Review - In the Quick by Kate Hope Day

Title

In the Quick

Author

Kate Hope Day

Content Warning

None

Goodreads Synopsis

June is a brilliant but difficult girl with a gift for mechanical invention who leaves home to begin grueling astronaut training at the National Space Program. Younger by two years than her classmates at Peter Reed, the school on campus named for her uncle, she flourishes in her classes but struggles to make friends and find true intellectual peers. Six years later, she has gained a coveted post as an engineer on a space station—and a hard-won sense of belonging—but is haunted by the mystery of Inquiry, a revolutionary spacecraft powered by her beloved late uncle’s fuel cells. The spacecraft went missing when June was twelve years old, and while the rest of the world seems to have forgotten the crew, June alone has evidence that makes her believe they are still alive.

She seeks out James, her uncle’s former protégé, also brilliant, also difficult, who has been trying to discover why Inquiry’s fuel cells failed. James and June forge an intense intellectual bond that becomes an electric attraction. But the relationship that develops between them as they work to solve the fuel cell’s fatal flaw threatens to destroy everything they’ve worked so hard to create—and any chance of bringing the Inquiry crew home alive.

A propulsive narrative of one woman’s persistence and journey to self-discovery, In the Quick is an exploration of the strengths and limits of human ability in the face of hardship, and the costs of human ingenuity. (Goodreads)

Story Review

***** (5 stars out of 5)

This book was amazing! I am always a sucker for retellings, but this sci-fi version of Jane Eyre really hit the spot. I love that the main character is incredibly smart and competent, but not in an "everything magically happens" and more in an "she works really hard and tries multiple things before it finally comes together" sort of way. The Jane Eyre characters/plot points are beautifully woven in, and if I weren't familiar with the original story, I'd have probably missed most of it. I especially appreciate little things like June's work partners together making up Jane's friend at the school (Helen).

*Spoiler Warning*

Do not read beyond this point if you have not read the book and you care about spoilers.

Retelling

This story is a retelling of Jane Eyre that is set in the near future and in space.

Story Motifs

• Orphan, Jane Eyre - June Reed, orphaned
• Maternal uncle, John Reed, dotes on Jane - June goes to live with her uncle, Peter Reed, and they bond over their shared love of inventing things
• Aunt and cousins, don't like her - After her uncle's death, her aunt, Regina, and cousin, John, get increasingly frustrated with June's inventions (and her destruction of other items to do so) until things come to a head when she blows up the old boiler in the basement (I honestly can't blame the aunt here, I'd be pretty frustrated too), there's also definitely the fact that the aunt was jealous of June's rapport with her late husband
• Red Room, ghost - June gets locked in the basement for attacking her cousin, she's scared of the boiler, much later when she's lost outside on the Pink Planet she hallucinates her uncle, who helps her avoid hypothermia and helps her find shelter (ghost)
• Lowood, Mr. Brocklehurst - June gets sent to the Peter Reed boarding school (Lowood) despite being two years younger than the other students, the conditions are not as horrendous as they were at Lowood for Jane, but the girl's dormitory is described as cold and the covers on the bed as thin, they have to run out in the cold every morning, and the food is bad, there is no Mr. Brocklehurst character, however over time the conditions get better as June can trade for additional blankets and occasionally the food is edible, plus the teachers (Teresa, James, and Simon) are willing to listen to June and help her figure things out
• Helen Burns, friendship and death - Jane's friend Helen is a combination of June's work partners: Carla - who invites her to climb into her bed to get warm on her first night there, Lion - the one who helps her with the fitness test and almost dies in the pool, and Nico
• Governess position - She gets a job on the Sundew space station after graduating from the program
• Thornfield Hall - the Gateway on the Pink Planet where June gets sent after she proves that the crew of the Inquiry are still alive
• Edward Rochester, odd meeting - James Banovic, they originally meet while James is working with her uncle, when he's a teacher at the school, and then again later at the Gateway on the Pink Planet where they need to come up with a fix for the fuel cells, when June first gets there she and James go out to fix the solar panels and James gets trapped and needs June's help to get free, which is reminiscent of Rochester falling off his horse and needing Jane's help to get back on the horse
• Strange occurrences around Thornfield - James has scars on his neck and knee, June hears a moan behind a locked cabinet, June sees a flash of light, James's room catches on fire and June saves him just like Jane saves Rochester from a fire in his room
• Blanche Ingram, fiancée - Theresa and James are lovers and both go to the Pink Planet to figure out the fuel cell issue, James won't talk about Theresa when June gets to the Pink Planet, Teresa fills both the role of Blanche and Rochester's wife
• Richard Mason, visit and attack - not included
• Death of aunt - not included
• Paternal uncle, John Eyre, heir - not included
• Engagement and wedding - James and June spend more time together working on the fuel cells and go from James barely tolerating June to them eventually becoming lovers
• Reveal of big secret - June finds Teresa hooked up to machines in a locked room, barely clinging to life, James doesn't want to let Teresa leave because he's afraid that she'll die, but she wants to go home, the chemicals she accidentally inhaled have affected her brain and she's not always lucid, June helps Teresa get stronger and then helps her get back to Earth where she ends up dying
• Jane leaves and wanders the moors - After James smashes the fuel cell, June leaves the Gateway in the last rover and drives off without direction, she's in the rover without enough power to keep herself warm all night long and has to cycle it on and off, she ends up with frostbite on her fingers in the agricultural module
• St. John Rivers and sisters, marriage proposal - Simon and Amelia Silva (both Uncle Peter's students) and Rachel are stand ins for St. John and his sisters, they are astronauts who work with June on the Sundew and are not related to each other. Simon, Amelia and Rachel later get sent to the Pink Planet and find her at the agricultural module. Simon does not propose to June, because he's in love with Anu, the leader of the Inquiry crew. Amelia and Rachel appear to be lovers.
• Thornfield burns down - the Gateway is completely dark and empty when they get there, they can't find James, they finally figure out that he's been sleeping in Teresa's room and is out in the hangar with the Endurance. Instead of a fire, James is missing an eye from getting electrocuted while June was gone.
• Marriage to Rochester - June has dreams about James finishing the fuel cell while she's at the agricultural module just like Jane has visions of Rochester while she's with St. John and his sisters, when June returns to the Gateway and they start working together again, they reconcile and once again become lovers. There is no marriage, though it's heavily implied that June and James will continue their relationship once June returns from rescuing the crew of the Inquiry with Simon, Rachel, and Amelia.

Retelling Review

***** (5 stars out of 5)

I love this retelling because it hits so many of the Jane Eyre story elements, but without being too obvious about it. It also takes the story in a totally different direction, jumbles up some of the story elements, and gives James a better reason for keeping Teresa locked up. While June's aunt isn't perfect, she also has a much more compelling reason to send June off to school and gives June a choice. June actually agrees to go because she's not happy in her aunt's house either. While the Peter Reed school isn't great in terms of comfort and food, it's also a long way from Lowood with its outbreak of TB, its sadistic headmaster, and lack of adequate food and warmth. I also liked that the author broke up the character of Helen Burns into multiple people so June doesn't just have the one close friend who dies very early on. And while June and James fall in love, the author doesn't use that love as a reason for June to let go of her ambitions to save the Inquiry crew.