Review: The Pioneer by Bridget Tyler

Title: The Pioneer 

Author:  Bridget Tyler
Publisher: HarperTeen
Publishing Date: March 5th, 2019 

Pages: 368
Genre: YA Sci Fi/ Space Opera

Series:  The Pioneer #1
Source:  ARC

 

When Jo steps onto Tau Ceti E, it should be the happiest moment of her life. After all, she’s been training for as long as she can remember to be a cadet pilot in the International Space Agency. She’s dreamed of the day she and her family would leave Earth forever and begin life as pioneers on a new planet.

But now she can’t stop thinking of everything that has gone wrong on their mission: the terrible accident that nearly destroyed their craft, that set their voyage back years, that killed her brother, that left her unable to fly…

As Jo struggles to live with her grief and figure out who she’s going to be now, she falls in love with her new world. It isn’t hard. Jo’s team is camped out by a pristine, tumbling river at the base of a mountain range that looks like huge prisms buried in the prairie. The soring crystal peaks transform every sunset into rainbows full of colors human eyes have never seen before. And that’s just the beginning. Tau offers Jo and her family a lifetime of beauty and adventure.

Jo throws herself into helping her team, lead by her commander mother, establish their community on this amazing new world. But just when she starts to feel like her old self again, she uncovers a devastating secret her mother has been keeping from her people. A secret that could destroy her family’s pioneering dreams…if they survive that long.

With the fate of the pioneers in her hands, Jo must decide how far she’s willing to go to expose the truth — before the truth destroys them all.

I received this as a review book before knowing what it was about. Of course with it being a sci fiction with space exploration and planet colonization. I was all about reading it. The cover is really eye catching too. I didn't go into this book with any expectations, its easy to do when I haven't seen it around. I really enjoyed this book. If I had expectations before reading, it would have met them for sure. 

Earth is in trouble... as it is in most science fiction books. The people of Earth have been planning a way to find and colonize a new planet for decades. Jo grew up know one day she would go to a new planet. She trained to be a planet, her entire life was built for this. Today is the day... and it all went wrong. From the very beginning. They finally made it to the new planet and it is beautiful but it is also more dangerous than they imagined. Now Jo and her family, and the people of Earth have to decide if the colonize or have to leave the new planet. 

This book was good. It started out with a bang and the entire book was pretty much action and danger and good stuff. It was a very fast paced book with tons of depth. The characters were well developed and I loved them all. The world and the setting very well done. The book was well crafted and flowed very nicely. I didn't much care for the end..... will get to that soon. 

I feel that this story has been done many a time... Earth dying and humans must go and colonize and  new planet. There are many different kinds of sci-fi books and this is one of them... I feel that it hasn't been done too much is YA. Lately in the past couple of years it seems that YA is really venturing out into the world of space exploration and now planet colonization. Which I love. There is something to be said about this kind of read. The author can really do what they wish with the new planet and make an entire new world. Bridget Tyler did that. She made this planet beautiful. 

The setting was just gorgeous with new species, new colors and planet life and terrain. I just imagined it so bright and bold and I wanted to go there... well except for the new species... those are little worrisome... Another liberty that an author can take with a new planet. The species. There were two species that were a part of this read and both were just amazing and well done. I am not going to say much more about the species... they are a very important part of the read but they were just stunning and very interesting. 

The characters.... oh there were lots of them. The main ones were 5 kids. All ages and all so vastly different in personalities. Each with a specialty made for the mission. These 5 were the main focus of the book as they explore the planet and get into trouble. I really loved the main character, Jo. She had her moments of whiny... but only a few. She was very persistent and curious and very loyal to the mission. I enjoyed her. 

The relationships in this book focus on family, romance, and friendship. I love it when a story has all three. Jo and her sister Beth and the rest of the family are going through some stuff due to a recent tragedy. This tragedy also caused a rift between Jo and her best friend... whom is on the mission. Then of course there is romance. The romance isn't a main focal point..not even with the relationships. I think the main relationship focused on is the Friendship between Jo and Leela. But the romance is there and what is there is likable and sweet. 

Really there are so many layers to this book. There is action, there are secrets and discoveries, there are betrayals and there are moral debates. It's really good. The one part I had a hard time with was the ending. It ended to quickly for me. I felt I had so many more questions and there was a cliffhanger. ARG. Not a huge one but enough of one to make me very very angry. I just needed more. So on that note, I will be anxiously awaiting book number two!

Loved it, really good sci fi read! 

I grew up in Berkeley, California in a house filled with books. I started telling stories before I could read, so my mother took dictation until I learned how to turn the words in my head into words on a page. She knew I was going to be a writer when I grew up, but it took me a while to catch up.

THE PIONEER is about a young woman struggling to deal with the loss of her beloved big brother while her family fights to survive on a brand new planet. It will be published by HarperTeen in March of 2019.

These days, I live in Oregon with my husband, a Robotics professor at Oregon State University, and my daughter, a toddler who loves to sing.