Goddess in the Machine

By Lora Beth Johnson

Book Overview

Andra wakes up from a cryogenic sleep 1,000 years later than she was supposed to, forcing her to team up with an exiled prince to navigate an unfamiliar planet in this smart, thrilling sci-fi adventure, perfect for fans of Renegades and Aurora Rising.

When Andra wakes up, she's drowning. Not only that, but she's in a hot, dirty cave, it's the year 3102, and everyone keeps calling her Goddess. When Andra went into a cryonic sleep for a trip across the galaxy, she expected to wake up in a hundred years, not a thousand. Worst of all, the rest of the colonists--including her family and friends--are dead. They died centuries ago, and for some reason, their descendants think Andra's a deity. She knows she's nothing special, but she'll play along if it means she can figure out why she was left in stasis and how to get back to Earth. Zhade, the exiled bastard prince of Eerensed, has other plans. Four years ago, the sleeping Goddess's glass coffin disappeared from the palace, and Zhade devoted himself to finding it. Now he's hoping the Goddess will be the key to taking his rightful place on the throne--if he can get her to play her part, that is. Because if his people realize she doesn't actually have the power to save their dying planet, they'll kill her. With a vicious monarch on the throne and a city tearing apart at the seams, Zhade and Andra might never be able to unlock the mystery of her fate, let alone find a way to unseat the king, especially since Zhade hasn't exactly been forthcoming with Andra. And a thousand years from home, is there any way of knowing that Earth is better than the planet she's woken to?

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1984835920
• ISBN13: 9781984835925
• Release Date: June 2020
• Publisher: Razorbill
• Length: 400 Pages
• Weight: 1.08 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 5.7" x 8.6"
• Age Range: 12 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 7 and higher

Customer Reviews

Goddess in the Machine

In the 22nd century, Andra is put into cryogenic sleep for a hundred year trip across the galaxy with a million others to colonize a new planet. When she wakes it’s 3102 and everyone is calling her “Goddess”. The other colonists, her friends, and her family are long dead. Zhade, the prince of Eerensed and the one who woke Andra, plans to use Andra to take the crown and save his city. I’m such a fan of fiction that deals with tech and technical ethics but in a creative and unique way. The author imagines what changes the English language would undergo over the course of a thousand years. The language changes intrigued me but also slightly annoyed me at the beginning. Once I got into a groove with the book, I got used to the style. Goddess in the Machine is told in alternating third-person focused on Andra and Zhade. I struggled a bit with Zhade’s perspective, given that it heavily relies on the futuristic improvements to the English language. I highly recommend Goddess in the Machine for fans of futuristic sci-fi that comments on technical ethics in a fun way. Thank you to Penguin Teen, BookishFirst, and Netgalley for my gifted copies. All opinions are my own.

Awesome Book!

I found myself really enjoying this book. I thought at first that it was going to be a little boring with Andra being the supposed Goddess and savior of the people 1000 years later than she expected to wake up. This book has a nice twist though (a couple of them actually) that I totally did not expect. I found myself spending extra time reading it because it really hooked me! The dialogue of the people was a bit confusing at first, but then I got into the flow of it and I pretty much stopped noticing it when it was from Zhade's point of view. He was an interesting character but had so many secrets that I got a bit annoyed with him. I liked Andra better. She was doing the best she could, even with everything being thrown at her. I can't wait to read the next book now that so many things have been revealed!

Brilliant, thought-provoking sci-fi

Andra, a teenager from the 2160s, is put into cryogenic stasis fulling expecting to wake up on another planet one hundred years later with her family and about a million other colonists. She is woken up in a dirty cave in 3102 by Zhade, an exiled prince. Society has devolved and the remnants of tech that remain are considered magic. Andra is considered a Goddess. Andra must navigate palace politics and survive in this strange future. Zhade has his own agenda - taking his rightful place on the throne. This is one of the best YA sci-fi books I have every read. It is clever, intelligent and full twists. Andra is an amazing character. Faced with adversity, instead of having a massive meltdown, she problem-solves while adhering to her moral code. Goddess in the Machine makes you think about what defines humanity and what the future may hold. It is one of those books that stays with you. I'm really hoping there is a sequel.

BookishFirst First Impression Based on Preview of Goddess in the Machine (Book #1)

This sounds like a really interesting story and I hope to read more of this book in the future. The characters all seem well written so far with potential and I want to learn more about them. The cover also looked really interesting.