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A Quiet Universe
CERHA is a fabricant, and her job is simple: keep Annalise Fletcher safe, a role she performs dutifully and without fail, as she was designed to. Neither she nor her charge expected that this routine assignment could lead to love, but when feelings begin to bloom, neither see fit to stand in their way, and the two find themselves leading a shared life where both must walk a tightrope, precariously balancing between duty, and what domestic bliss is woven into the spaces remaining. For a time, they are as close to happy as they can manage.
Then Annalise vanishes away to the embattled starship 'Upon Silver Tides', leaving a cryptic warning in her wake, and CERHA finds herself frantically in pursuit, on an illegal mission to save her objective-turned-lover and bring her home alive. She isn't sure what she'll find. But what awaits is a web ensnaring both wayward lovers, far more tangled than either could possibly know, and lurking upon this forsaken vessel is a descent into insanity that will force CERHA to confront the bleak truth at the heart of her function.
Then Annalise vanishes away to the embattled starship 'Upon Silver Tides', leaving a cryptic warning in her wake, and CERHA finds herself frantically in pursuit, on an illegal mission to save her objective-turned-lover and bring her home alive. She isn't sure what she'll find. But what awaits is a web ensnaring both wayward lovers, far more tangled than either could possibly know, and lurking upon this forsaken vessel is a descent into insanity that will force CERHA to confront the bleak truth at the heart of her function.
393 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 30, 2024
4 people are currently reading
259 people want to read
About the author
Kay F. Atkinson
5 books19 followersHey! I'm Kay, and I write stuff.
I'm a disabled trans woman who writes predominantly speculative fiction and horror with a focus on queer characters and themes, drawing from my own experience, and my own frustrations with mainstream media in general.
I hope you enjoy anything you read!
I'm a disabled trans woman who writes predominantly speculative fiction and horror with a focus on queer characters and themes, drawing from my own experience, and my own frustrations with mainstream media in general.
I hope you enjoy anything you read!
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
August 5, 2024
A Horror Space Opera
A lot of this book feels like Signalis, if you know what that game is, and enjoy it, you'll probably like this book.
The story is compelling and plays with more than just death, but the horror of the self, of memory and of existentialism. Of madness and not knowing or trusting yourself, or the reality you perceive. it conveys these themes viscerally.
Some elements feel derivative of Signalis, but it is at most a surface level aesthetical comparison. There are multiple twists I did not see coming, and as someone who usually sees the twists in shows and books long before they pay off, this was a pleasant change of pace.
If you like syfy, psychological horror, or both give it a try. Also, there are lesbian's and that's very nice. :)
A lot of this book feels like Signalis, if you know what that game is, and enjoy it, you'll probably like this book.
The story is compelling and plays with more than just death, but the horror of the self, of memory and of existentialism. Of madness and not knowing or trusting yourself, or the reality you perceive. it conveys these themes viscerally.
Some elements feel derivative of Signalis, but it is at most a surface level aesthetical comparison. There are multiple twists I did not see coming, and as someone who usually sees the twists in shows and books long before they pay off, this was a pleasant change of pace.
If you like syfy, psychological horror, or both give it a try. Also, there are lesbian's and that's very nice. :)
September 15, 2025
I am one of the judges of team Space Girls for the SPSFC4 contest. This review is my personal opinion. Officially, it is still in the running for the contest, pending any official team announcements.
Status: Yes
Read: 100%
Getting some Aliens meets that Tom Cruise movie Oblivion vibes here... with a sapphic twist.
Yup, you want your dose of sapphic space adventure, this book will certainly deliver since this is essentially the true conflict of the story. Oh, and yeah, there's a dangerous alien parasite spewing toxic radiation in a quaranteed spaceship. Ignore the MacGuffin monster, focus on the repressed sapphic tension. Priorities!
Our protagonist is a CEPHA class biological android named Sarah, also known as a Fabricated. From the description offered so far, Fabricated always have white hair, azure glowing eyes, pale skin, slim frame, little blue stripes on their faces like the Zoids anime and... (drumroll) no sexual organs. They do have immense sexual desire and tend to feel like social outcasts in the rare occasions they realize they are homosexual like the protagonist. What is even more damning in Sarah's point of view, Fabricated aren't supposed to fall in love with humans. And even less their assigned charge if they function as home aids/combat bodyguards.
For unexplained reasons, Sarah's charge/lover(?) Annalise boarded a gigantic spaceship an unspecified amount of time before the beginning, which has been quarantined due to a cargo hull breach by a dangerous alien. Sarah is tasked with the difficult job to rescue Annalise (and only her) alive at all costs. Which is certainly something she is all too eager to do even though she spends a good chunk of the story so far denying her feelings.
Meanwhile, she gets message relays from a mysterious voice in her head called 'Control'. And I am certain something fishy is certainly going on and Sarah is only starting to suspect things are amiss. I constantly felt like this book reminded me of Oblivion. I could totally imagine Control having the appearance of Victoria, bright red hair and uppity attitude. The whole enchilada. Good news for this book, cuse I really enjoyed that movie, so it was real fun relaying their similarities.
While we don't know much about Cora, she's also a real fun character in the book. Readers hurting for their dose of Aliens inspired horror are only going to get nightmare scenes. So if horror is your #1 priority, this book might not feel spooky enough for you. But for romance lovers hurting for some scares and an unfurling mystery, this book will certainly be up your alley. Voting yes for it to continue in the competition.
---
Update: Just finished reading the book, will add additional thoughts soon. Stay tuned!
---
September and final update:
I finished reading this book in an attempt to finish the partially read scout phase books that piqued my attention. I still have around 3-4 books I'd like to finish and will hope to do before the next contest begins. Cuse then I will be dumped with an even bigger TBR and we all know we really wish to finish our TBRs and that's kinda hard cuse there's so many good book to read.
Anyhow, the reason why I never updated my review a few months ago was because I was either unable to put my mind in order or health problem crept up and made it impossible. But kicking & screaming, I do wish to tackle my reviews before I forget stuff.
The book takes a ridiculously long time to start solving the mystery affecting the robotic protagonist. Sarah wanders around the delerict spaceship questioning her sanity while 'Control' keeps on urging her ahead to locate the elusive Annalise. Is she real or Sarah's hallucination?
Don't worry, this book solves the mystery. And yes, this book really continues vibing me with that Tom Cruise film to the very end. Readers that enjoyed that film hurting for a bit more sapphic trans robot horror will enjoy this book. I continue liking the Mous girl Cora even though she can be obnoxiously appearing (and reappearing ???) at strange times. The final sentinent robot in the book named Adan gets very little screen time, much to my dismay cuse she was cool.
The ending is certainly weird and my kind of high risk high reward thing. Other readers might find the end too stuffy and sugary. If there was any complaint I have that didn't give this book 4.5 stars was how the Sarah 'may or may not be going insane' section of the book lasts a far bit too long. For curiosity since it is on everand, this book is available as an audiobook. The narrator is absolutely fabulous for the themes of this book. Only downside of the audiobook is that I felt Sarah's self doubt about her vanishing sanity seemed to string along even longer than just reading the book. I would certainly like to read book 2 sometime when I have the chance.
Status: Yes
Read: 100%
Getting some Aliens meets that Tom Cruise movie Oblivion vibes here... with a sapphic twist.
Yup, you want your dose of sapphic space adventure, this book will certainly deliver since this is essentially the true conflict of the story. Oh, and yeah, there's a dangerous alien parasite spewing toxic radiation in a quaranteed spaceship. Ignore the MacGuffin monster, focus on the repressed sapphic tension. Priorities!
Our protagonist is a CEPHA class biological android named Sarah, also known as a Fabricated. From the description offered so far, Fabricated always have white hair, azure glowing eyes, pale skin, slim frame, little blue stripes on their faces like the Zoids anime and... (drumroll) no sexual organs. They do have immense sexual desire and tend to feel like social outcasts in the rare occasions they realize they are homosexual like the protagonist. What is even more damning in Sarah's point of view, Fabricated aren't supposed to fall in love with humans. And even less their assigned charge if they function as home aids/combat bodyguards.
For unexplained reasons, Sarah's charge/lover(?) Annalise boarded a gigantic spaceship an unspecified amount of time before the beginning, which has been quarantined due to a cargo hull breach by a dangerous alien. Sarah is tasked with the difficult job to rescue Annalise (and only her) alive at all costs. Which is certainly something she is all too eager to do even though she spends a good chunk of the story so far denying her feelings.
Meanwhile, she gets message relays from a mysterious voice in her head called 'Control'. And I am certain something fishy is certainly going on and Sarah is only starting to suspect things are amiss. I constantly felt like this book reminded me of Oblivion. I could totally imagine Control having the appearance of Victoria, bright red hair and uppity attitude. The whole enchilada. Good news for this book, cuse I really enjoyed that movie, so it was real fun relaying their similarities.
While we don't know much about Cora, she's also a real fun character in the book. Readers hurting for their dose of Aliens inspired horror are only going to get nightmare scenes. So if horror is your #1 priority, this book might not feel spooky enough for you. But for romance lovers hurting for some scares and an unfurling mystery, this book will certainly be up your alley. Voting yes for it to continue in the competition.
---
Update: Just finished reading the book, will add additional thoughts soon. Stay tuned!
---
September and final update:
I finished reading this book in an attempt to finish the partially read scout phase books that piqued my attention. I still have around 3-4 books I'd like to finish and will hope to do before the next contest begins. Cuse then I will be dumped with an even bigger TBR and we all know we really wish to finish our TBRs and that's kinda hard cuse there's so many good book to read.
Anyhow, the reason why I never updated my review a few months ago was because I was either unable to put my mind in order or health problem crept up and made it impossible. But kicking & screaming, I do wish to tackle my reviews before I forget stuff.
The book takes a ridiculously long time to start solving the mystery affecting the robotic protagonist. Sarah wanders around the delerict spaceship questioning her sanity while 'Control' keeps on urging her ahead to locate the elusive Annalise. Is she real or Sarah's hallucination?
Don't worry, this book solves the mystery. And yes, this book really continues vibing me with that Tom Cruise film to the very end. Readers that enjoyed that film hurting for a bit more sapphic trans robot horror will enjoy this book. I continue liking the Mous girl Cora even though she can be obnoxiously appearing (and reappearing ???) at strange times. The final sentinent robot in the book named Adan gets very little screen time, much to my dismay cuse she was cool.
The ending is certainly weird and my kind of high risk high reward thing. Other readers might find the end too stuffy and sugary. If there was any complaint I have that didn't give this book 4.5 stars was how the Sarah 'may or may not be going insane' section of the book lasts a far bit too long. For curiosity since it is on everand, this book is available as an audiobook. The narrator is absolutely fabulous for the themes of this book. Only downside of the audiobook is that I felt Sarah's self doubt about her vanishing sanity seemed to string along even longer than just reading the book. I would certainly like to read book 2 sometime when I have the chance.
May 8, 2024
Incredible, if very dense, full of amazing concepts and emotional catharsis. Queer sci-fi horror at its best. Perfect if you liked SIGNALIS and wished Murderbot was a lesbian.
September 20, 2024
A really cool sci-fi horror with a mixture of Alien and Event Horizon vibes, loved the detail put into the fabricants and their functions, looking forward to more!
April 13, 2024
A genuinely incredible book that I find exceedingly difficult to speak about, because damn near everything I could say would be a spoiler. I want to recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of sapphic romance AND horror, because it is a very horrifying book that works with a lot of pretty troubling ideas. I'm a pretty hard-hearted person when it comes to horror, but there were multiple times when I felt sick from fear and worry, as the characters are drawn into increasingly unstable mental spaces and the text itself shifts and changes.
There's a lot of format-fuckery in this text and moments that'll have you going back and re-reading parts because something just...changed, and you don't know when it changed, and the fact it changed freaks you out. It feels displacing and strange, like you can never trust the page, and that's a feeling I simply adore in my horror.
The relationship-focused portions of the book are woven into the book well, balancing horror and genuine romantic joy isn't the easiest thing in the world, and I genuinely wish I could speak about these portions at length without it all spoiling a lot of the twists and turns of the book. It's a tightly woven book, with things not left dropped on the ground or easily separated from the 'core' of the story, and I'm still untangling my thoughts and feelings about so much of it.
Kay Atkinson knows the ideas that ze works with are horrifying under the surface, and dives straight down into the deepest part of the ocean. Ze also knows how to make me feel sad as hell for a lesbian robot and spend hours reading at a stretch, holding on to the hope that maybe in the end, it'll be ok.
There's a lot of format-fuckery in this text and moments that'll have you going back and re-reading parts because something just...changed, and you don't know when it changed, and the fact it changed freaks you out. It feels displacing and strange, like you can never trust the page, and that's a feeling I simply adore in my horror.
The relationship-focused portions of the book are woven into the book well, balancing horror and genuine romantic joy isn't the easiest thing in the world, and I genuinely wish I could speak about these portions at length without it all spoiling a lot of the twists and turns of the book. It's a tightly woven book, with things not left dropped on the ground or easily separated from the 'core' of the story, and I'm still untangling my thoughts and feelings about so much of it.
Kay Atkinson knows the ideas that ze works with are horrifying under the surface, and dives straight down into the deepest part of the ocean. Ze also knows how to make me feel sad as hell for a lesbian robot and spend hours reading at a stretch, holding on to the hope that maybe in the end, it'll be ok.
December 3, 2024
Disclaimer. Read as a judge for Space Girls in SPSFC4. This is my personal opinion only. 7/10
100% read. I was back and forth with my Y and N’s with this book. There are some extremely powerful scenes and chapters that compelled me to read this book right through and had me in the yes camp; Sarah's journey back and forth through the ship felt too overfamiliar (obviously becoming a common trope as this was published this year) and this often pulled me from the story.
It was the final chapters that drove me to voting N. It was a bit too saccharine with everyone getting exactly what they'd always wished for, as well as giving me “it felt like it was all a dream” vibes
(NB - if we had had a weaker batch and there weren't as many books I liked better, I'd have likely given this a Y despite my quibble about the ending)
100% read. I was back and forth with my Y and N’s with this book. There are some extremely powerful scenes and chapters that compelled me to read this book right through and had me in the yes camp; Sarah's journey back and forth through the ship felt too overfamiliar (obviously becoming a common trope as this was published this year) and this often pulled me from the story.
It was the final chapters that drove me to voting N. It was a bit too saccharine with everyone getting exactly what they'd always wished for, as well as giving me “it felt like it was all a dream” vibes
(NB - if we had had a weaker batch and there weren't as many books I liked better, I'd have likely given this a Y despite my quibble about the ending)
July 1, 2024
This one scratched my SciFi itch AND my cosmic horror itch! I was engrossed in the story and enthralled by its characters, but one of the most impressive things was that I turned out to be wholly unprepared for the gut punch of encountering CERHA's dysphoria in the text. I am so excited to be in a world where we can consume content from trans creators, because we get achingly beautiful and complicated relationships and universes like the ones we find here. I cannot wait to read more from Kay!!!
August 15, 2025
This sci-fi horror story follows CERHA on her mission aboard the starship Upon Silver Tides, where she is tasked with first finding and then rescuing her charge Annalise Fletcher. Upon first entering the ship she realizes that something is wrong. Not only have the other fabricants (synthetic, but sentient, beings created with one singular purpose) nearly all gone mad, assuring themselves and everybody in their vicinity that Everything Is Fine before attacking anybody that threatens their assertions, but CERHA soon realizes that whatever is going on aboard the starship is also affecting her, threatening to make her lose her path.
While this story may not be a perfect fit for people who are looking for the darkest possible sci fi horror or those looking for fluffy romances, for me, as a fan of horror and transgender romance I had a really, really good time with this book. I enjoyed the bleak horror and the depiction of unreality, that CERHA encountered in this story, having to cope with not only slowly losing her mind but also a ceaseless barrage of traumatic events. And throughout it all she wonders what exactly her relationship with Annalise was and who actually considers her a fully sentient being, deserving of love and having her voice heard?
CERHA is a fascinating main character and as I already stated her state of mind is not an easy one to be in. The book takes her apart and as a reader we watch her unravel as she scales the ship up and down and up again, solving mysteries along the way and slowly (hopefully) getting closer to fulfilling her mission. Along the way she considers her relationship with herself, with those around her and with her body. For parts of the book she is accompanied by another fabricant named CORA, who seems to be one of the last sane fabricants aboard the ship, who was one of my favorite characters. I really, really like her and enjoyed what the interactions between CERHA and CORA added to the story, in particular the way they disrupted the deeply unsettling, but sometimes a bit repetitive (still scary af though! The atmosphere is really, really great) acts of climbing through the ship. I also quite enjoyed the other characters and there are certainly a few that I am looking forward to getting to know more in the sequel!
Another really incredible aspect of this book was the atmosphere it created. Starting with fascinating lore about the moon and the space fleet, the fact that there are parasites, whose radiation causes you to lose your grasp on reality and the constant doubt of what is real and what isn’t, this book really delivers some great sci-fi horror atmosphere. As some people have already mentioned the SIGNALIS influences are certainly there, although I did not think they overshadowed the rest of the book and instead functioned as nice little easter eggs for me.
While I would have enjoyed some more world building (there are quite a few questions still to answer, but that’s where the sequels will hopefully come in!), the main focus of this story is CERHA and her doubts and fears. The book dives deep into questions of autonomy, questioning if a being which is created with a function, which they need to fulfill or otherwise go insane, can ever truly make their own decisions and explores transfeminine fears surrounding disposability and exploitability. Unlike sci-fi which only uses transfeminity and queerness as a metaphor, this story digs deep into what it means to exist in a world where your gender identity may be tolerated in so far as it allows you to function better, but is still treated as an aberration, which should at best be fixed and then go unnamed and ignored.
All in all, this sci-fi horror asks the important questions: What if the unreliable narrator slowly driven mad by cosmic radiation was powered by duty and lesbianism? And she was transgender? How cool would that be? How much would it break your heart to read? How hard would you root for her survival? The answer is very!
I really, truly adored this story and I cannot wait to dig into the sequels!
TW: death, gaslighting, gore, non-consensual medical procedures, relationship abuse, reproductive horror, self-mutilation, suicide, unreality, violence
While this story may not be a perfect fit for people who are looking for the darkest possible sci fi horror or those looking for fluffy romances, for me, as a fan of horror and transgender romance I had a really, really good time with this book. I enjoyed the bleak horror and the depiction of unreality, that CERHA encountered in this story, having to cope with not only slowly losing her mind but also a ceaseless barrage of traumatic events. And throughout it all she wonders what exactly her relationship with Annalise was and who actually considers her a fully sentient being, deserving of love and having her voice heard?
CERHA is a fascinating main character and as I already stated her state of mind is not an easy one to be in. The book takes her apart and as a reader we watch her unravel as she scales the ship up and down and up again, solving mysteries along the way and slowly (hopefully) getting closer to fulfilling her mission. Along the way she considers her relationship with herself, with those around her and with her body. For parts of the book she is accompanied by another fabricant named CORA, who seems to be one of the last sane fabricants aboard the ship, who was one of my favorite characters. I really, really like her and enjoyed what the interactions between CERHA and CORA added to the story, in particular the way they disrupted the deeply unsettling, but sometimes a bit repetitive (still scary af though! The atmosphere is really, really great) acts of climbing through the ship. I also quite enjoyed the other characters and there are certainly a few that I am looking forward to getting to know more in the sequel!
Another really incredible aspect of this book was the atmosphere it created. Starting with fascinating lore about the moon and the space fleet, the fact that there are parasites, whose radiation causes you to lose your grasp on reality and the constant doubt of what is real and what isn’t, this book really delivers some great sci-fi horror atmosphere. As some people have already mentioned the SIGNALIS influences are certainly there, although I did not think they overshadowed the rest of the book and instead functioned as nice little easter eggs for me.
While I would have enjoyed some more world building (there are quite a few questions still to answer, but that’s where the sequels will hopefully come in!), the main focus of this story is CERHA and her doubts and fears. The book dives deep into questions of autonomy, questioning if a being which is created with a function, which they need to fulfill or otherwise go insane, can ever truly make their own decisions and explores transfeminine fears surrounding disposability and exploitability. Unlike sci-fi which only uses transfeminity and queerness as a metaphor, this story digs deep into what it means to exist in a world where your gender identity may be tolerated in so far as it allows you to function better, but is still treated as an aberration, which should at best be fixed and then go unnamed and ignored.
All in all, this sci-fi horror asks the important questions: What if the unreliable narrator slowly driven mad by cosmic radiation was powered by duty and lesbianism? And she was transgender? How cool would that be? How much would it break your heart to read? How hard would you root for her survival? The answer is very!
I really, truly adored this story and I cannot wait to dig into the sequels!
TW: death, gaslighting, gore, non-consensual medical procedures, relationship abuse, reproductive horror, self-mutilation, suicide, unreality, violence
November 4, 2024
A robot boards a derelict spaceship in search of the woman she loves, but the ship is overrun with the infected, driven to violence by a strange, haunting, alien music that can be heard over the radio.
A Quiet Universe wears its influence on its sleeve: clearly inspired by and in conversation with the gem of a horror video game Signalis. Signalis is a masterpiece, and by inviting comparison to a masterpiece, A Quiet Universe has big shoes to fill, and, by dint of operating in an entirely different storytelling medium, must fill those shoes in completely different ways.
A Quiet Universe succeeds masterfully at everything it sets out to do: the prose is beautiful, Atkinson makes me ache for a happy ending for our lesbian robot heroine, and yet dread the impossibility of her and her love ever being safe again. The book is full of body horror and identity horror and many times reading I found myself muttering "No no no no" over and over as something truly awful unfolded on the page. Every time I thought things couldn't get worse, they did, in fact, get worse.
I could talk about A Quiet Universe's meta-textual commentary on queer erasure, which is brilliant, but instead I am going to just recommend readers go into this book as blind as possible. Yes you, pick up this book, read it right now without knowing anything more about it.
A Quiet Universe wears its influence on its sleeve: clearly inspired by and in conversation with the gem of a horror video game Signalis. Signalis is a masterpiece, and by inviting comparison to a masterpiece, A Quiet Universe has big shoes to fill, and, by dint of operating in an entirely different storytelling medium, must fill those shoes in completely different ways.
A Quiet Universe succeeds masterfully at everything it sets out to do: the prose is beautiful, Atkinson makes me ache for a happy ending for our lesbian robot heroine, and yet dread the impossibility of her and her love ever being safe again. The book is full of body horror and identity horror and many times reading I found myself muttering "No no no no" over and over as something truly awful unfolded on the page. Every time I thought things couldn't get worse, they did, in fact, get worse.
I could talk about A Quiet Universe's meta-textual commentary on queer erasure, which is brilliant, but instead I am going to just recommend readers go into this book as blind as possible. Yes you, pick up this book, read it right now without knowing anything more about it.
May 8, 2024
This story is constant motion, keeping you hooked and trying to figure out what is happening. A few "wait, what?!" moments. It's a brand new universe that took me a moment to grasp and fully get into. But I was right there with CERHA for it all. Overall good book, engaging, well written.
November 22, 2024
It was an enjoyable read with relatable trans characters. It was sadder than what I was looking for in a book when I picked it up, and I still finished it because it was a compelling narrative with engaging characters.
"What if 'Deadspace' but lesbians?" is a directionally correct reduction of the book, but I think the inclusion of and focus on manufactured individuals really adds a lot to the piece overall. There's an exploration of memory, perception, and identity that's more typical of cyberpunk than space horror.
"What if 'Deadspace' but lesbians?" is a directionally correct reduction of the book, but I think the inclusion of and focus on manufactured individuals really adds a lot to the piece overall. There's an exploration of memory, perception, and identity that's more typical of cyberpunk than space horror.
January 10, 2025
Kay F. Atkinson’s A Quiet Universe is nothing short of an absolute mindfuck. A cerebral exploration of unreality, the book revolves around Sarah, a CEHRA model fabricant (read: android) whose sole function in life is to protect her charge, and her love, Annalise Fletcher.
This is where reviewing this book gets tricky. Its themes and ideas are so closely woven with its plot, that I have to go into detail to discuss what I loved about it. So, spoilers ahead, lovelies.
----
The book starts with Sarah on a mission, being guided by the mysterious ‘Control,’ to rescue Annalise off a military ship that she upped and left for in the middle of the night. There’s also a parasite that has invaded the ship, which poses an existential threat to Sarah’s sanity…
As she goes, we learn more about who Annalise and Sarah were: the messiah of this society and her bodyguard. The religious elements of the universe Atkinson constructs felt a bit far-fetched: Annalise has been engineered to be the only person who can speak with Luna, a being inhabiting the moon that this society worships. But this is abstracted enough into a society where, presumably, the Earth is long-destroyed, the universe is going dark at the hands of the parasite that affects Sarah throughout the story, and everyone lives on a fleet of ships, so it just slots in seamlessly with the rest of the world building.
As she goes on, deeper into the bowels of the ship, Sarah starts losing her mind. Her memories unravel, she loses time, her perception of her identity and personhood fundamentally changes. The book had me screaming “WHAT THE FUCK” over and over at the ways it broke Sarah, remade her, and spat in her face while doing it.
But, our protagonist is more resilient than the forces at play trying to tear her down. She finds her way to Annalise, but by the time she reaches her, Sarah is corrupted to the point where she nearly kills Annalise on sight. Annalise is able to stay the forces that are corrupting Sarah, and it feels earned.
There’s a whole lot more that happens in A Quiet Universe, but that’s the baseline I feel like needs to be established for me to talk about the themes and ideas that I absolutely loved. This is a review and not a recap, after all.
Where the book starts to get trippy is when Sarah starts seeing identical copies of herself throughout the ship. Sarah is explained to be somewhat unique as fabricants go, so the identical copies is extremely unusual. We then discover that Sarah has been dying, over and over - sometimes at the hands of the insane fabricants still alive on the ship, other times at the hand of Control. And every time she dies, she loses part of her self. Reborn in a new body from the ship’s fabrication facilities: whole, but not complete.
This comes around to the things I loved the most about A Quiet Universe: its explorations of identity and reality. Sarah is a machine, built for a purpose. She takes pleasure in achieving that purpose. She finds love, that many in her society don’t see as real - despite the fact that we learn that the fabrication technology is used just as widely on humans, so are they even real, too? What even is real, when your feelings and memories can be programmed?
The only reason the book isn’t a perfect 5 stars is that I felt the ending was too long-winded. For a book that is so punchy throughout, that kicks the adrenaline into gear as you’re reading, the slow, long ending - while a touching character study - felt like the story ended not with a bang, but with a whimper.
That’s not to say I didn’t absolutely love this book. From around the 40-70% mark, I was going absolutely insane. This is an absolutely phenomenal scifi book, that weaves old ideas into something delightfully new, surprisingly trans, and wonderfully lesbian. Atkinson’s ideas are bold, her characters are gripping, and her prose will leave you on the edge of your seat.
This is where reviewing this book gets tricky. Its themes and ideas are so closely woven with its plot, that I have to go into detail to discuss what I loved about it. So, spoilers ahead, lovelies.
----
The book starts with Sarah on a mission, being guided by the mysterious ‘Control,’ to rescue Annalise off a military ship that she upped and left for in the middle of the night. There’s also a parasite that has invaded the ship, which poses an existential threat to Sarah’s sanity…
As she goes, we learn more about who Annalise and Sarah were: the messiah of this society and her bodyguard. The religious elements of the universe Atkinson constructs felt a bit far-fetched: Annalise has been engineered to be the only person who can speak with Luna, a being inhabiting the moon that this society worships. But this is abstracted enough into a society where, presumably, the Earth is long-destroyed, the universe is going dark at the hands of the parasite that affects Sarah throughout the story, and everyone lives on a fleet of ships, so it just slots in seamlessly with the rest of the world building.
As she goes on, deeper into the bowels of the ship, Sarah starts losing her mind. Her memories unravel, she loses time, her perception of her identity and personhood fundamentally changes. The book had me screaming “WHAT THE FUCK” over and over at the ways it broke Sarah, remade her, and spat in her face while doing it.
But, our protagonist is more resilient than the forces at play trying to tear her down. She finds her way to Annalise, but by the time she reaches her, Sarah is corrupted to the point where she nearly kills Annalise on sight. Annalise is able to stay the forces that are corrupting Sarah, and it feels earned.
There’s a whole lot more that happens in A Quiet Universe, but that’s the baseline I feel like needs to be established for me to talk about the themes and ideas that I absolutely loved. This is a review and not a recap, after all.
Where the book starts to get trippy is when Sarah starts seeing identical copies of herself throughout the ship. Sarah is explained to be somewhat unique as fabricants go, so the identical copies is extremely unusual. We then discover that Sarah has been dying, over and over - sometimes at the hands of the insane fabricants still alive on the ship, other times at the hand of Control. And every time she dies, she loses part of her self. Reborn in a new body from the ship’s fabrication facilities: whole, but not complete.
This comes around to the things I loved the most about A Quiet Universe: its explorations of identity and reality. Sarah is a machine, built for a purpose. She takes pleasure in achieving that purpose. She finds love, that many in her society don’t see as real - despite the fact that we learn that the fabrication technology is used just as widely on humans, so are they even real, too? What even is real, when your feelings and memories can be programmed?
The only reason the book isn’t a perfect 5 stars is that I felt the ending was too long-winded. For a book that is so punchy throughout, that kicks the adrenaline into gear as you’re reading, the slow, long ending - while a touching character study - felt like the story ended not with a bang, but with a whimper.
That’s not to say I didn’t absolutely love this book. From around the 40-70% mark, I was going absolutely insane. This is an absolutely phenomenal scifi book, that weaves old ideas into something delightfully new, surprisingly trans, and wonderfully lesbian. Atkinson’s ideas are bold, her characters are gripping, and her prose will leave you on the edge of your seat.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 4, 2024
Amazingly terrifying!
Kay F. Atkinson’s A Quiet Universe is a breath of fresh air to the psychological horror genre. The increasingly unsettling story pulls you in, and makes the book hard to put down once you begin!
Atkinson is a self published author with a way of words that make hir books stand out from the rest, and the psychological horror ze writes is unique to hir only. The way ze shows the distress and tension in not only the characters’ actions, but in the very pacing of the book itself - is a fantastic and groundbreaking way to really immerse the reader in the characters’ emotional turmoil.
As a long time fan, I can personally attest for the quality of Atkinson’s work, and could not recommend it more.
The book is set in a dark and disquieting space station, breached by something unimaginable, something incomprehensible, and very, very deadly. The station is littered with the corpses of the crew, and the signs of the chaos and violence that has taken place on this lonely station far away from civilization is gruesome. Our protagonist, CERHA, is a stern, hard-headed android - a "fabricant" - on a mission to save the woman she is tasked to protect. But there is something more going on, not just the quiet, blood covered station and the horrible entity that has breached it… it is something bigger - something mysterious and more terrifying than CERHA (and us readers) could have ever imagined.
This book is about the slow descent into madness, of losing your mind and the very reason to go on. How would it feel to have your core systems corrupted, to slowly lose everything you hold dear? Atkinson gives us a taste of just this, of the feeling of dread and displaced longing, and of the crippling self doubt and the uncontrollable panic caused by something you do not understand.
I recommend this book to anyone that enjoys horror and sci-fi, as well as for those bored with mainstream fiction’s clichés and their heteronormative stories. This is a work for anyone looking for a thrill! Not for the faint of heart, and certainly not something you want to read before bed - learn from my mistakes.
And remember; don’t listen to the music…
Kay F. Atkinson’s A Quiet Universe is a breath of fresh air to the psychological horror genre. The increasingly unsettling story pulls you in, and makes the book hard to put down once you begin!
Atkinson is a self published author with a way of words that make hir books stand out from the rest, and the psychological horror ze writes is unique to hir only. The way ze shows the distress and tension in not only the characters’ actions, but in the very pacing of the book itself - is a fantastic and groundbreaking way to really immerse the reader in the characters’ emotional turmoil.
As a long time fan, I can personally attest for the quality of Atkinson’s work, and could not recommend it more.
The book is set in a dark and disquieting space station, breached by something unimaginable, something incomprehensible, and very, very deadly. The station is littered with the corpses of the crew, and the signs of the chaos and violence that has taken place on this lonely station far away from civilization is gruesome. Our protagonist, CERHA, is a stern, hard-headed android - a "fabricant" - on a mission to save the woman she is tasked to protect. But there is something more going on, not just the quiet, blood covered station and the horrible entity that has breached it… it is something bigger - something mysterious and more terrifying than CERHA (and us readers) could have ever imagined.
This book is about the slow descent into madness, of losing your mind and the very reason to go on. How would it feel to have your core systems corrupted, to slowly lose everything you hold dear? Atkinson gives us a taste of just this, of the feeling of dread and displaced longing, and of the crippling self doubt and the uncontrollable panic caused by something you do not understand.
I recommend this book to anyone that enjoys horror and sci-fi, as well as for those bored with mainstream fiction’s clichés and their heteronormative stories. This is a work for anyone looking for a thrill! Not for the faint of heart, and certainly not something you want to read before bed - learn from my mistakes.
And remember; don’t listen to the music…
May 29, 2024
Prepare to be challenged.
I went into this thinking it was some kind of lesbian love story between an android and a human in space, with at least one trans character. I wasn't wrong, not exactly, but hooboy this book is so much more than that. It's a fucking ride.
I won't get into too much spoiler territory, but I loved the synthetic POV, which I would describe as trans or at least trans-adjacent. I also loved the complex relationship she had with the human she was designed to protect--was it a love story? Surely it was a love story. She runs off to save her human from starship peril like a knight in a fairy tale.
Record scratch
Shit goes sideways on the ship, real quick. People die, many of them synthetic but their deaths are no less visceral or heartbreaking for it. I get the sense there's something unreliable about this narrator. But I'm not quite sure, which is the point, isn't it? Things keep going farther and farther sideways, and the book gets darker and darker, venturing into what I'd call psychological horror. It was frankly almost too much for me at times; I almost dropped out, because I really struggle with that.
Full disclosure: the content warnings are excellently specific, and I chose to go out of my comfort zone on this one. And I'm so glad I did.
The book does spend a fair amount of time moving to and from different parts of the massive ship, but that's just part of the wild ride you're in for if you read this book. New horrors lurk around every corner, including (especially) those of your mind.
Despite all the darkness, there's a razor-thin sliver of hope as the heroine perseveres against all logic and odds. Maybe love can save the world, maybe it can't, but dammit, she's going to give every bit of her synthetic heart trying.
I leave you with a quote from the book, its dedication:
This book is dedicated to a world where queer suffering has become so universal that even we can't imagine happy endings for ourselves. May you choke on it.
I went into this thinking it was some kind of lesbian love story between an android and a human in space, with at least one trans character. I wasn't wrong, not exactly, but hooboy this book is so much more than that. It's a fucking ride.
I won't get into too much spoiler territory, but I loved the synthetic POV, which I would describe as trans or at least trans-adjacent. I also loved the complex relationship she had with the human she was designed to protect--was it a love story? Surely it was a love story. She runs off to save her human from starship peril like a knight in a fairy tale.
Record scratch
Shit goes sideways on the ship, real quick. People die, many of them synthetic but their deaths are no less visceral or heartbreaking for it. I get the sense there's something unreliable about this narrator. But I'm not quite sure, which is the point, isn't it? Things keep going farther and farther sideways, and the book gets darker and darker, venturing into what I'd call psychological horror. It was frankly almost too much for me at times; I almost dropped out, because I really struggle with that.
Full disclosure: the content warnings are excellently specific, and I chose to go out of my comfort zone on this one. And I'm so glad I did.
The book does spend a fair amount of time moving to and from different parts of the massive ship, but that's just part of the wild ride you're in for if you read this book. New horrors lurk around every corner, including (especially) those of your mind.
Despite all the darkness, there's a razor-thin sliver of hope as the heroine perseveres against all logic and odds. Maybe love can save the world, maybe it can't, but dammit, she's going to give every bit of her synthetic heart trying.
I leave you with a quote from the book, its dedication:
This book is dedicated to a world where queer suffering has become so universal that even we can't imagine happy endings for ourselves. May you choke on it.
May 8, 2024
Despite wearing its inspirations of Dead Space and Signalis proudly on its sleeve, A Quiet Universe makes quick work of establishing itself as a standout in a niche genre of horror obsessed with cosmic oddities and derelict spaceships, rather than being a tired retread of clichéd tropes and scares. Kay Atkinson flexes a masterful handle on her craft in this novel: from effective and efficient visual language that makes the scene jump off the page, to intelligent pacing that keeps the action always going forward, but screeching to a claustrophobic crawl when tension is at its highest, to unexpected twists that ultimately feel well-earned, to profound moments that will make you reflect on your own life (as they did with me), and even unique formatting quirks to fully immerse you into the hectic circumstances the characters find themselves in. It’s a story rich with horror, tragedy, love, camaraderie, and musings on politics, what it means to be mortal, and how we find purpose in the chaos of our own cosmos. And while it is queer literature, there’s plenty here that will resonate with readers who are not queer.
It cannot be said enough just how much emotional complexity there is here. By the novel’s end, I found myself fully sobbing, a culmination of the emotional rollercoaster A Quiet Universe took me on. Everything the characters feel – terror, despair, dread, anxiety, self-loathing, inadequacy, shame, regret, triumph, uncertainty, duty, love – are more than palpable; they scream at you off the page, pull you in by the collar, and demand you empathize with them. Because the things they experience aren’t isolated to dying vessels floating out in space; they’re struggles we’ve all dealt with. In their journeys, I found a piece of myself. That sense of catharsis and understanding in my own life is something I expect many other readers can also find in this beautiful piece of literature.
It cannot be said enough just how much emotional complexity there is here. By the novel’s end, I found myself fully sobbing, a culmination of the emotional rollercoaster A Quiet Universe took me on. Everything the characters feel – terror, despair, dread, anxiety, self-loathing, inadequacy, shame, regret, triumph, uncertainty, duty, love – are more than palpable; they scream at you off the page, pull you in by the collar, and demand you empathize with them. Because the things they experience aren’t isolated to dying vessels floating out in space; they’re struggles we’ve all dealt with. In their journeys, I found a piece of myself. That sense of catharsis and understanding in my own life is something I expect many other readers can also find in this beautiful piece of literature.
December 3, 2024
Wow.
I'd give this something like 4.35 stars or thereabouts, but sadly goodreads is ruled by the rigid integer.
This thing is a hell of a ride. Unreliable narrator in a ship that's overrun by nearly impossible to overcome obstacles. The prose whips around, thematically wed to the story itself. Mysteries are sewn from the start, but enough clues are laid that you can start to piece together something of the plot. There were a few parts where my attention drifted a bit, but I was largely hooked in and ready to dive into the next chapter.
I should also mention I wouldn't technically call this a lesbian book, specifically for folks who get triggered by .
It's worth a read if you're into things like Signalis, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and/or Nier: Automata.
I'd give this something like 4.35 stars or thereabouts, but sadly goodreads is ruled by the rigid integer.
This thing is a hell of a ride. Unreliable narrator in a ship that's overrun by nearly impossible to overcome obstacles. The prose whips around, thematically wed to the story itself. Mysteries are sewn from the start, but enough clues are laid that you can start to piece together something of the plot. There were a few parts where my attention drifted a bit, but I was largely hooked in and ready to dive into the next chapter.
I should also mention I wouldn't technically call this a lesbian book, specifically for folks who get triggered by .
It's worth a read if you're into things like Signalis, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and/or Nier: Automata.
August 30, 2025
The read is pulled along by a race to save a forbidden love from self-destructive zombie fabricants that state they are "fine." The hero a Sar-ha unit fabricant fight thier own perceived inadequatecies, anxiety, and difference as much as the zombie. A great read with journey that is as much adventure as psychological.
March 4, 2024
This book was both emotionally difficult to read and also FUCKING AWSOME TO READ!}
THIS IS WHAT WE CALL PEAK! I wish lesbians were real...
OH WAIT THEY ARE!
But yeah, this is really good stuff.
THIS IS WHAT WE CALL PEAK! I wish lesbians were real...
OH WAIT THEY ARE!
But yeah, this is really good stuff.
June 7, 2024
I couldn't put this book down once I started reading. I absolutely loved all the characters, and was genuinely concerned for their fates. I stayed up until 2 am reading this book. Highly recommend!
August 8, 2025
Light 4
Would like to read the rest of the series
Would like to read the rest of the series
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