{ about the book }
Dare Mighty Things by Heather KaczynskiDare Mighty Things, book 1
Published October 10, 2017 by HarperTeen
e-ARC provided by Edelweiss
e-ARC provided by Edelweiss
THE RULES ARE SIMPLE: You must be gifted. You must be younger than twenty-five. You must be willing to accept the dangers that you will face if you win.
Seventeen-year-old Cassandra Gupta’s entire life has been leading up to this—the opportunity to travel to space. But to secure a spot on this classified mission, she must first compete against the best and brightest people on the planet. People who are as determined as she to win a place on a journey to the farthest reaches of the universe.
Cassie is ready for the toll that the competition will take; the rigorous mental and physical tests designed to push her to the brink of her endurance. But nothing could have prepared her for the bonds she would form with the very people she hopes to beat. Or that with each passing day it would be more and more difficult to ignore the feeling that the true objective of the mission is being kept from her.
As the days until the launch tick down and the stakes rise higher than ever before, only one thing is clear to Cassie: she’ll never back down . . . even if it costs her everything.
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{ my review }
♫ ♫ ♫
Oh boy. I half liked this, half didn’t care for it.
Look, this is really heavily science based. It literally puts the science in science fiction. I think a lot of STEM readers will enjoy this one because it’s clear—well, it is to me—that the author knew what she was talking about and that research had been done well, and done extremely thoroughly. I didn’t understand any of the little science things they talked about.
There’s a few characters in the book that play important roles: Hanna, Mitsuko, Emilio, and Luka. I didn’t care for Hanna at all. I loved Mitsuko, the mom friend of sorts. Emilio was probably my favourite, the jokester, and he added humour and lightness in a setting where that probably not best. Luka, well. I don’t care for him. More on that later.
I liked Cassie. I liked her drive, her need to be the best, and the lowkey ruthlessness that came with it. In no way did I relate to her, and I would never relate to her because she, and all these people, are on a whole other level than lil ol’ me. They’re literally the best of the best apparently, and if from what they even briefly mentioned in the discussions told me anything, I believe it.
Anyway, on another note, Cassie did have a strong voice. Both as the narrator and a participant in this competition. (Speaking of, a comparison to The Selection was probably the worst thing they could have done—this is leagues out of that book, and much, much more thought out.) Despite not really… getting Cassie, I was okay with her. That’s it. I didn't really feel anything else for her, if that makes sense. I sort of tolerated her? Respected her, but I didn't connect whatsoever.
Same went with Luka! I was hoping for… something because the last Luka I read literally broke my heart and I kept getting flashbacks about him. This Luka… jeez. For nearly two thirds of the book, talking to my wall would have been more fun than paying any attention to him. He was there, in a sense, but his presence wasn’t really shown. He hardly said a word. The dude was in first place the entire bloody time, and yet? Nothing he did or said (not-said?), at least from Cassie’s point of view, showed he deserved the position. So, really, it made no sense, and the arc the author took with him, made no sense.
The last third of the book, I just stopped caring. I got bored. The entire novel was pretty slow to me, but by that point, I was just tired. I just wanted it to end. I was waiting for some big finale, but it was just kind of… dull. And it felt rushed too, so I felt a bit cheated.
Overall, this novel will certainly appeal to some, but to me? It was just okay. I appreciated the amount of, well, everything that went into it, because, boy, did a lot go into it, but I just don’t think it was the right novel for me. 3 stars!
Heather writes books for teenagers and other people who like books about teenagers. They’re usually about teenagers saving the world, because she really believes they can.
Heather never got to go to Space Camp, so she had to settle for writing about it. After graduating cum laude with a degree in biology, she returned to her first love of books, and now works in a library near NASA. She lives with her husband, their daughter, and way too many books. She’s not nearly brave enough to go into space, but she did twirl a fire baton in high school.
She’s represented by Kristin Nelson of Nelson Literary Agency.
Look, this is really heavily science based. It literally puts the science in science fiction. I think a lot of STEM readers will enjoy this one because it’s clear—well, it is to me—that the author knew what she was talking about and that research had been done well, and done extremely thoroughly. I didn’t understand any of the little science things they talked about.
There’s a few characters in the book that play important roles: Hanna, Mitsuko, Emilio, and Luka. I didn’t care for Hanna at all. I loved Mitsuko, the mom friend of sorts. Emilio was probably my favourite, the jokester, and he added humour and lightness in a setting where that probably not best. Luka, well. I don’t care for him. More on that later.
I liked Cassie. I liked her drive, her need to be the best, and the lowkey ruthlessness that came with it. In no way did I relate to her, and I would never relate to her because she, and all these people, are on a whole other level than lil ol’ me. They’re literally the best of the best apparently, and if from what they even briefly mentioned in the discussions told me anything, I believe it.
Anyway, on another note, Cassie did have a strong voice. Both as the narrator and a participant in this competition. (Speaking of, a comparison to The Selection was probably the worst thing they could have done—this is leagues out of that book, and much, much more thought out.) Despite not really… getting Cassie, I was okay with her. That’s it. I didn't really feel anything else for her, if that makes sense. I sort of tolerated her? Respected her, but I didn't connect whatsoever.
Same went with Luka! I was hoping for… something because the last Luka I read literally broke my heart and I kept getting flashbacks about him. This Luka… jeez. For nearly two thirds of the book, talking to my wall would have been more fun than paying any attention to him. He was there, in a sense, but his presence wasn’t really shown. He hardly said a word. The dude was in first place the entire bloody time, and yet? Nothing he did or said (not-said?), at least from Cassie’s point of view, showed he deserved the position. So, really, it made no sense, and the arc the author took with him, made no sense.
The last third of the book, I just stopped caring. I got bored. The entire novel was pretty slow to me, but by that point, I was just tired. I just wanted it to end. I was waiting for some big finale, but it was just kind of… dull. And it felt rushed too, so I felt a bit cheated.
Overall, this novel will certainly appeal to some, but to me? It was just okay. I appreciated the amount of, well, everything that went into it, because, boy, did a lot go into it, but I just don’t think it was the right novel for me. 3 stars!
•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•
{ buy the book }
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{ about the author }
Heather never got to go to Space Camp, so she had to settle for writing about it. After graduating cum laude with a degree in biology, she returned to her first love of books, and now works in a library near NASA. She lives with her husband, their daughter, and way too many books. She’s not nearly brave enough to go into space, but she did twirl a fire baton in high school.
She’s represented by Kristin Nelson of Nelson Literary Agency.
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