Imagine: women stealing a spaceship to leave an earth ruled by patriarchy, destroyed by humanity to fly to a far away planet to create their own utopia of science and art, wonder and curiosity - but mix this plot with lots of mystery and politics and struggle to do what’s right. Uff, yes a fierce ride to Mars with marvelous characters and lots of awestruck pageturning. Book riot named it the ingenious child of THE MARTiAN and HANDMAIDENS TALE- and awww soooo true! The one star they lost somewhere in the galaxy is because of three things - SPOILER ahead, so turn right when you reach Beteigeuze if you don’t want to be spoiled: 1) so many flashbacks (which I find a rather inelegant way to give a figure life or the world building texture) 2) the lovestory between Naomi and Evan - it gives her decisions an uncomfortable touch of being a bit to personal and not rational. And therefore undermines the message of the story - if you ask me - how do you see it? 3) the end - of course this is the hopeful ending we readers on earth may need. But the vilification of a strong woman- I don’t know- i didn’t liked that. I am not quite sure if the moral sits perfectly. It felt a bit much, not quite fitting to the rest of the story. But nevertheless: this was a great science fiction read: feminist, eco-martial and very smart.