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Voyagers
"In the tradition of Gabrielle Zevin’s Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Meg Charlton’s Voyagers is a finely written and propulsive novel about the enduring power of friendship. It takes on big the reliability of memory, the price of childhood fame, the ways adults use children for their own purposes. It’s also a book about aliens, geared for terrestrials. Which is to say it’s complex and human, anchored by a beating heart.”—Joshua Henkin
When the Signal—a mysterious transmission pulsing from the edge of the solar system— arrives, the world changes overnight. Planes are grounded, satellites fail, and speculation abounds. With many believing it could be first contact with extraterrestrial life, humanity holds its breath. But for Alex, a thirtysomething lawyer who’s spent years distancing himself from the unexplainable, the Signal feels deeply personal—the opening of an old wound.
Decades ago, Alex and a girl named Ana both vanished for thirty-six hours while on vacation in Palm Springs. When they returned, dazed but unharmed, the six-year-olds' account of the experience had all the hallmarks of an alien abduction. The media frenzy that followed made them famous, and the long months of child stardom, of talk shows and sitcom cameos, forged a seemingly unbreakable bond between them—until the mystery behind their disappearance began to tear them apart.
Now, with the world on edge and the Signal growing stronger, Alex is drawn back to the one person who might have answers. Ana—now a professional advocate for experiencers of extraterrestrial contact—is leading a retreat near Palm Springs, a stone's throw from the site of their childhood disappearance. As the former best friends tentatively reunite, what starts as a quest to confront the reality of their original experience becomes a larger reckoning with friendship, faith, family, and truth itself—what it means to see the stories we tell ourselves for what they really are.
With the imaginative soul and propulsive storytelling of Station Eleven and The Ministry of Time, Voyagers is a thrillingly original and brilliantly ambitious literary debut about friendship at the end of the world.
When the Signal—a mysterious transmission pulsing from the edge of the solar system— arrives, the world changes overnight. Planes are grounded, satellites fail, and speculation abounds. With many believing it could be first contact with extraterrestrial life, humanity holds its breath. But for Alex, a thirtysomething lawyer who’s spent years distancing himself from the unexplainable, the Signal feels deeply personal—the opening of an old wound.
Decades ago, Alex and a girl named Ana both vanished for thirty-six hours while on vacation in Palm Springs. When they returned, dazed but unharmed, the six-year-olds' account of the experience had all the hallmarks of an alien abduction. The media frenzy that followed made them famous, and the long months of child stardom, of talk shows and sitcom cameos, forged a seemingly unbreakable bond between them—until the mystery behind their disappearance began to tear them apart.
Now, with the world on edge and the Signal growing stronger, Alex is drawn back to the one person who might have answers. Ana—now a professional advocate for experiencers of extraterrestrial contact—is leading a retreat near Palm Springs, a stone's throw from the site of their childhood disappearance. As the former best friends tentatively reunite, what starts as a quest to confront the reality of their original experience becomes a larger reckoning with friendship, faith, family, and truth itself—what it means to see the stories we tell ourselves for what they really are.
With the imaginative soul and propulsive storytelling of Station Eleven and The Ministry of Time, Voyagers is a thrillingly original and brilliantly ambitious literary debut about friendship at the end of the world.
317 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 16, 2026
About the author
Meg Charlton
1 book25 followersMeg was born and raised in New York City. Her work has appeared in The Yale Review, Slate, Lux, Atlas Obscura and Vice, and the anthology Letter to a Stranger: Essays to the Ones Who Haunt Us. She holds an MFA in fiction from Brooklyn College and teach at Sackett Street Writers. She is the co-author of the Substack Self-Helpings, in which she and a friend review self-help books.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 142 reviews
July 2, 2026
An intriguing premise: two children go missing and claim to have been abducted by aliens, but at least one (the narrator) can’t properly remember what happened; decades later, a mysterious ‘Signal’ starts disrupting life on earth and it seems real alien contact may be imminent. I had a really good time with this, even if I strongly suspect I will remember little of it six months from now (which sounds more backhanded than I mean it to). Voyagers is exactly the sort of book I tend to inhale over a few days: high-concept, pacy, full of mysteries within mysteries, constantly keeping the reader guessing about whether it’s an actual sci-fi story or just a sci-fi-fakeout one.
Alex’s voice is great, and the book is at its strongest when it focuses on his friendship with fellow ‘abductee’ Ana and their weird childhood fame. We get a strong sense of how a possibly-entirely-invented experience has shaped the course of both their lives beyond recognition – there’s something so compelling about characters who have spent years trapped inside a story about themselves. I also liked that the novel remains interested in memory and self-mythologising even while the scope expands towards potential first contact and takes on a more dystopian cast. Charlton is maybe a bit too fond of relative neologisms such as describing someone as ‘unserious’ or saying something is x or y ‘-coded’, phrases that feel especially jarring when they pop up in parts of the story set in the 1990s. But that’s about all I have to say in the way of criticism. This is a confident and extremely readable debut with a solid ending.
I received an advance review copy of Voyagers from the publisher through NetGalley.
Alex’s voice is great, and the book is at its strongest when it focuses on his friendship with fellow ‘abductee’ Ana and their weird childhood fame. We get a strong sense of how a possibly-entirely-invented experience has shaped the course of both their lives beyond recognition – there’s something so compelling about characters who have spent years trapped inside a story about themselves. I also liked that the novel remains interested in memory and self-mythologising even while the scope expands towards potential first contact and takes on a more dystopian cast. Charlton is maybe a bit too fond of relative neologisms such as describing someone as ‘unserious’ or saying something is x or y ‘-coded’, phrases that feel especially jarring when they pop up in parts of the story set in the 1990s. But that’s about all I have to say in the way of criticism. This is a confident and extremely readable debut with a solid ending.
I received an advance review copy of Voyagers from the publisher through NetGalley.
May 23, 2026
I'm conflicted between 3 and 4 stars. This is very well written and, for a debut novel, it's excellent. The characterizations and dialogue are superb. The framing is great. The challenging part is that it's hard to want to focus on the more mundane aspects of character and life when there's spooky alien stuff going on. If this book was only about a traumatic experience and how it affects these people throughout their life I'd be totally sold on what we got. But, when you add something mysterious going on with aliens I'd obviously rather be focusing on that. I found myself getting kinda restless when every chapter is like "ok something crazy is coming, but before that, let's read about a birthday party for 40 pages". Now that I finally know the conclusion and my curiosity is sated, now I can focus on these interesting characters. I'd hate to say this, because I love the alien stuff, but the excitement of that overshadowed the majority of the story and it suffers for that. I loved the story and the characters but I was impatient to just know what was going to happen. I rounded up because this really is an excellent book, I would have just reworked the pacing.
June 24, 2026
Meg Charlton builds her plot around an alien named Allen, invented by two six-year-olds after a desert disappearance turned them into tabloid royalty.
Decades later the cosmos seems to confirm their bedtime mythology by sending an actual interdimensional Signal, and grown-up Alex gets pulled back toward Ana, the childhood best friend at his side when Allen first took shape.
Charlton splits her chapters between Alex, our skeptical lawyer hero, and Allen, now a put-upon hatchery drone assigned an interstellar mission against his preference.
Alex spends his New York legal career defending an agrochemical client, a detail Charlton plants early and harvests later. Bureaucracy thrives on every planet, it turns out.
Allen gets needled by his coworkers, has his reproductive obligations scheduled like a dental appointment, and receives instructions from a superior named Bob. The novel finds real comedy in cosmic plumbing, in extraction rooms and translator pads and an alien named Morgan asking for beach coral as a souvenir.
Charlton plays cleverly with memory's unreliability, particularly through Alex's insistence on facts over feeling, his hunger for verifiable data even as his six-year-old recollections dissolve into sensation and static.
Ana takes the opposite position, embracing myth and uncertainty. Cyndie, Ana's mother turned memoirist, supplies a third register entirely, equal parts grief and showmanship, a woman building a livelihood from a disappearance she barely understood herself.
The wider Signal panic, with its bank runs and gun license freezes and toilet paper violence, sits a little close to pandemic memory, and Charlton plays that echo for dread over nostalgia. People hoard, people pray, people drive into the desert seeking proof of something. The retreat scenes, full of ex-pilots and conspiracists and one bewildered ordinary couple along for the ride, supply a comic ensemble that stays warm, gentle even toward its oddest member.
The middle third loses some altitude. Alex's professional anxieties and his texting courtship with Ana revisit each other a beat too long before the desert plot regains its thrust. A few emotional beats announce themselves before they touch ground, want and ache spelled out plainly where a glance might have done the same work with more grace.
Still, the dual perspective keeps paying dividends, especially once Allen's storyline begins folding toward Alex's own, pulling the book's separate paths into a single trajectory.
The ending offers its tenderness without overplaying its hand, closing on a line of greeting that recasts everything before it, a small kindness from a creature alien in body but startlingly familiar in temperament.
The book moves briskly, packed with one-liners thrown with affection, and the puns, when they appear, feel stitched naturally into character, much like Allen, an outsider carrying an oddly ordinary heart on the page.
A book about first contact becomes, chiefly, a book about contact of the ordinary kind, the kind two old friends attempt across a gulf of years and grief and quiet, hoping the line still gets through.
❤️ 🇮🇱
Decades later the cosmos seems to confirm their bedtime mythology by sending an actual interdimensional Signal, and grown-up Alex gets pulled back toward Ana, the childhood best friend at his side when Allen first took shape.
Charlton splits her chapters between Alex, our skeptical lawyer hero, and Allen, now a put-upon hatchery drone assigned an interstellar mission against his preference.
Alex spends his New York legal career defending an agrochemical client, a detail Charlton plants early and harvests later. Bureaucracy thrives on every planet, it turns out.
Allen gets needled by his coworkers, has his reproductive obligations scheduled like a dental appointment, and receives instructions from a superior named Bob. The novel finds real comedy in cosmic plumbing, in extraction rooms and translator pads and an alien named Morgan asking for beach coral as a souvenir.
Charlton plays cleverly with memory's unreliability, particularly through Alex's insistence on facts over feeling, his hunger for verifiable data even as his six-year-old recollections dissolve into sensation and static.
Ana takes the opposite position, embracing myth and uncertainty. Cyndie, Ana's mother turned memoirist, supplies a third register entirely, equal parts grief and showmanship, a woman building a livelihood from a disappearance she barely understood herself.
The wider Signal panic, with its bank runs and gun license freezes and toilet paper violence, sits a little close to pandemic memory, and Charlton plays that echo for dread over nostalgia. People hoard, people pray, people drive into the desert seeking proof of something. The retreat scenes, full of ex-pilots and conspiracists and one bewildered ordinary couple along for the ride, supply a comic ensemble that stays warm, gentle even toward its oddest member.
The middle third loses some altitude. Alex's professional anxieties and his texting courtship with Ana revisit each other a beat too long before the desert plot regains its thrust. A few emotional beats announce themselves before they touch ground, want and ache spelled out plainly where a glance might have done the same work with more grace.
Still, the dual perspective keeps paying dividends, especially once Allen's storyline begins folding toward Alex's own, pulling the book's separate paths into a single trajectory.
The ending offers its tenderness without overplaying its hand, closing on a line of greeting that recasts everything before it, a small kindness from a creature alien in body but startlingly familiar in temperament.
The book moves briskly, packed with one-liners thrown with affection, and the puns, when they appear, feel stitched naturally into character, much like Allen, an outsider carrying an oddly ordinary heart on the page.
A book about first contact becomes, chiefly, a book about contact of the ordinary kind, the kind two old friends attempt across a gulf of years and grief and quiet, hoping the line still gets through.
❤️ 🇮🇱
June 16, 2026
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an arc in exchange for an honest review.
4.5 stars, rounded up. TL;DR: this is less science fiction and more reflective character-driven novel about growing up, memory, and human nature. The narrator was flawed in a real and lovable way, and the story was well structured.
I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would. The first half did not engage me as much as I'd hoped, because it was a bit slow, and the general story - with the present day 'signal' vs the past 'abduction' - was a bit jumpy. It took me a second to get invested in Alex's story. For the first 1/4 of the book I kept forgetting Alex's name. And the Allen side story was a bit weird .... Until it suddenly wasn't and I was fully invested in it haha.
But the story breadcrumbs details in a perfectly structured way so they build and you can't stop thinking about them. Alex himself is clearly unreliable as a narrator right from the get-go, so the breadcrumbing was made even stronger by the fact that we're not sure, as readers, if our conclusions are decent ones. The relationships - friendships and sibling dynamics, and to an extend, parent/child dynamics - were the shining reflection in this. I felt like the author was so intentional and masterful with how she structured these relationships and their impact on the plot.
Overall, this is a really good book for thinking, reflection, and character development. The plot and mystery of the aliens was a lesser point, but still had a huge impact on the story - just not in the traditional science fiction way. I think it's safe to say I'll remember it and be thinking about it for quite some time after reading, as the story itself was one of those with so many facets it just sticks in your head.
4.5 stars, rounded up. TL;DR: this is less science fiction and more reflective character-driven novel about growing up, memory, and human nature. The narrator was flawed in a real and lovable way, and the story was well structured.
I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would. The first half did not engage me as much as I'd hoped, because it was a bit slow, and the general story - with the present day 'signal' vs the past 'abduction' - was a bit jumpy. It took me a second to get invested in Alex's story. For the first 1/4 of the book I kept forgetting Alex's name. And the Allen side story was a bit weird .... Until it suddenly wasn't and I was fully invested in it haha.
But the story breadcrumbs details in a perfectly structured way so they build and you can't stop thinking about them. Alex himself is clearly unreliable as a narrator right from the get-go, so the breadcrumbing was made even stronger by the fact that we're not sure, as readers, if our conclusions are decent ones. The relationships - friendships and sibling dynamics, and to an extend, parent/child dynamics - were the shining reflection in this. I felt like the author was so intentional and masterful with how she structured these relationships and their impact on the plot.
Overall, this is a really good book for thinking, reflection, and character development. The plot and mystery of the aliens was a lesser point, but still had a huge impact on the story - just not in the traditional science fiction way. I think it's safe to say I'll remember it and be thinking about it for quite some time after reading, as the story itself was one of those with so many facets it just sticks in your head.
July 11, 2026
This was quite good actually. The characters and their friendship were well developed, the story was interesting and original and I really liked the unexpected ending!
Thank you to The Borough Press and Netgalley UK for the ARC.
Thank you to The Borough Press and Netgalley UK for the ARC.
June 25, 2026
Wow!😭 Unpredictable and so tautly written. I wanted to start over from the beginning as soon as it finished.
June 22, 2026
An introspective novel about the long-reaching effects of surviving a possibly traumatic childhood event.
When Ana and Alex were six years old, they disappeared from their Palm Springs vacation homes for 36 hours over New Year's Eve. Alien abduction? Kidnapping? Something else? No one, not even the kids have a clear idea of what happened.
Ana, raised by a single mom in southern California, is more independent than Alex. Her mother, Cindy, is particularly interested in taking advantage of any possible financial gain or rise to fame from the incident. She arranges for the kids to appear on talk shows, act in a sit-com, and make commercials--all based on the alien abduction hypothesis.
Alex is the much younger youngest child of a well-off family from Manhattan. His mother, proper and aware of her social standing, is skeptical of all the fame, but generally makes sure Alex shows up for whatever event Cindy has arranged. Alex's family isn't buying into aliens and are secretly assuming kidnapping or worse.
Alex and Ana are BFFs all through their childhood, despite living a continent apart, but at seventeen, the two have a friendship-splitting falling out. Now twenty-something years later, Alex is drawn back to Ana. The world is shutting down thanks to some kind of outer-space signal that is interrupting communication systems and anything that relies on the internet or satellites. Alex is now a New York lawyer hoping for partnership; Ana is now involved in organizing retreats for fellow UFOists.
The book is told from Alex's point of view and alternates between the present (dealing with the signal) and the past (still trying to figure out the truth of his disappearance). Despite Ana's confidence, Alex has never been sure he remembers the missing 36 hours. A few images remain vivid, but for the most part, he relies on Ana's stories. Now, as life on Earth seems doomed, Alex is more determined than ever to find answers.
Among other things, the novel explores memory: how it changes; what is remembered; its personal nature. It also looks at the ways people deal with uncertainty and with how a significant event can follow us into adulthood.
I was invested in Alex's story and hoped he might find some peace. I wanted to know the source of the signal and was curious how a reunion with Ana might play out. The book gave me a few things to think about, and I was caught up in the story.
The audiobook was performed by Michael Crouch, who always does a good job with character-driven novels. He infuses his delivery with enough emotion to enhance the listen, but nicely shies away from too much drama.
Thanks to Harper Audio for the review copy.
When Ana and Alex were six years old, they disappeared from their Palm Springs vacation homes for 36 hours over New Year's Eve. Alien abduction? Kidnapping? Something else? No one, not even the kids have a clear idea of what happened.
Ana, raised by a single mom in southern California, is more independent than Alex. Her mother, Cindy, is particularly interested in taking advantage of any possible financial gain or rise to fame from the incident. She arranges for the kids to appear on talk shows, act in a sit-com, and make commercials--all based on the alien abduction hypothesis.
Alex is the much younger youngest child of a well-off family from Manhattan. His mother, proper and aware of her social standing, is skeptical of all the fame, but generally makes sure Alex shows up for whatever event Cindy has arranged. Alex's family isn't buying into aliens and are secretly assuming kidnapping or worse.
Alex and Ana are BFFs all through their childhood, despite living a continent apart, but at seventeen, the two have a friendship-splitting falling out. Now twenty-something years later, Alex is drawn back to Ana. The world is shutting down thanks to some kind of outer-space signal that is interrupting communication systems and anything that relies on the internet or satellites. Alex is now a New York lawyer hoping for partnership; Ana is now involved in organizing retreats for fellow UFOists.
The book is told from Alex's point of view and alternates between the present (dealing with the signal) and the past (still trying to figure out the truth of his disappearance). Despite Ana's confidence, Alex has never been sure he remembers the missing 36 hours. A few images remain vivid, but for the most part, he relies on Ana's stories. Now, as life on Earth seems doomed, Alex is more determined than ever to find answers.
Among other things, the novel explores memory: how it changes; what is remembered; its personal nature. It also looks at the ways people deal with uncertainty and with how a significant event can follow us into adulthood.
I was invested in Alex's story and hoped he might find some peace. I wanted to know the source of the signal and was curious how a reunion with Ana might play out. The book gave me a few things to think about, and I was caught up in the story.
The audiobook was performed by Michael Crouch, who always does a good job with character-driven novels. He infuses his delivery with enough emotion to enhance the listen, but nicely shies away from too much drama.
Thanks to Harper Audio for the review copy.
July 5, 2026
Seeing that there was new Michael Crouch narration, I immediately requested the audiobook second to the fact that the blurb was genuinely something I'd enjoy reading and I did! There's nothing more satisfying than seeing a book come back full circle.
July 13, 2026
essential reading for Disclosure Day summer!!!!!!!
July 5, 2026
I like the premise of this a lot and I actually liked the ending quite a bit, but man is it slow. It takes over a third of the book just to get to the present(ish) timeline and I think that could have been cut down or at least intercut with the present timeline. As it is, Alex is giving you this lengthy backstory and even acknowledges in his own narration like "I don't know why this is important/relevant" a few times. Most of that backstory is necessary, but considering the present timeline is also really slow-paced it definitely does not help the reader's experience to have the whole past dumped on them before they've been given reason to care. It's also kind of overwritten at points, especially in the beginning, which left me with the impression that Alex was pretty pretentious. I'm not against that on principle but we don't really return to that idea in the narrative and again it really doesn't help you get invested in his character. It almost feels out of place to have such formal language/rhythm in a first-person inner monologue which is really why I noticed it.
I don't necessarily "get" the ending, but I kind of liked it anyway and I do think the author went into this with some great ideas, it just needed more work.
I don't necessarily "get" the ending, but I kind of liked it anyway and I do think the author went into this with some great ideas, it just needed more work.
June 20, 2026
this could have been edited downnnn (the house down boots). all the tangents/flashbacks/internal dialogue feel really repetitive, not to mention the lackluster conclusion (or lack thereof)
Read
March 11, 2026this was just okay
July 4, 2026
3.5 stars
It's less about aliens and more about complicated family dynamics and connections that anchor us in uncertain times.
As children, Alex and Ana mysteriously vanish for 36 hours in the desert near Palm Springs.
Their return sparks a media frenzy and alien abduction theories that shape their lives.
Years later, as adults, a strange cosmic "Signal" from the edge of the solar system throws the world into chaos and brings back old wounds and theories about their disappearance so many years ago
If you are into introspective character driven novels with just a hint of speculative science fiction then this could be a good fit.
I also loved Allen’s story sprinkled throughout – he was one of my favourites
It's less about aliens and more about complicated family dynamics and connections that anchor us in uncertain times.
As children, Alex and Ana mysteriously vanish for 36 hours in the desert near Palm Springs.
Their return sparks a media frenzy and alien abduction theories that shape their lives.
Years later, as adults, a strange cosmic "Signal" from the edge of the solar system throws the world into chaos and brings back old wounds and theories about their disappearance so many years ago
If you are into introspective character driven novels with just a hint of speculative science fiction then this could be a good fit.
I also loved Allen’s story sprinkled throughout – he was one of my favourites
July 13, 2026
(I’m rounding this up to 4.5 stars)
I bought this book the afternoon we watched Disclosure Day in theaters - the cover caught my eye and I was in an alien-mood. This is incredibly well-written; absolutely superb dialogue, especially for a debut novel. Alex’s voice is great; Allen’s is just “out of this world”. The themes of childhood trauma wrapped up in a celebrity obsessed world is great. And I really enjoyed the ufologists and experiencers. This is an excellent read. (Dare I say a solid choice for a book club!)
I bought this book the afternoon we watched Disclosure Day in theaters - the cover caught my eye and I was in an alien-mood. This is incredibly well-written; absolutely superb dialogue, especially for a debut novel. Alex’s voice is great; Allen’s is just “out of this world”. The themes of childhood trauma wrapped up in a celebrity obsessed world is great. And I really enjoyed the ufologists and experiencers. This is an excellent read. (Dare I say a solid choice for a book club!)
June 19, 2026
Fluid timelines, which is slightly annoying but serves the story rather than feeling like padding. A really unique take on first contact, alien abductions (or not), and people who never asked to be famous. Really enjoyed this.
July 3, 2026
I loved this book! It was laugh-out-loud funny in so many moments, but also thought-provoking in the way it explores memory, perception, trust, and belief. I was hooked the whole way through, and the ending completely surprised me.
July 10, 2026
had a good time - enjoyed alex’s voice and the ambiguity and the cast of characters and this was fun after having recently watched disclosure day
Review of advance copy
[3.5☆]
Childhood friends Alex and Ana disappeared for 36 hours when they were 6 years old. When they returned with claims of an alien abduction, a media frenzy ensued. As they grow older, Ana follows her mom’s whims to ride the coattails of their fame whereas Alex longs to distance himself from their past. Now, almost 30 years later, the two have been estranged when a mysterious Signal reaches Earth, causing global disruption and pushing them back into each other’s orbits.
Told primarily from Alex’s perspective, the story shifts back and forth from the present day to the past as he confronts his buried memories to find the truth of what happened to them as children. Alex and Ana’s bond remains a focal point, and there’s a strong commentary on how the media and others can distort and influence a person’s memory.
The sci-fi elements are lightly strewn into the story and kept ambiguous, causing the reader to speculate alongside Alex, Ana, and the world. I enjoyed the mystery and structure of this and not fully knowing until the last pages what to believe.
This was an intriguing and promising debut by Meg Charlton, and I look forward to seeing what she writes next!
🎙️ I started listening to this on Saturday morning during LibroFM’s global audiobook walk. Between the story and Michael Crouch’s impeccable narration, I kept finding myself drawn back to listen throughout the day and finished by that evening. He gives a remarkable performance conveying Alex’s emotions and character.
✨ Thank you LibroFM for this ALC!
Childhood friends Alex and Ana disappeared for 36 hours when they were 6 years old. When they returned with claims of an alien abduction, a media frenzy ensued. As they grow older, Ana follows her mom’s whims to ride the coattails of their fame whereas Alex longs to distance himself from their past. Now, almost 30 years later, the two have been estranged when a mysterious Signal reaches Earth, causing global disruption and pushing them back into each other’s orbits.
Told primarily from Alex’s perspective, the story shifts back and forth from the present day to the past as he confronts his buried memories to find the truth of what happened to them as children. Alex and Ana’s bond remains a focal point, and there’s a strong commentary on how the media and others can distort and influence a person’s memory.
The sci-fi elements are lightly strewn into the story and kept ambiguous, causing the reader to speculate alongside Alex, Ana, and the world. I enjoyed the mystery and structure of this and not fully knowing until the last pages what to believe.
This was an intriguing and promising debut by Meg Charlton, and I look forward to seeing what she writes next!
🎙️ I started listening to this on Saturday morning during LibroFM’s global audiobook walk. Between the story and Michael Crouch’s impeccable narration, I kept finding myself drawn back to listen throughout the day and finished by that evening. He gives a remarkable performance conveying Alex’s emotions and character.
✨ Thank you LibroFM for this ALC!
June 29, 2026
3.5 / this was a great pairing with disclosure day & my first time reading a book by an author with my last name!
June 21, 2026
Thank you, @harperbooks, for the gifted ARC!
Rundown:
✨️alien abductions
✨️fueled paranoia
✨️unreliable memories
✨️mysterious signal
✨️search for answers
Thoughts 💭
This was a really interesting and thought-provoking read. Our two main characters, Alex and Ana, mysteriously went missing for thirty-six hours. The events they described were eventually warped into an alien abduction, and that's what the press ran with. As they get older, they struggle to remember what actually happened and handle the situation differently. Ana leans into it while Alex tries to pretend it never happened. What we get is a heart-felt book about friendships and our perception of things.
They writing is beautiful. The message of friendship and connection was really well done, as was the unreliability of our memories, which was deeply explored. What I struggled with most was the beginning and ending (the parts specifically with aliens) were left ambiguous. I understand that the focus was not on finding that answer but rather the character development, but I was hoping for some resolution since it was such a huge mystery that drove the plot of the book. It's a big part of why I wanted to keep reading. Some may enjoy the open ending, but it isn't typically my cup of tea. If I sign on to read your story, I want to know how you, the author, think it should end. I'm still rating it four stars since that's more of a personal preference, and the rest of the book was top-notch.
Rundown:
✨️alien abductions
✨️fueled paranoia
✨️unreliable memories
✨️mysterious signal
✨️search for answers
Thoughts 💭
This was a really interesting and thought-provoking read. Our two main characters, Alex and Ana, mysteriously went missing for thirty-six hours. The events they described were eventually warped into an alien abduction, and that's what the press ran with. As they get older, they struggle to remember what actually happened and handle the situation differently. Ana leans into it while Alex tries to pretend it never happened. What we get is a heart-felt book about friendships and our perception of things.
They writing is beautiful. The message of friendship and connection was really well done, as was the unreliability of our memories, which was deeply explored. What I struggled with most was the beginning and ending (the parts specifically with aliens) were left ambiguous. I understand that the focus was not on finding that answer but rather the character development, but I was hoping for some resolution since it was such a huge mystery that drove the plot of the book. It's a big part of why I wanted to keep reading. Some may enjoy the open ending, but it isn't typically my cup of tea. If I sign on to read your story, I want to know how you, the author, think it should end. I'm still rating it four stars since that's more of a personal preference, and the rest of the book was top-notch.
July 13, 2026
4.5 - “In retrospect, that was the moment, no matter what came after, no matter how impulsive or foolish or reckless I was being, that I knew I had made the right decision about who to be with for the end of the world.”
Big thanks to Harper Books for the gifted copy and to Libro.fm for the gifted audiobook in exchange for an honest review!
This is the type of story I’ve been finding myself really loving. It’s light sci-fi while exploring very real issues like conspiracies, fame, and friendship. The premise is so intriguing and results in such a fascinating story.
The book follows Alex who vanished for thirty-six hours along with a girl named Ana while on vacation when they were very young. When they return, they recount being abducted by aliens. What follows is television appearances and conferences, thrusting Alex, Ana, and their families into the public eye. In the present, Alex is now a lawyer, gets pulled right back to that time when the Signal arrives. It’s a mysterious transmission from the of the solar system and it changes the world overnight.
I had the best time reading this. In the present, Alex struggles with his true identity as he’s been using a different surname professionally. He becomes drawn back to Ana who is now an advocate for people who have experienced extraterrestrial contact. The story moves between the past and present, and it grapples with how people who genuinely believe they’ve seen aliens are treated. Their case made national news and it affected them so differently. With the Signal, Alex is desperately searching for the truth.
The audiobook is narrated by Michael Crouch who does an amazing job. He has the perfect voice and inflections to bring Alex to life. I do wish that I eyeball read this, but that didn’t make me enjoy it any less. This is perfect read if you like sci-fi that doesn’t get too bogged down in the science and makes the events of the story feel real.
Big thanks to Harper Books for the gifted copy and to Libro.fm for the gifted audiobook in exchange for an honest review!
This is the type of story I’ve been finding myself really loving. It’s light sci-fi while exploring very real issues like conspiracies, fame, and friendship. The premise is so intriguing and results in such a fascinating story.
The book follows Alex who vanished for thirty-six hours along with a girl named Ana while on vacation when they were very young. When they return, they recount being abducted by aliens. What follows is television appearances and conferences, thrusting Alex, Ana, and their families into the public eye. In the present, Alex is now a lawyer, gets pulled right back to that time when the Signal arrives. It’s a mysterious transmission from the of the solar system and it changes the world overnight.
I had the best time reading this. In the present, Alex struggles with his true identity as he’s been using a different surname professionally. He becomes drawn back to Ana who is now an advocate for people who have experienced extraterrestrial contact. The story moves between the past and present, and it grapples with how people who genuinely believe they’ve seen aliens are treated. Their case made national news and it affected them so differently. With the Signal, Alex is desperately searching for the truth.
The audiobook is narrated by Michael Crouch who does an amazing job. He has the perfect voice and inflections to bring Alex to life. I do wish that I eyeball read this, but that didn’t make me enjoy it any less. This is perfect read if you like sci-fi that doesn’t get too bogged down in the science and makes the events of the story feel real.
July 7, 2026
One of the most enjoyable books I've read so far this year. The register of the writing was friendly and smooth and at times hit quite striking images. The exploration of a relationship built on an experience that only two people can identify with as the two friends accept differing realities is really interesting, and the impact of a trauma on family dynamics was probably the most compelling part for me. All of the in-scene family moments were top-tier.
The elephant in the room for me is the ending.
I'm reading the ending as continuing the ambiguity, wherein maybe the aliens are real, or maybe Allen and Bob are a fiction that are comforting our protagonist as he is facing demise by the military. Why would aliens be named "Allen" and "Bob"? Why are all of the other aliens described as having antennae if the abducting aliens from our descriptions are beings of pure light? Doesn't Alex wish for the abduction to have been the truth the whole time as he's looking for methods to self-soothe in the face of the threat of death? So my assumption is that the ending is meant to continue the ongoing premise of the book that either narrative could be the truth and one will never know for sure. That said, if the ending really was meant to be taken as totally literal, it-was-aliens, I'm less nuts about that. Regardless of the ending, Voyagers was a book I had a great time reading.
The elephant in the room for me is the ending.
I'm reading the ending as continuing the ambiguity, wherein maybe the aliens are real, or maybe Allen and Bob are a fiction that are comforting our protagonist as he is facing demise by the military. Why would aliens be named "Allen" and "Bob"? Why are all of the other aliens described as having antennae if the abducting aliens from our descriptions are beings of pure light? Doesn't Alex wish for the abduction to have been the truth the whole time as he's looking for methods to self-soothe in the face of the threat of death? So my assumption is that the ending is meant to continue the ongoing premise of the book that either narrative could be the truth and one will never know for sure. That said, if the ending really was meant to be taken as totally literal, it-was-aliens, I'm less nuts about that. Regardless of the ending, Voyagers was a book I had a great time reading.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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July 10, 2026Lit fic. As a boy, the main character and a little girl disappeared in the desert only to reappear 36 hours later. In the absence of any other explanation, a story of alien abduction grew to fill the space. Tells the story of their different ways of navigating the trauma and the story through their lives, and of their closeness and then eventually their distance. And of what the main character does as an adult when, one day, a strange signal is detected coming from the edge of the solar system that no one can explain and that is having increasingly dire disruptive impacts on technology on earth. Melancholy, introspective, charming in a self-deprecating way. Despite the fact that it is fairly well done, I'm not sure what I think about it - it feels like it goes hard in doing what the novel form (particularly its more literary variants) tends to do anyway, and reduces the social to psychology and to the stories we tell ourselves rather than exploring the inevitable interrelatedness across those scales.
June 3, 2026
Reading this knowing it was Meg’s first published book - very impressive. Although there are so many alien abduction/UFO stories out there, Meg seemed to make this one feel incredibly new and unique. And yes, give us a queer main character that didn’t have some cliché love interest or endure a gay-specific trauma or have the entire book based off of the queer-identification itself!!!! He was just…gay. And that was that. I can appreciate this and hope to see more of this. The characters had such a depth, you could visualize them like a movie playing in your head as you read. Now just to figure out who would play a really good Alex and Ana in the movie adaptation…and Allen, of course.
June 23, 2026
Don’t tell me this is for fans of Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. Because I LOVE that. What a let down. The alien story and character of Alan was a let down, the relationships of the main characters Ana and Alex were a let down. I’d say I was really interested in what happened to them for about the first 25% of the book then suddenly we are diving into parts of the characters lives between 2 timelines that was just not fast paced and bored me. I can get behind a bit of stream of consciousness, sci-fi, life metaphors, but this didn’t do it for me. At all. The writing and narration on audio was decent.
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June 12, 2026I have conflicting feelings. Similar to another review I saw, I really wanted to dive deeper into the aliens coming to earth and kind of felt like there wasn’t a real conclusion? The whole time I’m like “ok what actually happened to them”.
There was a lot of lead up to these big events that fell flat in their reveals. I guess I thought there would be a little more action rather than internal dialogue and Alex’s confusing journey through his trauma and trying to figure out what’s real and what isn’t.
I will say, I would absolutely read from this author again, I loved the writing, vocabulary, and the pacing. I was also a huge fan of the narrator for the audiobook.
Thank you to the author, libro.fm, and Harper for this advanced copy! 🫶🏼
There was a lot of lead up to these big events that fell flat in their reveals. I guess I thought there would be a little more action rather than internal dialogue and Alex’s confusing journey through his trauma and trying to figure out what’s real and what isn’t.
I will say, I would absolutely read from this author again, I loved the writing, vocabulary, and the pacing. I was also a huge fan of the narrator for the audiobook.
Thank you to the author, libro.fm, and Harper for this advanced copy! 🫶🏼
June 21, 2026
This book is about a friendship between a boy named Alex and a girl named Ana. But this is also one of the greatest books about (non-romantic) love that I’ve ever read. Alex changes completely during the course this book but the one thing that never changes is how much Alex is bonded to (and chooses to be bonded to) Ana.
A quick word of caution: this book will make you think about and talk about UFOs/aliens non-stop.
A quick word of caution: this book will make you think about and talk about UFOs/aliens non-stop.
July 2, 2026
3.5 ⭐️rounded up for its impressive debut status.
Started reading this and then received the audio book, so I switched over.
I enjoyed this story. It was so different from anything I’ve read before, and I love that. I think it’s so fun when a new author can come out with something I’ve never thought of before. This story captures you from the get go and never really releases you until the end.
Alex and Ana went missing in Palm Springs when they were young kids. Their recollection of what happens seems to everyone like an alien encounter. Their fame grows from missing children to extraterrestrial fandom overnight.
This story is more about friendship than anything, it’s just set in a situation that makes for great reading.
Loved it. So different and interesting.
Started reading this and then received the audio book, so I switched over.
I enjoyed this story. It was so different from anything I’ve read before, and I love that. I think it’s so fun when a new author can come out with something I’ve never thought of before. This story captures you from the get go and never really releases you until the end.
Alex and Ana went missing in Palm Springs when they were young kids. Their recollection of what happens seems to everyone like an alien encounter. Their fame grows from missing children to extraterrestrial fandom overnight.
This story is more about friendship than anything, it’s just set in a situation that makes for great reading.
Loved it. So different and interesting.
June 25, 2026
At the young age of six, Alex and his new friend Ana, disappear for 36 hours while on vacation. The children don't remember what happened during this period of time. At least Alex doesn't. Ana claims to have remembered bright lights and beings, feeding into a narrative of alien abduction that becomes a national news story. Decades later, when they are adults, a Signal is heard from the edge of the solar system and the whole of humanity is now speculating whether this may be the first contact. Alex is now drawn back in to a world he once abandoned and seeks out Ana many years after their falling-out. Ana is an advocate for those who claim to have experienced alien contact and is holding a retreat near where they disappeared all those years ago. Alex decides to go and on his journey is led down a road of memories and speculation. Did they really get abducted? What does Alex really remember?
Now THIS is the alien book I've been looking for! Surprisingly, there aren't many "realistic" alien books out there. (If anyone has any more recommendations of abduction/encounter fiction books, I'd be happy to receive them.) This is more slow, character-driven and speculative. Which I LOVE. Great ending too. Great book all around.
Now THIS is the alien book I've been looking for! Surprisingly, there aren't many "realistic" alien books out there. (If anyone has any more recommendations of abduction/encounter fiction books, I'd be happy to receive them.) This is more slow, character-driven and speculative. Which I LOVE. Great ending too. Great book all around.
July 5, 2026
This book is an unusually elaborate shaggy dog story. I cannot fault the writing - it's articulate and sophisticated and the characters are well portrayed - but ultimately it leads to a one liner that I suspect most will find unsatisfying.
There is a lot to enjoy along the way. Charlton delivers well aimed barbs at modern American society that made me smile, if not laugh out loud, and there is no shortage of amusing characters, though I have to say the slow pace of the second half of the book tried my patience. It's just that the book encourages the reader to take it seriously in return for a payoff that we never get. The alien side of the story is played for laughs, and it's hard not to feel the ending is the author saying more fool you for reading this far.
I am reluctant to recommend this book. It's not terrible, and I don't regret the time I invested in reading it, but I suspect many SF fans will find it unsatisfying.
There is a lot to enjoy along the way. Charlton delivers well aimed barbs at modern American society that made me smile, if not laugh out loud, and there is no shortage of amusing characters, though I have to say the slow pace of the second half of the book tried my patience. It's just that the book encourages the reader to take it seriously in return for a payoff that we never get. The alien side of the story is played for laughs, and it's hard not to feel the ending is the author saying more fool you for reading this far.
I am reluctant to recommend this book. It's not terrible, and I don't regret the time I invested in reading it, but I suspect many SF fans will find it unsatisfying.
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