Review: THESE BROKEN STARS by Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner

4.21 STARS from 751 GoodReaders

The blurb ( Disney-Hyperion):

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.

ps -- I'm telling you about this book a little early
so you can pre-order and get it in your own hands, or the hands of your minions, so that you have a great read ready for the Holiday break.

THESE BROKEN STARS was a real treat.  The writing is excellent, but what was even better was the fact that Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner totally surprised and delighted me with their plot twists.  

The early buzz about this book used the words 'the Titanic in Space' and I have to say that that did not intrigue me.

But in a way that description was correct.  There's a disaster at the beginning and many people die. Fortunately though that's just the first little bit of the story. And even more fortunate for me was that I ignored that descriptor and instead glombed onto the notion that there would be a fight to survive on a deserted planet.  I'm totally good with a survival story. 

Backstory

Lilac is the only child of THE richest man in the known universe.  Papa loves her dearly and surrounds her with all sorts of guards and protectors and no one gets in, and stays in, that inner circle unless he says so.

Her counterpoint is Tarver.  Tarver comes from a loving family of artsy-fartsy folk.  And despite the fact that he keeps a journal, he's a war hero.  Not a super killer or anything cliche like that, but a guy who just happened to be in the right place for his skills and cool head to be enough to save the day.

And it's because of his TV-friendly hero status that the two meet briefly.  Tarver doesn't know who she is, but there's a gathering on this huge space liner Lilac's daddy owns, and their paths cross.

It doesn't work out well as her entourage forces her to snub him, but you can tell that the two are attracted to each other, and that attraction lets you know that this book is in many ways a Romance novel.

NOW, having scared you with the Romance word, let me say that there is enough scifi in this book to make it a good read.  And it's entirely possible that guy's would like THESE BROKEN STARS.  But they will have to wade through the first part of the book before the Awesomesauce begins.

It sort of goes like this...

The first half of this book reads like a well written space adventure.  The two of them spar and survive.  BUT in the second half of the book everything changes.  The story takes a sweeping turn and gets creepy and mysterious, and I for one wasn't sure where things were headed.  The world wasn't what it appeared to be, and in fact, the universe wasn't exactly how it seemed.  Very cool.  And very much something like what Keith Laumer or even young Heinlein might have penned.

Dazzling first book.  It was familiar in parts and then it evolved into something wonderfully original.

HIGHLY RECOMMEND.  Tis ADULT WORTHY.

Pam~


To Be Published 12/10/13
THESE BROKEN STARS 
 (Starbound #1)
by Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner

Reading Information:
Word Count: 102,877
Page Count: 384
Accelerated Reader: 5.7 / points: 16.0
AR quiz: 164929
--sample pages and reviews available

• READ IT!  YES, read a sample.  Kaufman & Spooners writing will draw you in...