Astra Lost In Space starts as a pleasant class trip to a planet five light-years away becomes a nightmare survival trip to get back home. In the year 2063, interstellar space travel has become the norm. What sort of adventure awaits on the new frontier? It’s the first day of Planet Camp, and Aries Spring couldn’t be more excited! She, along with eight other strangers, leave for Planet McPa for a weeklong excursion. Soon after they arrive, however, a mysterious orb appears and transports them into the depths of space, where they find an empty floating spaceship.
Astra Lost In Space
The Review
The year is 2063 and interstellar space travel is common place. So much so that high school students take class trips to other planets. I mean what could possibly go wrong with a group of students who barely know each other in space? It doesn’t take long for things to go bad. The moment they land at their destination things get dangerous. A strange orb transports them all into space near an abandoned ship. What worse is they are now 5,012 light years away from home.
The group has to quickly learn how they are going to make it home and survive. The supplies they have will not last them the 3 month trip home. Kanata Hoshijima assumes leadership of the group, even before asking them to vote for him. He has a complex past that drives him forward and is very athletic. The nerdy genius of the group is Zach, and he knows how to fly the ship, and create the gadgets they need to survive. Quitterie and her sister Funicia know Zack from before the trip. She has an issue making friends and comes off as standoffish, especially with Kanata. Aries is a bit flighty but has a photographic memory, which has already come in use for the team. Charce is the good looking, sparkling boy (yes they mention this several times), who is eccentric but also well versed in nature.
After a near deadly encounter for Funicia, in which Kanata risks his life to save her, the group finally agrees to make him their leader. We end with Zack explaining the dark truth of their situation to Kanata. The communication equipment was sabotaged by one of the group.
Solid start to the new series. Asta, which is the ships name, brings me vibes of “Lost In Space” (which is ironic given the series title, or perhaps that was on purpose). But I also get Doctor Who vibes from it as well. Most of the characters introduced get a basic outline for us to draw interest in. There will be plenty of time to dig deeper into each one. There are some tropes with the type of characters they introduce. Including the very quick ‘gay character’ misunderstanding moment between Kanata and Zack. However, overall they kept away from some of the more annoying character traps (the perv as an example).
If the concept for the story is until they make it back home, the series could be short lived. Drag out the 3 months too long readers will get bored. The idea of a possible bigger conspiracy could make for an interesting and expanded universe to work with. We give Astra Lost In Space an A-. If you like space adventure stories with a young cast, this is a series for you.
The first volume released on Dec 5th and can be picked up on Amazon and RightStuf.
