Rebecca Langham

To expose the truth, she must first expose her heart.

Beneath the Surface

Actual rating: 3.5 star

I received this ARC from the author in exchange for an honest review. A big thank you to Rebecca Langham and NineStar Press!



  
    “The Outsiders had arrived as pacifists escaping a civil war…humans expressed a great deal of empathy at first. Within months, however, words like ‘asylum’ and ‘refugee’ were replaced by ‘interlopers’ and ‘intruders'”
  



This is one of those books that makes you stop and think about life and humanity and where the heck we are going as a species.

Beneath the Surface, while still holding onto a lot of traditional sci-fi concepts, delves into so many big, big themes of racism, segregation, detainment, and sexuality and gender, in a way that I really enjoyed.

Okay, the big thing that I loved – and actually don’t want to say too much about because I want you guys to experience this for yourself! – was the aliens.

Okay, of course, I liked the aliens?!

But hold on. I swear by the end of the book I basically just wanted to forego all my humanity and become an Outsider, because what the heck, I wanna just join their society thank you very much.

I refuse to give any sort of spoiler. But. If you are a part of the LGBTQIA+ community you will agree with me after reading this book.



  
    "The truth usually lies beneath the surface of things"
  



I also super loved the world-building in this book.

I loved the inclusion of futuristic technology, as well as the new and developed government system, government and corporation overlap, and the evolution (but also the limitations of this evolution) of modern societal norms.

And then there are the Outsiders and how humanity decided to deal with the issue.

I truly enjoyed the concept and investigation of aliens coming to Earth and being treated as asylum seekers and refugees, rather than the typical B-rate movie alien invasion. While it is not completely unique, I much prefer this line of plot and thought it was the foundation of some excellent insight into the human society featured in the story.

It also made the book so relatable in a modern sense. I just sat there the entire time nodding my head thinking “yep that is exactly the same stupid governments that run the world now”.



  
    "'The world is full of possibilities,' Lydia said. ' You are not a bad person just because you're not the same as everyone else. In fact, it's what makes you spectacular. You deserve to be seen. To be happy. To be loved. To love yourself.'"
  




I did experience some minor drawbacks with the writing style.

For the first half of the story, I found the pacing was a little slow for me personally. There is a lot of world-building and character introduction implemented throughout the first half of the book, and while there wasn’t a great deal of info-dumping, it did slow the pace a fair bit. While the story was more engaging afterwards, I felt the pacing was still inconsistent.

I was also left wanting more character development. While the character personalities are set pretty early on, I wanted more feeling and emotion and personal dissonance, particularly considering the social climate and the circumstances the characters are facing.

But really guys. The ending absolutely cemented me in the decision that I want to see how this series progresses. Just the enormity of the discussion that can stem from this debut makes me excited (and may possibly result in me coercing someone into a buddy read).



  
    "You have a rare light inside of you. It's why I haven't been able to look away"
  





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Beneath the Surface

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