If you’ve read my blog for a while, then you might know that Veronica Roth is one of my auto-buy authors. Chosen Ones, her adult debut that’s coming out next April, has been on my TBR for over a year now (and I’ve already pre-ordered it). So how the heck did I not know that she released a short story on Amazon nearly a month ago? You would have thought I would have heard about it before its release date. Nevertheless, I saw an ad for it on Goodreads today and I immediately had to start reading it.
Samantha is one of the last people living on Earth. An asteroid is set to hit our planet in only a few weeks. She’s a plant scientist working to save as many plant species as possible before the final ship leaves Earth for good. It’s all sort of a depressing premise, especially since they won’t reach the planet they’re headed for within their lifetimes.
I really liked the character of Samantha, as well as the older plant scientist, Hagen. Samantha’s friends weren’t as fleshed-out as they could have been, however. They weren’t the main focus of this story, but the story might have been a little better if we would have gotten to know them a little bit more.
“Ark” is a quiet story. There isn’t a lot of action like you might find in Divergent or Carve the Mark, but I liked it nevertheless. It’s not my favorite Veronica Roth short story (that honor would go to “Inertia”) but Samantha and her history grew on me. I like the twist she threw in at the end, which did give me a few “Inertia”-like vibes.
“Ark” is part of an anthology called the Forward collection. I may or may not read the others in the series. It can be borrowed for free if you have Kindle Unlimited, or you can buy it currently for $1.99.