"When the action ramps up, the story vibrates with terror, offering readers a compelling and harrowing treat and highlighting the teens' sheer cunning and urgent desire for survival." -- STARRED REVIEW , Kirkus Reviews "Johnston masterfully infuses the narrative with bone-deep dread and grotesque carnage; phrases like 'splash of gore' and 'pile of her own sludge' are haunting. It's not all body horror, though: Johnston also effectively intertwines themes of class, privilege, and self-determination. An unsettling, pulse-pounding exploration of societal structures and survival." -- STARRED REVIEW, Shelf-Awareness "In this work, readers will recognize the typical signs of a catastrophe in the making: an ecological disaster on Earth resulting in a plan to mine Mars, a gilded space shuttle with a stark class divide to travel there, and the hubris of those who built the shuttle making everything exponentially worse. But this is no stale redux of other works in the genre. The author's attention to detail keeps readers immersed in the moment, while dual viewpoints gradually bring the characters alive, and a steady pace and eerie atmosphere propel the work forward. A mash-up of sci-fi and horror tropes fervently coalesce into a satisfying and fresh option for teens.

" --School Library Journal.