Journey into Space received a largely positive review by Lorna Bradbury in The Daily Telegraph who referred to it as "an absorbing read, occasionally elevated into something more substantial by moments of inspired writing" She called Litt "perhaps one of our most interesting writers."[1] Ursula Le Guin, who reviewed the novel for The Guardian, was critical of the ending of the book which she described as "sinking into the inane."[2] Bradbury did agree with her that the last third of the novel was the "least satisfying part" but still was positive about the book.[1] Brandon Robshaw, who reviewed Journey into Space for The Independent said that Litt "expertly lays out the relationships, the hierarchies, the changing rules and orthodoxies, in short the entire sociology of this hermetically enclosed community over the duration of the voyage" and that the novel is a "welcome addition to his (Litt's) oeuvre."[3] Simon Akam, in reviewing the novel for the New Statesman, opined that Litt "has a tendency to overindulge his conceptual imagination when a willingness to curb it earlier might have created a tighter result" but also states: "the reason Journey Into Space succeeds is that its author has such a plethora of good ideas to work with that he can get away with overextending a few."[4] Andrew McKie considered Journey into Space one of the better works in a trend of literary writers trying their hands at science fiction: "Toby Litt has managed it too. He has done nothing very new, but he has written a good novel. Journey into Space avoids cliché, the sentences never go clunk, the reader is always engaged — and it offers a thoroughly old-fashioned future."[5]
