Well this was delightful! I knew that I would enjoy Rebecca Thorne’s Moss’d in Space, narrated by Natalie Naudus and Dylan Reilly Fitzpatrick, but I was still surprised by how much. I liked Thorne’s Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea, though I thought it rambled a bit. Moss’d has the growing found family and community building of Treason, but it’s a much tighter story. I enjoyed every moment of it.
In the far future, human live mostly on space stations and one planet (not Earth). Citizenship on the planet is extremely restricted. Torian was born and raised on Station 13 and she has a plan to take the citizenship test and get her sister moved to the planet. Her sister has a condition which makes it difficult to breathe the recycled air on space stations, and she’s going to die if she can’t live on-planet. First Torian needs a space ship and the only one she can afford is over 100 years old and overgrown with moss. The moss, known as Moss, is sentient and angry about having been abandoned by its previous owner.
I immediately fell in love with Moss. Their driving focus is to never be abandoned again and so they set about to make Torian their best friend. Their official role as life support and they take that seriously. If you’re a Murderbot fan, Moss shares some qualities with ART and SecUnit. I thought Dylan Reilly Fitzpatrick did an amazing job narrating Moss’s POV chapters. He really captures the combination of rage, smug certainty, and aching desire for community that makes Moss an amazing character.
I would listen to Natalie Naudus read spam email. Torian is a hopeful character, but not naive. Naudus’s performance reinforces that Torian is hopeful in a considered way. Torian is in over her head but she’s going for the ambitious plan, because the alternative is accepting her sister’s death. Her willingness to take big leaps both terrifies those around her and emboldens them to take big leaps too.
Moss’d in Space is the first in a series and does end on a cliffhanger. Yes, I need to know when we get the second book.
I received this as an advance listener copy from MacMillan Audio and NetGalley. My opinions are my own, freely and honestly given.
