Title: This Shattered World (Starbound #2)
Author: Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Acquired Via: ALA Las Vegas
Release Date: December 23, 2014
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.
The stunning second novel in the Starbound trilogy is an unforgettable story of love and forgiveness in a world torn apart by war.
My Review
You can read my review of the first book, These Broken Stars, HERE.
This Shattered World is Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner's second installation in their award-winning Starbound trilogy. Like its predecessor, These Broken Stars, it is a YA science fiction soap opera, except This Shattered World dials up the intensity and suspense by about a million and a half.
The two main characters in This Shattered World are different than those in These Broken Stars (though the previous couple does make an appearance). Captain Lee Chase is the heroine, who is married to her life as a soldier and is determined to beat the rebels on the war-torn planet, Avon. Flynn Cormac is quasi-leader of Avon's rebellion, who only wants peace and freedom for his people. Both characters have well-developed back stories, plus they don't turn away from all they believe in when they get the tingly britches. (You know what I'm talking about.) The romance was also very appealing to me because it had such a slow burn instead of a volcanic eruption of raging hormones.
The characters in This Shattered World doesn't end with Lee and Flynn like it did in the predecessor in the series with Lilac and Tarver. They aren't stranded on an abandoned planet - they're on an inhabited world of very different people. The colonists and the Fianna - the rebels - have likely never left Avon due to the various restrictions on their freedoms, and then there are all of the soldiers who come from all over the galaxy. Lee and Molly made the most sense to me as future human beings, as they were mixed-race with a great emphasis on their Chinese heritage. Granted, I would assume that people would be more focused on their planetary roots (Corinth, Verona, Avon, etc.) that far in the future, but I can see where it would be difficult to let go of Earth as the birthplace of humanity.
The "whispers" from These Broken Stars are back in This Shattered World, but they're not described in much more depth. They have, however, changed. That's as much as I will say because I really would hate to spoil anything for you.
Another plot point of This Shattered World that is incredibly important to the story is the Fury. Everyone that comes to Avon is susceptible to it and must be moved off-planet within a month or two of arriving. Well, except for one person - Jubilee Chase.
This Shattered World is the best book so far that I've read by either author (including Skylark), and it really made me excited to continue reading it each day. This Shattered World is dark, gritty, and does not pull many punches when it comes to the war. Despite being set hundreds or thousands of years in the future, it all felt relevant and real. I would love to read more fiction - science fiction, fantasy, YA, adult, WHATEVER - like this, and I'm very anxious to read the conclusion to the trilogy.
Buy Links
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Fishpond
To satisfy FTC guidelines, I am disclosing that I received an advance copy of the book at the annual American Library Association conference in Las Vegas. This has in no way affected the outcome of my review. All opinions expressed are rambling, honest, and completely my own.
Ooh, you've got me so excited to read this. Thanks for the great review.
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