The Infinite Miles

DEBUT Harper Starling has been directionless ever since her best friend Peggy disappeared. The friends were fans of Infinite Odyssey, a show about the heroic Argonaut adventuring through spacetime. Infinite Odyssey is fiction, so Harper is stunned to learn that Peggy met the real Argonaut, Miles, before being absorbed by an alien parasite called the Incarnate. Unlike his TV counterpart, Miles isn’t interested in cleaning up his mess. Instead, he strands Harper in the past for her “protection.” Alone and disillusioned, Harper will have to save the day herself or become the Incarnate’s next victim. The novel is character-driven, so readers shouldn’t expect nonstop planet-hopping adventures—a large portion of the book follows Harper on 1970s Earth, wrestling with her own resentment and self-doubt. Although the novel’s climax takes place on an alien world, it is chiefly an internal victory. With those expectations set, readers can enjoy watching flawed characters struggle to overcome loss and anger in pursuit of what they love.