Dare Mighty Things (Untitled Duology #1) by Heather Kaczynski

🌟🌟🌟🌟 out of 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Synopsis:

THE RULES ARE SIMPLE: You must be gifted. You must be younger than twenty-five. You must be willing to accept the dangers that you will face if you win.

Seventeen-year-old Cassandra Gupta’s entire life has been leading up to this—the opportunity to travel to space. But to secure a spot on this classified mission, she must first compete against the best and brightest people on the planet. People who are as determined as she to win a place on a journey to the farthest reaches of the universe.

Cassie is ready for the toll that the competition will take; the rigorous mental and physical tests designed to push her to the brink of her endurance. But nothing could have prepared her for the bonds she would form with the very people she hopes to beat. Or that with each passing day it would be more and more difficult to ignore the feeling that the true objective of the mission is being kept from her.

As the days until the launch tick down and the stakes rise higher than ever before, only one thing is clear to Cassie: she’ll never back down . . . even if it costs her everything.

I wanted to start this review by talking about the cover as well as the title of Dare Mighty Things. I think that I understand where the author was coming from with the name of the book. I believe that she was trying to say shoot for the stars and dare to be great but to be honest it kind of threw me a little bit. I didn't really like the cover because it didn't seem to fit with the story. The first time I saw it at the library I passed by it because it looked like it would be a book about a game show or something. I automatically thought that it wouldn't be my thing but then I began to be more curious about it when it continued to be recommended to me through goodreads, amazon, and my public library. I saw the blurb and thought that it sounded like a good book. I'm extremely happy that I gave it a chance because it was a solid, unique, well written book

I found the characters in this book to be particularly interesting in comparison to other YA books that I have read. It was nice to see such a diverse population covering different cultures and races. The story is told from the perspective of Cassie who is Indian-American and has dreams of being a part of NASA and exploring space. Cassie was an interesting character to read about because she was almost inhuman with what she was able to endure in order to win the competition. She seemed almost robotic because she didn't let her emotions overtake her and was able to block them out. She didn't seem to care what happened with the other contestants as long as she came out on top. When I began the book, she seemed cocky which turned me off of her a bit but as the book progressed she did as well. She grew on me and I began to understand her. She was driven to achieve her dream with a single mindedness but did care about people. She was just able to compartmentalize her feelings so that nothing was holding her back. 

This story was different from other books of its genre because it seemed far more psychological in nature than action packed. The majority of the book focused on the competition and how it changed all of the contestants, including Cassie, both mentally and physically. There was a subtle intensity that was present from beginning to end that made the book have an interesting tone to it. Part of this intensity was due to the contestants being kept in the dark of the nature of the mission that they are competing to be a part of. Even the reader is kept unaware of the true nature of the mission until about the last 80 pages. It is clear that there will be a sequel to Dare Mighty Things and I am looking forward to reading it! The author reveals something else at the end of the book that has to do with the mission that was an awesome surprise leading me to believe that the next book will be even better. I believe that there will be some action sequences in the sequel as well. While the reveal surprised me, it made sense to me. I wish that the author would have hinted a bit more but overall I enjoyed the reveal.