Grace Curtis

Reviewed on 29th March 2026

I enjoyed Curtis' previous two books so picked this up without really thinking about it. It feels quite different - being a fantasy story rather than science fiction, and I don't think I enjoyed it as much (although given I do read a lot of fantasy, I'm not sure the genre can really be credited with that).

It's the story of two young women from very different backgrounds, both coincidentally on a similar quest, though for very different reasons.

I read a lot of the book in one go on a flight, and this felt a good way to tackle it. I think my experience suffered from more fragmented reading once back home and that made it feel slower paced.

I can see that Curtis' next book is a sort-of sequel, and I'm not sure if I'll read that, or wait and see if she returns to science fiction.

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Reviewed on 8th March 2025

Grace Curtis manages to create a cosy sci-fi that's also dramatic, mysterious, and a mirror to today's world in the way that only the best novels can.

This is the story of an aging space hotel, on a cruise around the human-populated galaxy, and more specifically its crew members, and how this came to be their home.

It's a wonderful construction, with interesting presentation, and I really loved getting to meet all the characters, to understand how they fit together, and gradually to see the curtain peeled back on the universe that Curtis has created.

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Reviewed on 20th April 2024

I bought this short novel after seeing the author recommended for fans of Becky Chambers. It’s not quite in the same space I don’t feel, but close enough that I still found myself enjoying it, particularly as I got more and more invested in the character and the world.

It is a book about climate change, to some extent, and so I had some trepidation at the start because the setting felt like it was going to be depressing. I think though that there is a narrative filled with hope despite the setting, which eventually comes to balance it out.

Although presented as a novella, it actually feels more like a sequence of short stories which are, in turn, sequels or prequels to one another, following the same character. That is to say, each chapter contains a fairly distinct episode in the character’s journey. This makes for a very readable structure.

I’ve added Curtis to my read list and will be looking out to buy her next novel soon.

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