Get Hold Of Dare Mighty Things (Dare Mighty Things #1) Drafted By Heather Kaczynski Released As Readable Copy
is my book! It was tons of fun to write, and I can't wait for you guys to read it, stars
Space, Friendship. Diversity. Competition.
Pros:
Cassie half IndianAmerican, the main protagonist is very competitive, smart and doesn't give a shit about making friends but yet we see her grow as a character throughout the book.
Characters are very well written especially Cassie's friends Emilio and Mitsuko are my favourite and there's a lot of diversity since competitors are from all around the world LOVE IT!
The competition involves about space travel is very interesting.
If you enjoy hunger games, you may enjoy this
book but don't expect romance like Katniss and Peeta
Cons:
Romance part is not necessary.
Asexual representation is not strong enough,
Favourite quote:
"You do not apologize to anyone for following your heart, " I put off reading Dare Mighty Things because it was a competition about winning the chance to be the first teen to go to space, And space It used to be an instant hard pass for me, Something has happened this year though that has me slowly reaching for science fiction more and more, To the point where space cadet stories have become a niche buzzword of mine, There were a lot of things going against my enjoyment of the story but it ended up an instant new favourite,
I could not help but fall in love with our protagonist, Cassie, She was unapologetically ambitious and fierce, She proved herself over and over again and pulled herself through the trials, sometimes on nothing more than her sharp intelligence and unshakeable determination, She hid a funny, sweet and loyal side of herself beneath a layer of awkwardness, cynicism and introversion, If that aint relatable.
Her blossoming friendships were definitely the highlight of the book, though, I love reading about female friendship, and Mitsuko was such a gorgeous mum friend to Cassie, I adored every minute of her and Cassie's interactions, I mean, what more do I need than two fierce, feminist, brilliantly intelligent queer women of colour breaking down their barriers and learning to be vulnerable Dont mind me crying quietly in the corner.
Emilio was also a highlight, He was the personification of sunshine and made me smile in every single scene, His ability to cut to the heart of a conversation and make people feel good about themselves was just gorgeous, I want five hundred stories about these three best friends, Please and thank you.
The plot was also wow, such a ride, I love books about government conspiracies and training montages and psychological manipulation, where you have to try and figure out just how much is actually real, The nuggets of information about the outside world were intriguing to the point where I almost wanted more but I loved how grounded this slightly futuristic setting felt as a whole.
This book is known for its twists and turns so I will comment that I guessed them quite early on myself, It was definitely not the fault of the author though, The suspense is palpable throughout the story and the atmosphere she created made everything seem slightly unreal like everyone was waiting for some sort of aha! moment to send their worlds crashing at their feet was impressive.
It was definitely the flaw in my brain that makes me constantly need to solve the puzzle as quickly as possible which made me figure out the reveals,
This next section necessitates some minor spoilers about the romance,
What about the asexual representation I wasnt too disappointed, thank God, At eighteen, Cassie is beginning to think that the label asexual fits her, She finds thinking about sex uncomfortable and has never been attracted to anyone of any gender, I loved how she discusses this with Mitsukoa and how it made her aware she doesn't know what it is like to be sexually attracted to people, The mental trip she has the next day as she imagines what it is like for allosexuals and tries to notice peoples attractiveness was so realistic, I loved that she even commented about the fact she was uncomfortable people might think that way about her,
The fact that Cassie has a minor love interest wouldnt have bothered me if and I stress the if the book addressed the difference between asexuality and aromanticism or even if Cassie decided to kiss Luka for any other reason than she wanted to experiment.
I understand that asexuality is a spectrum not all asexuals are repulsed or uninterested in kissing, The fact Cassie specifically described being sexrepulsed but still felt the need to experiment bothered me, This could have been so easily avoided if she said it was because of Luka specifically or greyasexuality or demisexuality had been addressed, Labels are not always constant and growing into the right ones if you want any at all is an important part of the queer experience, However, this was not a narrative about labels or even coming out, The scene, therefore, felt too familiar to amisic tropes, This may represent some people on the ace spectrum, If it does, I am so happy for those people! It was a tad disappointed for me though,
Trigger warnings for .
Representation: Cassandra mc is asexual amp IndianAmerican Mitsuko sc is bisexual amp JapaneseAmerican Emilio sc is Latinx BIPOC scs,
sitelink Blog sitelinkTrigger Warning Database sitelinkStoryGraph Full disclosure, Heather is my critique partnerthis review will become less vague when the book goes to print! I've read DARE MIGHTY THINGS through many drafts, and fallen in love with all of these characters.
Even the ones I hate, I love, It's crippling. She has a great voice, strong character arcs, and awesome suspensebut my favorite part about Cassie's story is how hard she works for what she wants,
Cassie is an IndianAmerican intern at NASA when her boss recommends her to a classified space program, They've perfected pioneer space technologywith one small hitch: adult brains are too rigid to work with the spaceship's Artificial Intelligence, The best and brightest teens from around the country are competing for a single seat, and Cassie's determined to beat them all, Astronaut training is rigorous, but when the tests they undergo start to become deadly, Cassie realizes someone would rather see them dead than in space,
This book is the love child of YA space opera and survivalist novelsastronaut boot camp is like army boot camp in antigravity, There's a great slowburn romantic subplot that I love, because the characters are so authentically teenagers, Awkward and sweet and at times standoffish, but also with priorities beyond finding out if some guy thinks you're pretty, Cassie isn't going to let anyone get between her and the,
Anyone who liked The Selection, Illuminae, or Cinder will find a million things to love about DARE MIGHTY THINGS, Futuristic tech and friendships, pioneer spaceships and conspiracy theoriesit's everything I love in science fiction, I definitely flew through this audiobook, and I really liked it! RTC, I received an advance copy of this book for free, Thanks to HarperCollins and Edelweiss,
This was a YA scifi story about a girl competing for the opportunity to go into space,
Cassie was quite a fierce character who was able to shut off her worries and fears and do what needed to be done, She also wasnt afraid of a little competition, and kept fighting even when things seemed bleak,
The storyline in this was about Cassie competing to go into space on a special mission which we learned more about as the story went along, We got a recurring theme of friendship, and even a little bit of romance, even though the main character called herself asexual at one point,
The ending to this had a massive twist, so it will be interesting to see what will happen in the next book,
.out of
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