Despite the tragic backstory and searching storyline, Halvorson’s novel is often lighthearted as the leads explore romance and search for connections to something larger than us, all while experiencing the awkward phases of falling in love. Kaitlyn and Zachary speak to each other over texts and Facetime calls about their beliefs in God, aliens, and saving the planet. The story’s possible spiritual or supernatural events, like a signal picked up on a satellite dish that Kaitlyn thinks could be a message from her father, are teasingly subtle, possibly even coincidental instances.
Halvorson leaves it to readers to draw their own conclusions while exploring the complex relationship, for these young people, between God and the possibility of aliens. Kaitlyn touchingly speculates that the lights in the sky “were from aliens coming to collect her father’s soul,” linking them from the start to scripture: “It’s even in the Bible—Ezekiel’s wheel.” Good humor and a taste for big questions bring these characters to life, making them relatable even when their heads are in the cosmos.
Takeaway: Touching novel of young people, faith, UFOs, and something to believe in.
Comparable Titles: Jennifer L. Armentrout’s Obsidian, Thomas Walker’s Cosmic Background Radiation.
Production grades
Cover: B+
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A
