novel that investigates the human condition and survival.  It was impossible to stop reading. 

Thanks to Anne Cater @ Random Things tours for my place on the blog tour.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Originally from sunny California, Laura Lam now lives in cloudy Scotland. She is the author of the near-future space thriller, Goldilocks, feminist space opera Seven Devils (co-writtenwith Elizabeth May), BBC Radio 2 Book Club section False Hearts, the companion novel Shattered Minds, and the award-winning Micah Grey series: Pantomime, Shadowplay, and Masquerade. Her short fiction and essays have appeared in anthologies such as Nasty Women, Solaris Rising 3, Cranky Ladies of History, Scotland in Space, and more. Her romance alter ego is Laura Ambrose. She lectures part-time at Edinburgh Napier University on the Creative Writing MA.

LAURA LAM