Review : These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner
These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner
Pages : 378
Genre : YA, Speculative fiction
Series : Starbound, book 1
My Rating : 4.5/5
About the Book :
Lilac is the daughter of the richest man in the universe.
Tarver comes from nothing, a cynical war hero.
Both journey across the eerie deserted terrain for help. Everything changes when they uncover the truth.
My Thoughts :
I judged These Broken Stars by its cover and I deeply regret it.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s a gorgeous cover. I love covers with pretty girls in pretty dresses : they might not be the most originals, but they’re pretty. They also, unfortunately, rarely tell you much about the story, and almost always make me doubt that the book is as pretty on the inside than it is on the outside. And so, even though it had a lovely cover and an intriguing story, when These Broken Stars came out I chose to skip this one.
Over time, I read good reviews that incited me to pick this book and read it – and I’m so glad I did. These Broken Stars was not at all what I expected. I expected lots of romance, possibly insta-love, a predictable plot, a boring villain… most of which I didn’t find in this novel.
These Broken Stars is a survival story. Yes, there is romance. And yes, there are science-fiction elements. But we barely get a glimpse of the space technology : the crash happens very early in the book, just after the characters are introduced, and from then on it’s about surviving on the new planet, looking for food, trying to find a way to get rescued. Lilac and Tarver fall for each other as they struggle to find their way, and I thought their relationship developed realistically considering the setting. The story spans days, a couple weeks maybe, so it’s not too much of an instantaneous things.
But what I enjoyed most was the story. There’s a mystery surrounding this planet they crashed on, and the clues are small, subtle, nicely paced through the characters’ journey. I expected something silly and predictable, but what I found was something fresh, grand and surprisingly relatable. I was hooked to the story, I felt a lot more things than I thought I would, the writing was simply gorgeous – and the last few chapters amazed me in many ways.
I’m the first surprised to say this is an early favorite of 2016. I’m also glad I jumped in just after the third book was published this past December. I’m expecting the next two books to have a little more science-fiction, but I’m excited to see what other original worlds the authors have in store and which new characters I’ll get to meet.
It sounds like I’m totally in danger of making the same mistake by passing up on this book because of its cover. Unfortunately, there are far too many covers that look like that — and for sure it’s all pretty and everything but I can’t help but see something like that and think it’s going to be (like you said) all insta-lovey or worse yet, involving a love triangle or something. Putting this on my goodreads list, now that you’ve vetted it 🙂
No love triangle here, and I would say an insta-attraction but not insta-love – especially once you get past the introduction and get to the crash on the planet. The characters have that thing where they fight each other at first, but it’s not overdone either. They have friendly moments and days where they walk without exchanging a word.
The story is neat too. It’s not all about plot twists (which can be fun but don’t always give substance to a book!) There’s not a lot of “OMG” moments; it’s about the setting and these two characters trying to get rescued or at least survive. It’s a bit of a quiet book, which makes
I’d be curious to hear your thoughts if you do read it!