Book Review | The Loneliest Girl in the Universe by Lauren James
The Loneliest Girl in the Universe by Lauren James Published by Walker Books on September 7th 2017
Genres: Young Adult, Science Fiction
Pages: 290
Goodreads
Can you fall in love with someone you’ve never met, never even spoken to – someone who is light years away?
Romy Silvers is the only surviving crew-member of a spaceship travelling to a new planet, on a mission to establish a second home for humanity amongst the stars. Alone in space, she is the loneliest girl in the universe until she hears about a new ship which has launched from Earth – with a single passenger on board. A boy called J.
Their only communication with each other is via email – and due to the distance between them, their messages take months to transmit across space. And yet Romy finds herself falling in love.
But what does Romy really know about J? And what do the mysterious messages which have started arriving from Earth really mean?
Sometimes, there’s something worse than being alone . . .
Well what can I say. This book was AMAZING. I picked it up at YALC and I read it on the way back home and couldn’t put it down. Don’t worry, I’m going to keep this review spoiler free.
This book takes place on board The Infinity, a spaceship manned by Romi Silvers, a lone teenage girl. It follows her journey as she faces challenges of a mental and physical nature. This book is not what you were expecting, I can tell you that. I’m usually quite astute at figuring out what’s going on, and where I was right with some of my inklings, I was definitely shocked at the end. OH THE END. It just keeps getting better and better.
I absolutely loved Romi. Her feelings and emotions were believable of a girl her age – so much so I felt childish relating to her. Romi has been alone for so many years, with no one but Molly, a NASA employee on Earth, for company via audio recordings with a couple of years delay. I really loved the idea of Molly, someone who was helping Romi with her Maths and her general well being after being left alone in space, having never set foot on Earth or having met anyone she wasn’t related to. It was refreshing to hear of her struggles and how she overcame them using fan fiction, of all things.
I will talk more about the intriguing J, the passenger of the Eternity, the other spaceship launched from Earth, in a more spoilery review in the future. I have SO MUCH to say about this fellow.
Romy communicates with Earth and The Eternity via a huge delay in sending and receiving the messages, which I found fascinating to think about. Could you imagine getting letters from someone and replying, knowing they weren’t going to receive it for years? Or reading what they had written and knowing they had written it years ago? I couldn’t imagine it before. It’s very well done.
The short chapters keep you going and going and going until you’ve finished the book and had no sleep!
I loved the interjections of Fan Fic where Romi used her writing to explore her feelings. It felt so raw and real, and I could really relate it to my teenage years.
The book takes a serious twist which I won’t delve too much into here but it is AMAZING. The last few chapters or so just keep on giving and honestly, it was amazing.
I 100% recommend this book, a more in depth review to follow when the book is released.
26 Comments
So happy to hear you liked this one! I’m looking forward to reading this!!
It really was great! I’m hoping there’s a sequel.
This book is right up my alley, I cannot believe I’ve never heard of it until now. Adding it to my TBR List now! Thank you for this review!
You’re welcome! I’m so glad it’s helped someone find the book. I hadn’t heard of it until I saw it at YALC and met the author. It was so so so good!
That’s awesome! Meeting the authors of books you’ve read is always such a surreal experience.
It is definitely. She’s so lovely as well
I love the concept of this book, since I’ve not read a book with this kind of premise, I will definitely check it out and your review is convincing, it’s a light read though right?
Aw thank you! It’s amazing to hear that you’re interested in the book from the review.
A light read in what way? It’s not a large book and is a quick read, but it takes some seriously dark turns suddenly which is gripping!
Then it’s not a light read, if it takes a serious dark turn, light reads for me are books that are easy to read and not so heavy emotionally.
Ah then no it’s not.
It is light for the first half but then things get psychological. It is amazing though you should read it!
This book sounds so good! Definitely going to be adding this to my TBR list!
It is so so good! Definitely read it when it’s out 😁
This is so intriguing! I’m wondering why they sent a teenager into space, like what started it all? This just went on my TBR!
Haha very intriguing! I don’t want to answer you here as I don’t want to spoil anything but if you’re curious you can DM me on twitter
If it’s a spoiler I don’t want to know 🙉
This sounds a really interesting read! I must try and pick it up at some point!
You definitely should! I’m actually giving away a signed copy of it too.
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Ooo I’ve never heard of this before but it sounds amazing! I love when books manage to shock you all the way through so that especially makes me want to read it. The characters also seem interesting. I can’t even imagine being like Romy – it truly would be so lonely. Great review!
Lauren @ Lauren’s Crammed Bookshelf
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I added this book to my TBR some time ago and am so looking forward to reading it. Honestly, I never was quite into anything sci-fi-related, but then Illuminae happened and ever since.. Well, let’s just say I’m rediscovering this genre with an open mind, ha!
My Twitter is @booksandmunches, btw!
So jealous you got to go to YALC though. I found out about it too late and didn’t really want to spend over 200 euros on train tickets (yay Belgium); but will definitely be there next year!
It is a lovely book, I was hooked all the way through!
I love sci-fi, but I find a lot of adult sci fi sometimes is a bit too – heavy – you know what I mean? Whereas this and YA sci fi has just enough science and drama etc 😁
Followed you on twitter!
YALC is amazing. Tiring but amazing. I hope you make it next year!
Sounds like a good combination for someone who only just rediscovered the genre, haha!
Yay!
Oh, I’m doing anything I can to make sure I’ll be there. Even have an old piggy that I’m filling up with my YALC budget already, ha! Nobody’s stopping me next year. :p
I’m definitely adding this to my list it sounds great!
Yey you should it’s awesome!
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