Titan of the Stars
by E. K. Johnston
High School    Tundra    304 pp.
5/25    9781774884089    $19.99
e-book ed.  9781774884096    $10.99

Brief but dire opening vignettes warn readers they’re headed into trouble before the narrative begins at the launch of the Titan, a spaceship (with echoes of the Titanic) on its maiden voyage to Mars. Celeste and her best friend, Ren, are junior engineers, having worked their way out of poverty in the Rupt, a large area of Canada decimated by a violent earthquake. Dominic is also from the Rupt but was adopted as a young child by wealthy parents, now first-class passengers aboard the Titan who, it transpires, are overseeing the cases containing Titan’s secret cargo: the bodies of squid-like purple aliens recently discovered in melting tundra. After the initial terror at their reveal, the narrative settles down to a Jack-and-Rose romance between Celeste and Dominic — until a late-night alarm signals the beginning of a nightmare. The aliens aren’t dead, and they’ve escaped from their cases. The extensive buildup leads to compelling character and societal dynamics in the crisis: Celeste and Ren are ride-or-die, but Celeste realizes Ren has already sacrificed a lot to be with her; as a child of privilege, Dominic struggles with feeling weak and useless against the threat; wealthy passengers monopolize the escape pods and leave the others trapped. Gruesome deaths and the paranoia of Walking Dead–style body-snatching form fairly standard horror tropes, but Johnston has established such authenticity that readers will never question the urgency as the pages just seem to turn themselves.

From the July/August 2025 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.