Recently Read: These Broken Stars

Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction
Year Published: 2013
Status: First in Trilogy, only book released
Page Count: 374
Rating: 4/5

I recently finished These Broken Stars by Amy Kaufman and Meagan Spooner. This the first in a young adult sci-fy trilogy that is made up of companion novels, meaning each book takes place in the same universe but follows different characters. I'm not sure if the characters from the first book will appear in the second book or not, but I am eager to find out.

These Broken Stars starts out on the Titanic of spaceships which is named the Icarus. Tarvar is a war hero who has been invited on the ship because of his new fame and he feels out of place with the rich people on the ship. Lilac is the heiress of the galaxies richest company and daughter to the man who started the company. She is used to a life of luxury and never letting people get too close to her. The two meet and share a flirtation before disaster strikes and the ship suddenly falls out of hyper space. Lilac and Tarver crash land on another planet and are forced to survive and attempt to get themselves rescued.

The cover of this book caught my attention, and then I had heard it described as Titanic in space and  I decided to pick it up. This book does have a Titanic feel in the beginning, but the plot of this book is so much more involved. This book quickly developed into way more than I thought it would be. The survival aspect to this book was exciting and the twists and the surprises in the plot were page-turning. The relationship between the two characters develops realistically. There are really only two characters in this book, but yet it's not boring. Tarver and Lilac are both very well developed and realistic characters. Their relationship is sweet and selfless, but it didn't take over the whole book. The plot was intricate beyond their relationship.

This book is told  in dual perspectives alternating between Tarver and Lilac. Another element to this book that  I really liked was a little side plot that consisted of dialogue between Tarver and someone questioning him about their time on the planet. I'm excited for the next book in the series which is entitled This Shattered World and is being released in December, 2014. This book also has a beautiful cover.