Dare Mighty Things

Written by Heather Kaczynski

Narrated by Soneela Nankani

The Selection meets The 5th Wave in this heart-racing debut duology about a girl competing for a spot on a mysterious mission to the outer reaches of space.

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.

Eighteen-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 is 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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Oct 10, 2017
• ISBN: 9780062688446

Heather Kaczynski

Heather Kaczynski writes books for teenagers and other people who like books about teenagers. They’re usually about teenagers saving the world, because she really believes they can. Heather never got to go to space camp, so she had to settle for writing about it. After graduating cum laude with a degree in biology, she returned to her first love of books, and she now works in a library near NASA. She lives with her husband, their daughter, and way too many books. She’s not nearly brave enough to go into space, but she did twirl a fire baton in high school. Visit her online at www.heatherkaczynski.com.

Reviews for Dare Mighty Things

[readingbeader · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

3.5 stars

Don't judge this book by it's cover, or it's title. Both make me think of a motivational speech. And this a book is about space travel, set in the future, and a competition to be the fifth astronaut on a secret mission. So secret we don't find out what it is until the very last chapters. Cassandra Gupta, an only child, has always wanted to go to space. She's been geneered, genetically modified to be gifted, and have enhanced physical abilities. She's driven and is used to being the best. As the youngest competitor, she is not used to being near the bottom of the list. Super motivated she slowly moves up until she is at number two and cannot seem to get to the first spot. When the reveal happens, which I did guess, the set up for the next book is complete.

Bonus points for having Cass be asexual.

[empressreece · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book was fantastic- one of my 10* faves! I absolutely loved the twist at the end with Luka. I'm going to be watching out everyday for the sequel. I hope it comes sooner rather than later!

[kamoorephoto · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

First one in the ‘books’ for 2018! Thanks to no plans for New Year’s Eve, I was glued to this all last night, and then finished it basically at the 24 hour mark. And it was a Christmas present from a friend! I’ve already stuck to my first book resolution: read from my huge stack of books I own! AND it was a good one! ‘Dare Mighty Things’ is a story about a competition between a group of the brightest and bravest young people vying for a spot on a top-secret space mission funded by NASA a few decades from now, and it’s only at the very end of the book that it’s revealed what the actual mission is. Cassandra (Cassie) Gupta isn’t your usual storybook ‘heroine’ either, and I enjoyed following her character and getting to know her; she’s 18, Indian-American, is one of the first wave of ‘designer babies’, super smart, and athletic, and ever since she can remember, her dream has been to go into space. All the way through the book, I couldn’t help but think about how I’m kind of in awe of ANYone who has that drive to go through what it takes to test for and train to go into space, because it has to be a VERY intense drive. You see this from the many characters in the book, not just Cassie. She starts to develop friends as she goes through the program, something that’s pretty new to her, as she now has found a place where she ‘fits in’. So this story has elements of not only this ‘big picture’ (in this case, a HUGE ONE, ie Space) that she is finding her place in, but one where the main character Cassie is newly discovering what it means to develop bonds with others, at the same time as pushing oneself and persevering to achieve a long-held dream. At times it’s intense, and at others, very self-reflective.The writing in this book was never a struggle to read, even with all the quasi-tech lingo, and (author) Heather Kaczynski's love of space flight is obvious when you read this book; it’s hard not to get excited, and a bit terrified, for the mission. Now that I have read to the end and know that it’s a duology (I must read the upcoming 2nd book to know what on Earth, haha) is going to happen. There’s definitely a lot more to come!