Brightly Burning - Alexa Donne

Seventeen-year-old Stella Ainsley wants just one thing: to go somewhere—anywhere—else. Her home is a floundering spaceship that offers few prospects, having been orbiting an ice-encased Earth for two hundred years. When a private ship hires her as a governess, Stella jumps at the chance. The captain of the Rochester, nineteen-year-old Hugo Fairfax, is notorious throughout the fleet for being a moody recluse and a drunk. But with Stella he’s kind.

But the Rochester harbors secrets: Stella is certain someone is trying to kill Hugo, and the more she discovers, the more questions she has about his role in a conspiracy threatening the fleet.

Paperback, 400 pages

Published June 12th 2018 by Titan Books (first published May 1st 2018)

Sci fi YA

For review

My thoughts:

I love Jane Eyre. I had to read it for a lit class and ended up re-reading it during the same course. But yes, there are issues, but it is a Gothic story after all. I get that she could not make Hugo 40 when she had made Stella 17, that would have been creepy. But by making him 19 she did take away a bit about what made him "Rochester". The jaded, broken man. Still it does work when you get to know Henry who became captain very young and the circumstances did shape him. So sure, he is older in a way then. Because he does not really act like a 19 year old.

And at the same Stella is no Jane Eyre. Sure the story follows the same concept. But this Jane is a mechanic and at 17 is is an adult and other at her age are married. People die young now. So she is older than she looks too. And she is not a timid creature.

The concept here is awesome. An ice age came and space ships were built. They now orbit the earth and has so for 200 years. I assume a LOT of people did not get to come and died on earth. And now 200 years later the ships are failing. Honestly, awesome right!

And in comes Stella to a new private ship as a governess. The captain harbors a secret. There are voices and accidents. And she grows close to Henry as they share a love for books.

But of course there is much more. The failing ships and what should be done. This is not a lifestyle they can sustain. And it works well within the book, it all comes together perfectly.

I liked it. I think it would have been even more awesome as an adult book ;) Cos then he could have been older and so could she. But it works perfectly as YA too. It smooth over the rough edges he has and makes it more believable that he and she can like each other.

But my favorite will always be the premise itself. Ice-age and ships orbiting earth.