This book is very short, with a catchy first page and an interesting concept. However it did take me an extremely long time to pick this (it had been on x5 tbr's) and when I did pick it up, it took x3 attempts to actually read past the first 30 pages and eventually complete it. At first, I was not sure why, as per the reasons above. Plus the prose was pretty and elegant. The concept is new and the pace is quick. Objectively this is a 4.5star book. But what I found reading this is that I want either plot or character development to drive the story. If it does not do either of those things it is really difficult for me to care and want to continue reading regardless of the high quality in all other areas.
Reading this book, I never really got to know very much about any of the characters other than superficially and even the narrator only vaguely. Also, there is no real plot driver (there was no real mystery, it wasn't thrilling, no relationship development, nor was there any real social commentary.)
The only real plot drivers were the small ways in how scientists observe and gather information, emotional impact if something goes wrong and it just touched on mental health issues with being alone for years away from civilization and with only 3 other people. But it never explored any of the concepts in depth. What saves this from being a 2 star to me is the last 15 pages are really interesting and engaging, but It would have been nice to have more of that.