Kitra
Description
Stranded in space: no fuel, no way home...and no one coming to help.
Nineteen-year-old Kitra Yilmaz dreams of traveling the galaxy like her Ambassador mother. But soaring in her glider is the closest she can get to touching the stars--until she stakes her inheritance on a salvage Navy spaceship. On its shakedown cruise, Kitra's ship plunges into hyperspace, stranding Kitra and her crew light years away.
Tensions rise between Kitra and her shipmates: the handsome programmer, Fareedh; Marta, biologist and Kitra's ex-girlfriend; Peter, the panicking engineer, and the oddball alien navigator, Pinky.
Now, running low on air and food, it'll take all of them working together to get back home.
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Kitra, released at the height of the COVID lock-down, is a story of isolation, teamwork, and hope (amid an ocean of dystopian YA). It continues to be a hit -- probably because it's so spot-on, thematically. It stars a queer woman of color, and that has been a draw as well. Kitra was featured in bookshop.org's newsletter in April 2021, a full year after its release -- a testament to its endurance. The sequel, Sirena, will be published September 2021.
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About the Author
Reviews
"It was amazing I really enjoyed this - it's a quick read, well written, well paced, and a fun story. I'll look forward to Kitra and crew's next adventure!"
-Michelle
"This is a wonderful story of a group of friends coming together to find themselves...I struggled to tear myself away from it to get back to my shift in a way very few YA novels have done for me lately. I highly recommend this work and can't wait for more in the future! 5/5"
-Acacia
"A great YA SciFi book that would be good primer for a budding SciFi fan, and a good read for their parents as well. It was a quick read for me that I didn't want to put down."
-Chad
"There are moments of triumph, moments of despair, interpersonal moments, moments of brilliant solutions to seemingly intractable problems, moments of courage in the face of the odds. It's emotionally satisfying without being (too) scientifically implausible. I found it well paced, too, with a good mixture of "everything is going great, we're going to achieve our dreams" and "oh, crap, we're all going to die".
Recommended, and I will be watching for more in the series."
-Mike
"This was a very nice, easy read! I would recommend it to anyone looking for an optimistic YA book about friends who work together to overcome some major challenges. It had several very cute moments, and the overall tone was light and hopeful."
-Christine
"I found myself drawn into the story right from the beginning and followed along breathlessly the entire time as the group navigated space travel and interpersonal relationships in a very real and very relatable way. I was glad to see such diversity in the story, especially in Kitra as it is rare to find a bisexual lead in any media, never mind sci-fi."
-Abigail
"I like my sci fi pretty hard, and for YA stuff, you could tap this with a wrench. Lots of physics and logistics, clever technical workarounds, little details like recycled air smelling of body odor and farts after a while (submariner cousin told me about that)
Also the description of a handful of scared people trapped in a small space during a crisis, trying not to get on each other's nerves, is evocative. I am a soft touch for that, these days, though.
The characters are nicely diverse in many ways: gender, orientation, ethnic background, species, and personality. I am partial to Peter, described as "the panicky engineer", who has an implied rough childhood and a nicely complex character arc.
The story promises to continue in further books, and I look forward to them."
-Freki
