SpaceMan by Tom Abrahams

I'm not much of a space person - I wasn't impressed with The Martian (film, not book. I will eventually get to the novel...), and I have never been super into the whole "space" thing (unless it's Star Wars). But, I love reading books in different genres! I don't like reading the same old read every single time. I like spicing it up to see what authors are doing and how genres are changing! So SpaceMan seemed like the right kind of fit for me. It looked different, space-y and had a cool cover (come on, admit it, we all judge books by it's cover).

This novel is set in a post-apocalyptic time and our main character is on on the Space Station. You see both Clayton in space and his family down on Earth, which gives some interesting points of views from all angles. I'll be the first to admit I know almost nothing about the Space Station, so I cannot tell you how accurate the accounts of it are - but they seemed uber cool!

This novel is a fast moving, easy read, action-adventure. I enjoyed that aspect of it, despite not totally loving this novel in general. It's a great read for those interested in space, action and adventure and who want a novel that sounds like it knows what's it's talking about (not random made-up babble about space. Tom seems to have researched some of this!). It's a refreshing, different type of space novel - people are comparing it to the Martian, and I would compare it to the hype of the Martian. It's smart, funny and different. It's not just a Star Wars/Trek spin-off, it's got it's own vibe.

There is a sequel to this novel, and while I might not be reading it I would absolutely suggest this novel to other people. It's just not my thing. I do think this could have been one stellar novel if the entire story would have been concluded in this book. My rating might have been higher if that had happened. I really enjoyed this book, but I felt it was just to incomplete. I like when a series has a story "complete" at the end of each book, but the universe is continued in the next novel.

Three out of five stars.

I received this novel from Goodreads First Reads. ( )

do yourself a favor and stay away from this series. plot jumps the shark in second book. ( )

I come to this as a fan of post-apocalyptic fiction, and I kinda liked this one.

I think it's no spoiler (since it's in the blurb above) that the book concerns Clayton Shepard, the eponymous astronaut, who's stranded in orbit by solar activity, and of his family back on Earth.

The scenes in space rang true enough for me. On Earth, I felt that society collapsed far quicker than I would expect it to. It seemed like the power had only been out for a short time before people started speculating about it being the end of the world, and gangs started riving the streets. Perhaps that's an American thing, but literally the day after the event someone in a campsite was speculating about the apocalypse because there was a blackout an their car wouldn't start. I would expect people, particularity camping, to be a little more stoic.

Still, I suspect few people want to read about uneventful times. The book ends on a cliffhanger, with Clayton lost ... somewhere (and almost explicitly not in North America), and I'm interested to see how he makes his way back to his family.

Things I especially liked: nobody we've met so far is a explicitly a prepper, though they are suspiciously competent, it's not a thinly disguised gun fantasy where can be shot with impunity, and as far as I can tell the number of zombies sighted is zero. That's a statement you could make of far too few post apocalyptic books of the past decade or two.

This is the first book by Mr Abrahams I have read, and his experience in writing thrillers is evident - it's a quick read, even though I only read it on the bus to and from work. ( )