Book Review – A Complicated Love Story Set in Space – Shaun David Hutchinson

Book Details:

Title: A Complicated Love Story Set in Space

Author: Shaun David Hutchinson

Genre: Young Adult / Queer

Year of Release: 2021

Read 453-page hardcover edition in July 2023.

Book Review:

In this queer romance, characters Noa, DJ, and Jenny wake up in a spaceship ins pace, unsure why they are there and what happened to transport them in an instant from earth onto this ship. They must work together to operate the ship and figure out what is going on around them, also facing obstacles that get in the way. Noa and DJ also begin to feel some feelings between them, but are unsure what that means for them.

This 2SLGBTQ+ young adult fiction novel written by Shaun David Hutchinson did have a lot of great things going for it. the characters were often fun to read about, particularly Jenny. The plot was propulsive, and there were often new situations and problems the three of them had to work together on.

However, there were a couple of items that detracted from the story. First, the character of Noa was often very frustrating. He was quick to become whiny, difficult, and moody. Perhaps this is not unrealistic for his archetype, but it became tiresome to read about for chapters upon chapters. Second, the story itself felt a bit ludicrous at times. It would have been great if there had been more clarity in the first half of the book to obvious questions, like how can three teenagers truly operate a spaceship. That gets cleared up near the end, but it was a hanging question in the first half that made it feel unbelievable.

Hutchinson has a collection of wonderful queer young adult novels, and usually I enjoy them much more than this one. This is still worth reading, but a little bit weaker than his other books.

Overall: 3.5 stars out of 5 stars