For all of her sixteen years, Terra has lived on a city within a spaceship that left Earth five hundred years ago seeking refuge, but as they finally approach the chosen planet, she is drawn into a secret rebellion that could change the fate of her people. - (Baker & Taylor)

Terra has lived on a city within a spaceship that left Earth five hundred years ago seeking refuge, but as they finally approach the chosen planet, she is drawn into a secret rebellion that could change the fate of her people. - (Baker & Taylor)

For all of her 16 years, Terra has lived in a city within a spaceship that left Earth 500 years before seeking refuge, but as they finally approach the chosen planet, she is drawn into a secret rebellion that could change the fate of her people. - (Baker & Taylor)

In this futuristic, outer space thriller, Terra has to decide between supporting the rebellion she believes in'and saving the life of the boy she loves.

For generations, those aboard the Asherah have lived within strict rules meant to help them survive the journey from a doomed Earth to their promised land, the planet Zehava'which may or may not be habitable, a question whose imperative grows now, in the dwindling months before touchdown.

Sixteen-year-old Terra's situation is tough. A dead mom. A grieving dad. A bitchy boss, and a betrothed who won't kiss her no matter how bad she wants it. She's doing her best to stay afloat, even when she gets assigned a vocation she has no interest in: botany.

But after Terra witnesses the Captain's guard murder an innocent man, she's drawn into a secret rebellion bent on restoring power to the people. The stakes are higher than anything she could have imagined. When the rebellion gives Terra an all-important mission, she has to decide where her loyalties lie for once and for all. Because she has started to fall for the boy she's been sent to assassinate' - (Simon and Schuster)

In this futuristic, outer space thriller, Terra has to decide between supporting the rebellion she believes in—and saving the life of the boy she loves.

For generations, those aboard the Asherah have lived within strict rules meant to help them survive the journey from a doomed Earth to their promised land, the planet Zehava–which may or may not be habitable, a question whose imperative grows now, in the dwindling months before touchdown.

Sixteen-year-old Terra’s situation is tough. A dead mom. A grieving dad. A bitchy boss, and a betrothed who won’t kiss her no matter how bad she wants it. She’s doing her best to stay afloat, even when she gets assigned a vocation she has no interest in: botany.

But after Terra witnesses the Captain’s guard murder an innocent man, she’s drawn into a secret rebellion bent on restoring power to the people. The stakes are higher than anything she could have imagined. When the rebellion gives Terra an all-important mission, she has to decide where her loyalties lie for once and for all. Because she has started to fall for the boy she’s been sent to assassinate… - (Simon and Schuster)

Phoebe North is the author of Starglass and Starbreak. She received her MFA in poetry at the University of Florida. She lives in New York State with her husband, her daughter, and her cat. Visit her at PhoebeNorth.com. - (Simon and Schuster)

Booklist Reviews

In North's dystopian debut, space-traveling ship Asherah is the only home 15-year-old Terra Fineberg has ever known. Five hundred years ago, the ship left behind an Earth destroyed by an asteroid strike. Now a tightly regulated place run by a traditionalist council, Asherah carries fewer than 1,000 people as it heads for the planet Zehava, which the council aims to settle while they carry on centuries of earthly Jewish traditions. Each citizen has a life map: they're shunted into the talent they display when they come of age, matched with a genetically ideal partner, and required to raise two children born outside the womb in a sort of hatchery. Burdened with a distant father, a dead mother, and a preordained future, Terra is angrily resigned to a life she doesn't want. Then she witnesses a murder and discovers a rebellion, and her perspective abruptly shifts direction. With its onion-skin layers of plots and subterfuge around issues of trust and loyalty—not to mention a very strong writing style—this stellar debut should have strong interest from dystopian fans. Hand to fans of Maria V. Snyder or Beth Revis. Copyright 2013 Booklist Reviews.

School Library Journal Reviews

Gr 10 Up—Humanity was given five years to prepare when they learned that an asteroid would destroy Earth. The healthiest were sent away in every direction in the hopes that the human race could survive and find a new home, while the rest were left to wait. Nearly 500 years have passed since the asteroid arrived, and the only home that Terra has ever known is on the Asherah, a massive spaceship ferrying roughly 1000 Jewish settlers to their new planet. Nearing her 16th birthday and the end of her journey, Terra is pulled into an underground resistance movement when she witnesses the brutal murder of a passenger at the hands of the captain's guard. She learns that her life has been a facade of false choice and classism, and that her mother's death may not have been natural. On the ship there are strict requirements about marriage, to the extent that all boys are sterilized at puberty and all new children grown in labs. When Terra is introduced to the resistance through the boy whom she has agreed to marry, she learns that he is involved with another male member of the resistance. Through diary entries, readers learn that the resistance started with Terra's great-grandmother over her dissatisfaction with being contractually obligated to marry a man on the ship. The intrigue builds as it becomes clear that Terra's ancestors may have been the first to rebel. While there are certainly strong science-fiction overtones and dystopian influences, the claustrophobic nature of the ship grounds the characterization. This book offers an excellent resource to support diversity as marriage equality and LGBT issues are a dominant factor in the narrative, making it more interesting than many similar titles.—Ryan F. Paulsen, New Rochelle High School, NY