Starglass by Phoebe North (review)

For five hundred years, the space vessel/floating community Asherah has traversed the universe with the last of Earth's inhabitants on board. Now, just as its final destination is within reach, long-simmering class tensions within the ship threaten to derail the mission; dissidents plan for full-scale rebellion, while those in control stand ready to sacrifice anyone and anything to maintain power. Meanwhile, fifteen-year-old Terra Fineberg, on the cusp of sanctioned adulthood, has her own struggles to face, including an increasingly unstable father, an assigned profession she doesn't understand, and a looming compulsory marriage. The discovery of deep personal connections to the rebels throws Terra's life into even further turmoil, and Terra finds herself caught in the middle: between her grieving father's wishes and her own, between an impossible love and a surprising new suitor, between the revolution and her own conscience. Notable for its effective use of Jewish culture and Hebrew vocabulary in its world-building, this absorbing page-turner also finds power in balance, avoiding the clichéd extremes of much recent young adult science fiction. Asherah's strict society is flawed but not dystopian, making it clear why Terra might support change but is reluctant to facilitate wholesale destruction, especially once she realizes that the rebels are not the liberators they claim to be. Terra herself is equal parts strength and vulnerability, neither preternaturally heroic nor innately naïve. Genuinely surprising revelations near the end and a lack of resolution suggest probable sequels to this first-rate science fiction novel, a worthy successor for Revis' Across the Universe (BCCB 1/11).