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On the Constant March Forward by: S. Lodro

This review was requested by the author.


Asta is Relic. She doesn’t have the Link, a brain chip that connects people to all of hyperspace. Asta has been chosen for a mission. She and a small crew must travel to a frigid and tidally locked planet, Proxima Centauri b, in order to look for signs of life. Follow their adventures and discoveries as they try to survive the harsh and frozen landscape of Proxima Centauri b.

When I first heard about On the Constant March Forward, it sounded interesting but I was also skeptical about whether I would like it. It just sounded like a book that had the potential drag on and be depressing. The title just made me think that there was going to be some serious gloom and doom, that the ending would be one of those sad endings where the characters have lost all hope and just submitted themselves to the fact that this is their life now. Thankfully, On the Constant March Forward was nothing like I expected. The story was very simple but at the same time it was riveting. I had a hard time putting this book down which is totally not what I had expected.

As I mentioned earlier, the overall story of On the Constant March Forward is (pun intended) very straightforward. There are not a lot of moving parts, there’s no evil mastermind cooking up plans to destroy the world, nothing. It’s just a few characters trying to figure out how to survive in this world that they have ended up in. The simplicity of the story is what made it so fascinating. The entire focus of the story is on these characters and their development is what drives this whole story. Being able to slowly uncover more about these characters as time goes on but also see how the new landscape that they are in changes them was what made this book such a good story. 

Let’s talk about the plot of this book. The plot was excellent. It was engaging but I think the most special thing about it was the way that each day was the same yet completely different. This is hard to explain without spoiling things but I will do my best. When I was thinking about the story and how it progressed, I realized that Asta and her companions were doing the same things every single day. Which should have been boring to read right? But even though they were doing the same things, each time was unique and different. S. Lodro was able to really show me as the reader the minute differences from day to day in a way that was exciting and new. 

There were a couple of things that I didn’t really like about this book. The first was the romance. The romance in this story was weird. I say that because I felt like it wasn’t based on anything. The two characters that did end up together did not have anything in common. I just can’t comprehend how a character can have romantic feelings for another character when there is nothing in common between the two of them. It almost felt like the romance was there for the sake of checking off a box. The other thing that I did not enjoy about this book, is that the transitions between scenes were abrupt. The story would switch from one topic to the next in the snap of a finger and I would be left confused because the previous topic that was being discussed hadn’t reached a conclusion yet and the story had already moved on to something else. Thankfully, this issue wasn’t a constant throughout the book but it happened frequently enough for me to notice it. 

The ending of this book surprised me. I had not expected the ending to be so elegant. I’m saying that the ending was elegant because it managed to wrap everything up perfectly. Even the smallest of loose ends and the small things that you may not have thought about were covered. Not only were they covered but everything was explained in a satisfying way. As I have said before, endings are one of the most important parts of any book and this ending was amazing. 

I am going to give On the Constant March Forward 4 stars. I didn’t expect to but I really enjoyed this book. The plot was intriguing and made it so hard for me to put the book down. The characters were all wonderful and the ending was perfect. The only reason that I am not giving it that fifth star is because of the romance. It annoyed me and I totally could have done without it. I am actually really glad that I had a chance to read this book because it is a hidden gem. I definitely recommend it to anyone that enjoys science fiction. 

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