Redemption Ark by Eilis O'Neal

Four contestants.

Four crimes.

One shot at freedom.

Lane Holland is a spoiled heiress turned cold-blooded killer.

Dez Okoro-Andromeda is a scholarship kid who hacked her way to vengeance.

Ishaan Viswanathan isn't saying he didn't commit grand theft auto (space style).

Cutter Azevedo is ready to detonate a world that chewed him up and spat him back out.

Welcome to Season 7 of Redemption Ark. Aboard the intergalactic cruise ship hosting the hit reality show of the same name, you are no more than the crime you committed. Unless you can prove to billions of voters across the galaxy that you deserve salvation.

There are seven days until the Ark reaches the an ultra-high-security prison where the losing contestants will serve the rest of their sentences. That's seven days for Lane, Dez, Ishaan, and Cutter to keep their secrets under wraps, and seven days to discover what the show itself is hiding.

Only one lucky contestant will get a second chance at freedom-if they can make it off this ship.

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You won't believe what these intergalactic criminals get up to when they think no one is looking!

PRE-READING

Four contestants. Four crimes. One shot at freedom.

That sounds like a fairly straightforward setup for a reality show in space, with a group of criminals competing for the chance to escape their sentences. I was intrigued by the premise, particularly the idea of a programme in which the contestants' futures are decided by an audience of billions.

There are, however, a couple of things I wish I'd known before starting.

POST-READING

First, the blurb is misleading about the number of contestants. There are eighteen, not four. Lane, Dez, Ishaan and Cutter are the four point-of-view characters, but the other fourteen are very much present. That's a significant difference, and one that changes how I approached the cast.

Second, this is the first book in a series, and not in the sense that the characters will have another adventure in a later instalment. This story essentially stops in the middle of a scene, with the intention of picking up again in the next book. I don't mind reading a series, but I do like to know what sort of commitment I'm signing up for. There's a difference between a story that reaches a stopping point and one that simply stops. I have strong feelings about blurbs setting up the wrong expectations, and this one hasn't done itself any favours.

It's a shame, because the story itself is intriguing and clever. The setting is used in some really inventive ways, and the reality show is an excellent vehicle for exploring power and manipulation. The production team are quite blatant about changing the rules and moving the goalposts to get the television they want. The contestants are people to be exploited, not people to be protected. They're making a show, and the consequences for the participants are very much somebody else's problem.

The characters are convincingly teenagers, too, with all the complicated reactions and questionable decisions that suggests. There's a lot to think about here, and I was interested in seeing how the different contestants approached the situation.

I just wish I'd known beforehand that I was starting a story that wouldn't reach a proper stopping point in this book. I'm interested in what happens next, but I'd have preferred to make that decision with my eyes open.

RECOMMENDATIONS

If you enjoyed the combination of young people, survival, difficult choices and a society willing to sacrifice individuals for a larger purpose, try The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.

For television, The 100 is a particularly good match: teenagers in an impossible situation, competing priorities, shifting alliances and some very uncomfortable questions about what people will do to survive.

MUSIC PAIRING

“Everybody Wants to Rule the World” — Tears for Fears. A reality show with billions watching, contestants fighting for freedom and producers manipulating events? There's a rather appropriate soundtrack hiding in there.

VIBE CHECK

• Colour palette: Deep space black, metallic silver, electric blue and the artificial brightness of a television studio.

• Soundtrack: A slick reality-show theme interrupted by warning signals, ship engines and the noise of people arguing behind closed doors.

• Season: A long, dark winter night.

• Mood: Intriguing, tense, competitive and increasingly uneasy.

• Scent: Polished metal, recycled air, expensive perfume and the faint smell of something burning.

• Texture: Cold glass, smooth metal, synthetic fabrics and the uncomfortable sensation of being watched.

TAROT CARD PULLED — JUDGEMENT

Judgement is about reckoning, accountability and the possibility of transformation. It asks us to look honestly at what we've done and decide what happens next.

That's an interesting question for a competition in which people are being asked to prove they deserve another chance. But the show itself complicates the idea of redemption: are the contestants genuinely changing, or simply learning how to present the most convincing version of themselves to an audience?

And if the chance to be saved is also a chance to escape punishment, how much of that desire is about becoming a better person?

✦ THE TRUE QUESTION ✦

Is redemption still redemption when the only person you're trying to save is yourself?

The contestants are competing for a second chance, but the show's format makes it difficult to separate genuine remorse from self-preservation. It's a question about whether doing the right thing matters if your motivation is entirely personal.

Redemption Ark publishes on 2 March 2027. I received a free copy and am giving an honest review.