A Long, Long Sleep by Anna Sheehan

(Alrightay! This is the first of my catch-up reviews from before that long absence. Here goes…)

Rosalinda Fitzroy has just been woken up from a 62 year stint in stasis. During that time, she hasn’t aged and her memories haven’t deteriorated, but the world definitely isn’t what she remembers when she went to sleep.

Everyone Rose knew is gone now, but she’s got a new chance at life – she’s just got to decide to take it. Yet, with being that weird girl who will eventually inherit a multi-planet wide empire and adjusting to and finding her place in a completely changed society it’s certainly not an easy task. That’s not to mention someone has Rose in their sights, and not in a good way.  In the end, Rose gets some answers she never expected and learns more about herself than ever before.

Okay… A book about someone waking up after basically being suspended in time for over 60 years… What’s not to love about that idea? Really.

To be honest, this book actually started off pretty slow for me, which was intensely frustrating because the author would drop a hint here or there, and I would want answers, but I wasn’t getting them fast enough for my taste. Not to mention I went into this book really wanting to like it because the idea behind it is awesomesauce, and I wasn’t thrilled for a while. It wasn’t until Rose started developing her relationship with Otto (about 70 or so pages in – total estimate!) that I really started to get invested in the story, to the point where things picked up enough that I refused to put down the book until I had finished it.

I also really struggled with Rose’s character at first… it was a constant back and forth between ‘don’t bother anyone with my issues’ and a various assortment of “I lack self-esteem” comments. It was almost like there was no real self-awareness and it drove me kind of nuts.  However, Rose does a ton of growing as a person throughout this story, and by the time I got to the end I was totally digging her character. Several of the other characters are really awesome as well. They have so many quirks and layers and it made for great reading.

As for the story itself, while certain things were totally expected, there were still lots of little twists and turns that came up. When I finally got past those beginning 70-ish pages the book really picked up for me and it was revelation after revelation, but in a way that it wasn’t too much. The book also raises tons of questions about ethics (particularly when it comes to the treatment of humans and other species) which I wasn’t expecting from a Young Adult novel. It really gets you thinking though and I liked that.

Bottom line, A Long, Long Sleep ended up being a total win for me – even with that shaky start! Sheehan certainly left this one open for a sequel so if it shows up one of these days I can honestly say I’ll pick it up.