Ariana was scared from the moment she woke up and discovered she had been abducted by aliens, and having severe anxiety set her apart from the others. Without her anxiety medications and access to therapy, she’s stuck in a constant loop of anxiety attacks. Ariana doesn’t want to draw extra attention to herself, especially since the others aren’t exactly a fan of her constant crying and catastrophizing. Then there’s Zolaya, who was drawn to her from the moment he saw her. She was quiet and cried a lot, but she seemed kind and in need of a friend. It was a surprise to both when they resonated, but a pleasant surprise at that.
This time around, we follow Ariana and Zolaya in the past and present. While this book can be read out of order because the entire middle of the story is a flashback, the opening and ending are set in the order of the series. I would recommend reading this one any time around or after book 15 if you want the opening and ending to make sense. Otherwise, there’s a few spoilers for what happens later in the series with all the new characters who are introduced.
I really like that the series features a character with severe anxiety. Ariana struggles a lot with it throughout the book. At least she has a few understanding and supportive people who understand her struggles. It’s good that, regardless of the planet, she has an amazing support system! As someone who suffers from anxiety as well, Ariana irritated me on and off. I totally understand her struggles with anxiety and can see it would be a crazy situation to suddenly be stranded on another planet away from help.
However, the catastrophizing got on my last nerve every so many chapters. I think that it’s because we were getting into the details of her catastrophizing without equal focus on how her anxiety was manifesting physically. I think this is actually a me problem, because seeing the sometimes long-winded details of what was going on in her mind is something that can be really awkward in text form.
That said, I really liked the book, but I think I would’ve liked it much better if it primarily took place in the present. There were a lot of interesting details with the different abilities the khui can give people, such as healing and having visions of the future, and we got to know some more of the characters. They have such a sweet love story, so it would’ve been cool to see how they get over hurdles now, and more about how they both move around in their social circles along the way. I also really liked Zolaya, so I would’ve loved to see more than we got to see of him in the present.
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