The Final Six by Alexandra Monir is a YA science fiction book. The principal characters are Leo and Naomi. Due to flooding around the world, a plan is put into place to send six teenagers to Europa and colonize it. After losing his family to the floods, Leo sees the International Space Training Camp as a second opportunity. Naomi, on the other hand, suspects that not everything is as it seems since an astronaut mission on Mars failed. She doesn’t want to leave her family, especially her sick brother. The mission poses many unknown variables. Naomi also believes there are life forms on Europa.
Throughout the book, the twenty-four candidates are trained by astronauts and evaluated based on their performance. The candidates are given Radiation-resistant bacteria, or the RRB, as vaccines to protect them from radiation. For some, it is a vaccine that lets them hold their breath for fifteen minutes, while others have adverse side effects. This and raging storms cause candidates to drop out of the program. Throughout the training, Leo and Naomi develop feelings for one another. They work together as Naomi hacks an AI robot and discovers proof of life on Europa. This knowledge and ability are why Naomi is chosen for the Final Six while Leo isn’t, due to their relationship.
The novel switches between these two characters as the story progresses. The reader gets to see two sides of the story. One represents hope, and the other represents the dangers of colonizing Europa for the teenagers involved. The plot is based on Naomi’s and Leo’s views of the situation. Leo doesn’t want to get kicked out and strives to do his best, while Naomi wants to get kicked out. She plans to sabotage the mission. All her efforts, however, ensured her a spot among the final six. She sabotaged herself to fail.
The theme tends to center around climate change. Cities have flooded, and humanity is eager to send teenagers into space so they can colonize Europa. This goes hand in hand with the future of humanity, since without another home, humanity will perish on Earth. Without this theme, there wouldn’t be a plot. Without climate change, the International Space Training Camp for the candidates wouldn’t exist. It’s effective because the reader knows the stakes. A storm hits the International Space Training Camp, meaning time is running out. The forces of nature forced leadership to shorten the training period.
The style of the novel can appeal to some readers. The novel is not persuasive, and I’d say it’s more narrative. However, The Final Six can be considered a mixture of both. While it is science fiction, it talks about a very pressing issue. The sea levels are rising, so it’s not far off to say that the world might be subjected to flooding. However, not everyone believes in climate change, so this novel can be seen as a political commentary.
I enjoyed the dual point of view and the characters. Their desires and hopes are grounded in the novel and believable. I haven’t read many YA science fiction novels before, but with YA paranormal, the protagonist is female, and it is told from a first-person point of view. The Final Six has a female and a male protagonist. Despite the difference, it was an effective tool because their view on the mission was essential to the conflict.
Second chances were also a big theme in this novel. After Leo’s suicide attempt, he finds a new purpose as a candidate for the mission to Europa. Humanity’s colonization of Europa also gives them a second chance to start over. This theme is what Naomi wanted to fight against. For her, the dangers outweighed the future of what could be. She was one of the lucky ones to have her family alive. Others weren’t. Her mind does change as she spends more time with the other candidates, but she doesn’t ignore those dangers.
In The Final Six, Leo and Naomi share a romance, much like romance is prevalent within the YA paranormal genre. The relationship developed gradually and caused internal conflict with Naomi since she wanted to get kicked out. Leo became a reason for her to stay. The romance does have a fade-to-black scene, but nothing is described.
The Final Six, from beginning to end, appealed to me on an emotional level. While I do believe in climate change, it wasn’t the reason I was invested in this novel. It was the characters. Leo and Naomi were well written, and I knew what was at stake for them. Their success or failure kept me reading and rooting for them.
I also would have loved a list of trigger warnings. Opening up the book with the suicide attempt was not on my bingo card.
Rating: 4/5
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