Book Review: These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

Title: These Broken Stars

Author(s): Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

Publisher: Disney-Hyperion

Publication date: December, 2013

Hardcover: 384 pages

Stand Alone or Series: Series–this is the first installment in a series.

How I got this book: Bought


Why I chose this book: I really love a good book about intergalactic space travel, so when this book came out on the market I definitely wanted to give it a try.

Synopsis:

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.

Review:

I was really excited going into this book.  I love books about space, intergalactic travel, new planets, all the works!  Of course, that meant this book had a lot of expectations to live up to.  And in the super-natural sci-fi aspects of the book, it completely blew my mind.  The way everything in this future-world was described was just so seamless, it made it hard to believe that it wasn’t real.

Now on to the rest of the book…  I felt like some parts of the book moved very slowly.  Mostly the first half of the book.  One interesting thing happens, and then the plot slows to a crawl, leaving me wondering when something was actually going to happen.  Fortunately, this doesn’t continue throughout the entire book.  Once I hit around the halfway point, everything started picking up, and I just couldn’t put the book down.

I really liked the type of relationship I got to see between Tarver and Lilac.  However, I would have liked to see them talking more to each other out loud, instead of just in their heads.  The way the plot is set up, their love affair just seems too…sudden.  As they get to know each other more I start to feel more comfortable with them as a couple, but in the beginning I found it too unbelievable.

Before I leave off, I just want to say that I would definitely recommend this book for others to read.  While it may have its flaws, which I mentioned above, it has one of the most original story lines I’ve seen in a while. And they’res a plot-twist that’ll blow your mind near the end.  So take a gander, and tell me what you think.

EDIT: I just realized I’ve already written a review for this same book.  In the interest of keeping all opinions known, I’ve gone ahead and kept this review posted.