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Moira

In Space No One Can Hear You Scream

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 6, 2019

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I was drawn to this book as the sci-fi element that forms its backdrop is out of my usual range. It is the story of a woman who has made the decision to leave earth to become part of a colony on a distant planet. In practice it gives more weight to the psychological and philosophical than the science by creating a situation that poses the right 'what if' questions.

The writing style is light but goes into some dark areas of life. Why anyone would anyone choose to take such an irrevocable step is plausibly illustrated with the push of an unhappy life on earth and the pull of a promise of a new start with a fulfilling future. It is particularly poignant about the anxiety someone can feel but hide in plain sight while doing their best to appear calm and capable.

The more I read,the more I questioned what was really happening in the story and what might be in the main character's mind. To the author's credit nothing is over explained. I prefer the ambiguity and having something to think about beyond the final pages.

Darkly satisfying.

Sam

Thought provoking Syi Fi

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 4, 2021

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Everything You Never Wanted is one of those books that leaves you thinking about it for weeks after reading.

Iris life could be mine 10 years ago, wishing for something other than the life I was living. Albeit a good life, but around that age the monotonous daily grind, the difficult family relationships and office politics. Iris struggling to connect with people around her, and the depression, the 'smog'. The story really resonated with me, Iris's head space I think anyone who has suffered with depression can relate. Wanting to be anywhere but the life you're in.

The story is split into two times lines, one is looking at events leading up to move to Nyx and her current life on Nyx.

Although there is scfi twist this, there wasn't a great deal of context around Nyx. Where this was intention the ending was the same, I felt there could have been more to the story particularly around her life Nyx. This was more so a hazy background to Iris's inner monologue and declining mental health, as her grasp on reality slipped I was had more questions than answers.

The premise of the story is very good, Iris head space is quite dark with depression. The book does pose the question of what happens if you went to a place where it had everything you every wanted. Taking all the mundane things from life? Would you go? I felt this has big Lost and Big Brother mixed.

BookWorm

Original and surprisingly compelling

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 20, 2023

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'Everything You Ever Wanted' is one of those books that is hard to define into a genre - it's original, it's surprising, and you don't know quite where it's going to go. It is a strange mix of professional Millennial angst novel and science fiction, that works better than you might imagine would be possible. In fact, the later part is incredibly compelling.

The novel's narrator, Iris, spends much of the first part of the book as an unhappy woman in her late twenties, living in London and working in a decently paid but unfulfilling job in digital marketing. It's clear she is a deeply unhappy person, suffering undiagnosed depression. Then she sees an advert looking for participants in a new reality TV show, set on a newly discovered distant planet that can be reached via a wormhole. However there is a big catch - the wormhole is one-way only, so those who go can never return to Earth, and will not be able to communicate with anyone from their previous lives. The second part of the book is set on the planet, Nyx, covering Iris's life there. Is it everything she ever wanted?

Whilst the second part is the stronger, the first sets a good foundation that enables the conclusion to be so gripping. Saima does a good job of showing how a life can be both incredibly privileged (compared to the majority of humanity) and yet also empty, meaningless and miserable. I've read various books with this theme (not the sci-fi part) but this one probably does it best. Generally I feel irritated by the characters in such stories, but I didn't in this case, perhaps because it's written in a very factual, unsympathetic way.

Whilst I couldn't relate directly to a lot of Iris's experiences, I do remember having a phase in my twenties where I felt lost and baffled about what to do with the future. Having so many opportunities can create a sort of decision paralysis, worsened by the knowledge it could affect the entire course of your life. Several decades older now, it's easy to be nostalgic for a time when possibilities seemed endless, but the pressure to choose correctly can be a problem in itself. I'd forgotten how that felt and it was interesting to reflect on it now through this book.

The second part is naturally the more exciting, although I won't say too much about it to avoid spoilers. Although the concept is science fiction - wormholes, living on other planets - it's mostly a story about people and human behaviour rather than aliens and spaceships. How would people behave when taken away from Earth with no prospect of return or communication, to live in a small, closed community forever more? That's the central premise of the rest of the novel, underlain by the question of whether it could ever be worth it leave everything behind, no matter how tempting.

There are themes of suicide throughout the novel, both explicitly and indirectly if you consider the whole concept of giving up everything and leaving it with no prospect of return as an allegory for it. Therefore readers who try to avoid this subject should not choose this book.

Aside from that, I found this a very compelling and well written novel that drew me in without me realising how hooked I was until I tried to put it down to do something else. It's a good piece of psychological drama with thriller elements, especially towards the end. I came to like and sympathise with Iris even though she wasn't an instantly loveable character, and I badly wanted for things to turn out well for her. I think it might particularly appeal to younger readers who are going through some of the life stage difficulties that Iris does, but as someone who has left those years behind me I also enjoyed it and found it thought provoking and meaningful. I'd certainly read more by this author.

Miss H Dhillon

Lots of loose pages

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 24, 2023

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Not read the book yet so can’t comment on the writing or plot etc. but a good few pages are loose and more coming apart. Disappointing!

Malteser

A second great book from Luiza Sauma

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 4, 2020

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I loved loved loved her first book and was looking forward to this one coming out so much so I pre-ordered it. I was not expecting such a different genre of writing as many authors tend to stay with similar styles or subjects. This book was VERY different from her first and although not the kind or type of story I would normally rush to read, I actually felt really drawn in and connected to it at a moment in my life where I could relate with wanting to leave and feeling you have little left to stay for. Great read, very often field for me but beautifully written.

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