Alone Out Here

 

Alone Out Here by Riley Redgate is a 2022 science fiction novel targeted a Young Adults between 7th and 12th grade.

The novel follows fifteen year old Leigh Chen in the future of 2072. When Leigh and her friends are touring a new spaceship that will take them to the stars the apocalypse happens and they along with those on board are the last survivors as they try to make for a new home among the stars. tensions rise as alliances are drawn and the future of the human race lies in the balance.

For this book I decided to read on my kindle as I've gotten a lot more used to it recently. I still prefer flipping through pages of a book, but it is helpful being able to highlight sentences and lines without damaging a book and you come away with a similar experience reading a physical book. However, I will always prefer reading from a book rather than kindle. The book was selected for appearing on the ALA and being awarded the John Steptoe New Talent Author Award. (2023)

With this novel I wanted to look specificially plot, style and language, and setting.

I love sci-fi stories and because these tie into each other so much in the story I want to pay close attention to plot and setting because in this instance I believe the go hand in hand. The plot of Alone Out Here is a tale of survival as an older Leigh reflects on her life as a teen when the world she knew ended. Here we have the survivors all aboard one ship as they have a desparate attempt to survive in the most hostile environment imaginable, space. It reminds me of something you might see in the movie Alien or the true story, Apollo 13. This kind of setting works perfect for this type of survival tale. The setting is a large ship with many rooms, plant life, animal DNA and everything humans will need to start a new life elsewhere in the galaxy. It's its own little world in this ship. The setting is claustraphobic and very empty. Only 50 some people are aboard this ship out of the population of the rest of earth and that is incredibly chilling to think about. The setting helps inform the story and gives it a tense edge, especially once things turn ugly as decisions on their future are discussed.

Lastly I want to look at the style and language. I want to look at the first paragraphy of chapter 2, Alone which is the moment everything changes. We start out with this "I nearly float to the surface of consciousness every so often, but there's too much up there that I don't want to confront." This writing here is actually very profound. The author writes the story from the perspective of someone reflecting on their earlier life and this focus on the language and words such as "floating" and "confront". Leigh knows in this instance that everything she knew has changed and she's afraid to wake up and confront it head on because she knows once she does that's the end. First person really helps with this kind of language. It's a reflection and helps you in understanding the character far more.

Exploring the plot, setting, and style and language helps in understanding what makes a book like this work and stand out from how the story is told through plot as well as the language used to tell the story. 

References

American Library Association. (2023). Announcing the 2023 Excellence in Children’s and Young Adult Science Fiction Notable Lists. https://www.ala.org/news/member-news/2023/01/announcing-2023-excellence-children-s-and-young-adult-science-fiction-notable

Disney Books. (n.d.) Alone Out Here. https://books.disney.com/book/alone-out-here/

Redgate, R. (2022). Alone Out Here. Hyperion.