Will I love Planetfall?

Emma Watson firmly places herself in the mind of the protagonist Renata Ghali. Through this semi-reliable narrator, we learn that in this perfect planned society, a lot is happening beneath the still surface. This novel unfolds slowly, layering the pieces on scene by scene until something startling (which I don’t want to ruin for you) happens to the main character. Often in sci-fi, you see the character make some monumental decision, and then they win, and everything’s happy. This book doesn’t do that. Instead, it looks at the very real-feeling impact of said “monumental decision” on those who made it.… show more.

In comparison to others on this list, Planetfall’s Ren is certainly one of the more senior characters. At over seventy years old, she’s an engineer, a scientist, and the keeper of a secret that greatly affects her day-to-day life. Her story is told in the present with scattered flashbacks which reveal the intricate details associated with coming to a new world. She is brilliant, she is vulnerable, and she is extremely human. Her complexity as a character is equal parts real and haunting. My favorite aspect of this story is the pacing. We learn about Ren and the events… show more.