Review: This Shattered World (Starbound #2) by Amie Kaufman, Meagan Spooner

Title: This Shattered World (Starbound #2)
Author: Amie Kaufman, Meagan Spooner
My rating: 4 of 5 Stars

SUMMARY (from Goodreads)
Jubilee Chase and Flynn Cormac should never have met.

Lee is captain of the forces sent to Avon to crush the terraformed planet's rebellious colonists, but she has her own reasons for hating the insurgents.

Rebellion is in Flynn's blood. Terraforming corporations make their fortune by recruiting colonists to make the inhospitable planets livable, with the promise of a better life for their children. But they never fulfilled their promise on Avon, and decades later, Flynn is leading the rebellion.

Desperate for any advantage in a bloody and unrelentingly war, Flynn does the only thing that makes sense when he and Lee cross paths: he returns to base with her as prisoner. But as his fellow rebels prepare to execute this tough-talking girl with nerves of steel, Flynn makes another choice that will change him forever. He and Lee escape the rebel base together, caught between two sides of a senseless war.

MY THOUGHTS

First of all I want to say that I love the covers to this series. Not only they are gorgeous, but they are true to the story.

Secondly I really like this concept of three companion novels set in one universe and featuring different characters.

When I started reading This Shattered World I hoped that I would see more of Lilac and Tarver. And I did. And it wasn’t a short meaningless appearance just to please fans. Lilac and Tarver played big and important role in the second book. I like how the authors did such a great job incorporating characters from the previous installment.

The structure of the second book is similar to the first. We have main chapters and there are short chapters between them. These short chapters are about a little girl, her dreams or memories. It looks like the authors tried to mimic the structure of These Broken Stars where we had short chapters of Tarver’s interrogation between the main ones. But it didn’t work here the way it had worked in the first installment. Tarver’s interrogation chapters added suspense, little girl’s chapters only added confusion and were jarring interruptions. At the end I don’t see what the point of them was.

I couldn’t help but compare This Shattered World to the first installment. In These broken stars it was just Lilac and Tarver for the most part of the book and readers didn’t actually see much of this huge world. One of my complaints was lack of world building. In This Shattered World we see more of it and I’m very glad about it. In the first book rebellions were only mentioned, in the second Installment we are in the middle of the war.

What This Shattered World was lacking was suspense. While reading These Broken Stars I was constantly on the edge, asking myself questions, guessing and second-guessing everything. With the second installment – not so much. Probably it was because the big revelation have been made in the first book and for me there wasn’t questions who and why.

These Broken Stars was a love-story. In These Shattered World the romance between Flynn and Jubilee took back seat to the rebellion and war.

As for the main characters the authors continue to bring to life amazing couples. Jubilee is such a kick-ass heroine. But she also has a vulnerable side that no one can see. Until Flynn. He is one of my favorite heroes. He is caring, honest, loyal and brave.

I liked Sofia, town girl who helped Flynn. I was intrigued by her and wanted to know more about her. So now I’m really excited about the next installment, because apparently it would be Sofia’s book.

All in all This Shattered World was a great mix of fast-paced sci-fi, mystery and romance. I highly recommend it.

Review: Divergent (Divergent #1) by Veronica Roth

Title: Divergent (Divergent #1)
Author: Veronica Roth
Publication date: February 28th 2012
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
My rating: 5 of 5 Stars

SUMMARY (from Goodreads)
In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue--Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is--she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are--and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, Tris also learns that her secret might help her save the ones she loves . . . or it might destroy her.

MY THOUGHTS

I'm probably the last person on earth to read Divergent. With all the hype surrounding this series I was a little skeptical about reading Divergent. But I liked it. I liked it a lot. Many readers complained that Divergent doesn’t deserve so much attention. I disagree. Several past years had so many bad dystopia releases, and Divergent is really good, especially in comparison to many others in the genre.

Action-packed books are not my thing, but I couldn’t put this one down. It was fast-paced, one scene was constantly replaced by another, but I never grew bored, I kept turning pages, anxious to know what happens next.

One of the reason I liked this book was Tris. She was a kick-ass heroine. She was courageous, strong, selfless and loyal to those she loved. She’s not ideal, she had her flaws, but she was an amazing heroine.

Another thing I liked in Divergent was romance. Tris and Four’s love story was such a beautiful one. Their relationship developed gradually and realistically. And I couldn’t help but fell hard for both of them.

I can’t say that Divergent is a book without flaws, it has some of them. Mild spoiler ahead. There were several deaths at the end of the book, which happened very quickly. Then the scene immediately moved to the next and reader did’t have time to process what happened. Because of the rush, these deaths didn’t have necessary emotional impact. But despite some flaws I give Divergent five Stars. Maybe I’m too generous, but I enjoyed this book a lot and it deserved them.

I’m really looking forward to the second book. Also I’m so glad I picked this series after all three books have been released.

Review: These Broken Stars (Starbound #1) by Amie Kaufman, Meagan Spooner

Title: These Broken Stars (Starbound #1)
Author: Amie Kaufman, Meagan Spooner
Publication date: December 10th 2013
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
My rating: 5 of 5 Stars

SUMMARY (from Goodreads)
It's a night like any other on board the Icarus. Then, catastrophe strikes: the massive luxury spaceliner is yanked out of hyperspace and plummets into the nearest planet. Lilac LaRoux and Tarver Merendsen survive. And they seem to be alone.

Lilac is the daughter of the richest man in the universe. Tarver comes from nothing, a young war hero who learned long ago that girls like Lilac are more trouble than they’re worth. But with only each other to rely on, Lilac and Tarver must work together, making a tortuous journey across the eerie, deserted terrain to seek help.

Then, against all odds, Lilac and Tarver find a strange blessing in the tragedy that has thrown them into each other’s arms. Without the hope of a future together in their own world, they begin to wonder—would they be better off staying here forever?

Everything changes when they uncover the truth behind the chilling whispers that haunt their every step. Lilac and Tarver may find a way off this planet. But they won’t be the same people who landed on it.

MY THOUGHTS

First of all I want to say that the cover is stunning. I absolutely love it! Though lately beautiful covers often accompany bad books I still can’t walk away from a gorgeous one.

These Broken Stars is a book that I’ve been dying to read for months now. In truth I began to read this book with a little apprehension. After all the high ratings and amazing reviews I had read my expectations were very high. I was afraid to be disappointed, but disappointed I was not. This was a really good book.

Though These Broken Stars is the first book in Starbound trilogy, it reads as a stand-alone. Dear authors, I appreciate it very much. I hate when the first book ends with a cliffhanger and I don’t have the second one and have to wait for months to know what happened next. In Starbound trilogy there will be 3 companion novels, about different people in the same world.

The world in These Broken Stars is huge and has great possibilities. Unfortunately the world building is rather scarce and this is my only complaint about this book. I want to know more about this society. But the authors give us only the outline in the first book. I hope to see more in the next one.

The story was told in the POVs of Lilac and Tarver. And I really liked these little parts of Tarver’s interrogation between the chapters.

Lilac LaRoux and Tarver Merendsen are the only survivals after crash of a spaceship Irarus. Lilac is the daughter of the richest man in the universe. Tarver is a young war hero; he came from middle-class and is treated like the lowest among society. To survive on an unknown planet they have to work together.

One of the great aspects of this book was mystery. It kept me turning pages. I could barely put the book down; I just needed to know what was going on with Lilac and Tarver. Voices? Is Lilac going crazy? Why Tarver is interrogated? What has happened to them? Where is Lilac? Endless questions were in my head. I don’t get answers for all my questions. There are some loose ends. I get the feeling that the authors made this deliberately and we’ll get more information in the next installment.

This book is not sci-fi, it is romance driven. If you don’t like romance and want sci-fi, spaceships and so on, maybe this book is not for you. If you want beautiful romance with sci-fi entourage, grab These Broken Stars.

I really liked the romance here. I loved the dynamic of Lilac and Tarver’s relationship: from distrust and prejudice into reluctant partnership into friendship and trust and later love. I wanted more steam, but I understand that they had more important things like survival.

This book is a perfect mix of sci-fi, romance, survival and mystery. I highly recommend it!