Review by Alex Henderson

It takes twenty-three years to travel from Earth to the exoplanet Terra-Two. By the time the Beta crew of the Off-World Colonization Programme arrive, they will be in their forties. But when they leave, they are just teenagers—six of the best and brightest young people in the UK, put through rigorous training and a harsh selection process, and chosen to be the first to walk on the planet that will hopefully serve as humanity’s new home. 

Temi Oh’s Do You Dream of Terra-Two? tells the story of these young crew members. The story begins on Earth in the tense leadup to launch day, then goes into space as the team settle into the strange new normal of co-habiting on an interstellar ship. Sometimes it’s harmonious and they can picture the utopia they’re going to build on their new planet, but—understandably—sometimes tensions erupt as the diverse personalities within the crew bounce off each other. Each member of the Beta has their own issues and their own reasons for leaving Earth behind, and the group is collectively haunted by the sudden, tragic death of one of their members just before the launch. Can your grief follow you out of the solar system? 

Oh’s prose is lush and atmospheric, capturing a sense of astronomical wonder as well as the interior worlds of each character. Sometimes this crosses over into the dialogue and sends the teens waxing poetic in ways that match the narrative voice but probably don’t reflect how many real 18-year-olds talk. For the most part, though, each of the six POV characters feels fleshed-out and realized, with their own complex backstories and motivations. Sometimes, as you might expect from their genius status, they feel older than their years. Sometimes they feel terrifyingly young. A coming-of-age drama is tense enough on Earth—they’re trapped out here in the unforgiving vacuum of space! 

While there’s a lot to praise about the construction of the sci-fi elements, what Oh does best, I think, is create a mood. The sense of adrenaline, excitement, and anxiety is palpable in the leadup to the launch—a real tangible rush of fear and longing, knowing that there’s no going back. Once the ship is out in space, and things inevitably go wrong, a permeating vibe of claustrophobia sinks in. Not to mention the underlying pulse of existential dread that follows through the whole book. Do You Dream of Terra-Two? is a well-put-together novel, but it is heavy, and I’m not just talking about its 500-plus page count. If you want an idealistic, relaxing and whimsical dance among the stars, this is not the book for you—this one’s harrowing, hard sci-fi that asks big questions and puts its young cast through the wringer. Which is to say, it’s pretty brilliant, but it did leave me grateful to be standing on solid Earth.

Do You Dream of Terra-Two?
Written by Temi Oh
2019, Simon & Schuster
ISBN: 9781471171277
An NPR favorite book of 2019
Winner of the ALA/YALSA Alex Award
Reviews: Kirkus, The Guardian

Reviewer:

Alex Henderson holds a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Canberra, where they completed a creative thesis on LGBTQIA+ representation in young adult genre fiction. Their scholarly work has been published in The Conversation, the International Journal of Young Adult Literature, and the Journal of Popular Romance Studies, and their short stories have appeared in literary magazines including SWAMP and #EnbyLife and the award-nominated anthology An Unexpected Party (Fremantle Press, 2023). 

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GLLI’s 2024 International YA Literature Month has been curated by Dr Emily Corbett. She is a lecturer in children’s and young adult literature at Goldsmiths, University of London, where she leads the MA Children’s Literature: Theoretical Approaches to Children’s and Young Adult Literature programme. Her research focuses on the growth and development of YA from literary, publishing, and cultural perspectives. She is also General Editor of The International Journal of Young Adult Literature and was founding Vice President of the YA Studies Association. Her monograph, In Transition: Young Adult Literature and Transgender Representation (2024), is forthcoming with the University Press of Mississippi in June. You can find her contact details on her institutional website and connect with her on Twitter and Instagram via @DrEmilyCorbett.