Zoe: Hello everyone and welcome back. Today I am going to be reviewing a book I read recently called These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner. I had heard wonderful things about this book prior to reading it and wanted to give you my take away from this book.
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.
First of all I absolutely love this cover!! A friend of mine recommended this book and I am really glad I read it because I did really enjoy it. I have read a lot of positive and negative reviews on this book and agree with almost all of them finding both positive and negative aspects whilst reading. After I finished the book I was left slightly confused and overwhelmed by what I had read. It is an understatement to say that a lot happens in this book, particularly in the last 100 pages. I started the book really knowing what was happening and really engaged in the plot line however as the book progressed I slowly became more bewildered and shocked by some of the things that were happening (however this isn’t to say I didn’t like them). First of all, the writing is beautiful. All the descriptions are exceptionally well done and the story flowed really well. I thought this was really interesting specially seeing as there were 2 authors as the voices went really well together and they obviously had a very clear idea about the story they wanted to write. The romance was well built, and completely believable and I wound up liking both of the characters. One of the things I liked the most was Lilac and Tarver’s relationship development as I became really invested in them and really wanted to see them happy, however it didn’t start this way. The book centres around Lilac and Tarver however for the first 30% of the book I found Lilac so annoying, unhelpful and extremely hard to reason with. Lilac is a spoiled, pampered princess, but what people don’t know about her is that she is very smart. What made me hate her at first was her attitude and the fact that she didn’t want any help whatsoever. She positioned herself as needing to be strong no matter how much she was suffering and too stubborn. She refused any help from Tarver even when she could hardly walk and was slowing them both down, being extremely obnoxious for a large chunk of the novel, in order to feel like she has control of the situation. As the novel continued she became more helpful and understood her circumstances so I promise she gets better but it was hard to like her in the beginning. “And there it is, against all hope, like the sun peeking out from behind the clouds. The smallest hint of a smile.” Of the 2 characters Tarver was my favourite, being an absolute gentleman and helping hand at all times. Despite this I sometimes found his portrayal of a teenager a bit unrealistic. I thought his character was well developed and unlike Lilac he was easy to like and continued that way throughout the book. One of my favourite things to read was the relationship between Lilac and Tarver. It wasn’t one of those insta love, or love triangle situations but was really sweet and well portrayed. Whilst I was reading I assumed the book was going to be a very clique romance book and I thought I knew exactly what was going to happen. Despite my initial thoughts the last 100 pages really threw me for a loop as everything got really turned around. I could see something was going to happen but what did was totally baffling and shocking. I’m not sure if I loved or hated the twists, but I do know they were really original which I love. Overall, I think it was a really well developed book and I loved the romance between the characters. I did have some issues with the world building and found myself confused with some of the elements but ultimately enjoyed the ending. I think I will continue with the second book even though it follows 2 completely different characters. I would love to read a sequel following these 2 characters again because I thought they were amazing, but I’m sure the second one will introduce equally amazing ones and be a good follow on. I would highly recommend this book to everyone who loves science fiction and romance books. 3.5/5 stars Thank you so much for reading everyone! If any of you have read this book make sure to tell me how you liked it in the comments below and if the second one is worth reading. Hope you are all having a lovely week and we will be back with another post soon. x Advertisements Share this:
