Book Review: Derelict

Derelict by L.J. Cohen
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Overall I enjoyed most of the characters, the science and tech of the story. There was one plot point/character interaction that just struck cognitive dissonance for me, made my internal creeper alarm go off, and caused me to stop reading for a few days, but, I had to find out if the main characters made it back home safe and sound, or were left adrift in space, ready for a sequel.

Hopefully without giving too much away, you have a crew of misfit teenagers with more angst and abuse (physical, emotional, and mental) in their lives than should be crammed into one story, but it makes sense the more you read, the requisite missing parent for two of the main characters, and under-developed peripheral characters. I'm not sure if this is an accepted trend in YA literature or if it's because the writers have been raised on too many Disney movies. Yes, I am currently dis-enchanted with Disney, but that has nothing to do with _Derelict_, which is about as far from a typical Disney story as you can get.

Part of the dissonance for me was that the main characters were fairly well fleshed out, but the supporting cast were caricatures with barely enough substance to be the catalyst for everything that was wrong with the main characters when it came to their interpersonal relationships. It just didn't gel well and would take me out of the story. Luckily, being shot into space unexpectedly got the "crew" to get mostly over themselves and work cooperatively. Function out of dysfunction. It can happen.

The scenes concerned with only the main characters and the ship flowed extremely well and hit that page-turner pace that I enjoy and kept me engaged. I look forward to seeing Lisa really hit her stride and have everything, especially character development, come together into amazing stories.



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