Voyagers by Meg Charlton
Voyagers
by Meg Charlton
Literary | Science Fiction
320 Pages
Released June 2026
Rating: ★★★★★
Goodreads
Content Warnings
It seems like every summer there tends to be a prevailing theme, and I believe this summer’s theme is quite clearly this: extraterrestrials. Which just happens to be one of my favorite things to read about! Of course that meant I had to pick up Voyagers next, which has been on my want-to-read list for quite a while.
This book follows Alex, now an adult, as he reflects on his strange childhood in the wake of some very serious current events. When Alex was six years old, he vanished for 36 hours alongside his newfound friend, Ana. Their disappearance seemingly points to an alien abduction, a memory which is exacerbated now that the world is rocked by a mysterious signal coming from space. But the very thing that brought them together, also tore Alex and Ana apart. As the world begins to dissolve into chaos, Alex is desperate to reach back out to his childhood friend and determine once and for all: what really happened?
Every now and then I come across a book that I completely lose myself in. The beginning had me intrigued but by the end, I was completely immersed in the story, so much so that I had a bit of a “book hangover” by the time it ended. There are stories that change something inside us, and this book felt like that for me - something that I think is harder to find in a debut novel.
This book reminded me a lot of Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow - much of the book is focused on the friendship dynamic between Alex and Ana in the aftermath of an event they cannot fully process. I really appreciate the speculative nature of what happened to them, Alex’s doubt contrasted against Ana’s fierce belief. Their drastically different upbringings in response to their experience was also intriguing to read about, and by the end of the story, I understood why it was so important to the author to spend a large part of the book focusing on their relationship and family interactions.
The story is also quite introspective, and I loved the way the author touched on the concept of memories and how, over time, we begin to question our own experiences, especially from childhood. At first, I had hoped that it would be science-fiction in nature, which initially is more of a background plot. But, as we shift more and more to present day, the “Signal” plot becomes a larger focus of the story. I really like the way the author paced this novel, I never felt bored or disinterested in what was going on.
In many ways Voyagers was also very cleverly written, though I will decline to explain as I feel it would potentially be a spoiler. Suffice it to say, there are other subplots that initially seem unimportant but play a bigger part later on.
I think there’s quite a few audiences that would appreciate this book. Of course, the fans of Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow but also anyone that enjoys science fiction (or is interested in getting into science fiction). This book was a beautiful blend of character driven and plot driven writing that I think many will enjoy! I will definitely be picking up more of Meg Charlton’s books, whenever those come out!