This Shattered World By Amie Kaufman And Meagan Spooner

I received this galley in consideration for an honest review.

This Shattered World By Amie Kaufman And Meagan SpoonerThis Shattered World by Amie Kaufman, Meagan Spooner
Series: Starbound #2
on December 23, 2014
Genres: Young Adult, Science Fiction
Goodreads
four-stars

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.

This Shattered World opens with a scene that gives you a perfect idea of who Lee and Flynn are, or at least how they want you to think they are in the tough world of Avon.  Flynn’s desperate attempt to support the rebel’s cause and Lee’s single-minded hatred of the outlaws make them enemies from the first page and it also gives the story a great jumping off point.  The scenes twist and turn through swamps and military bases, secrets and political intrigue.  It was one of those stories that had many layers, and each layer revealed twists that made the story more tense with each page.   Scattered throughout the book are small vignettes that seem out of place, but slowly tell a tale that ends up meeting with the rest of the story.  It was a technique that could have gone very wrong, but I think it really worked in this case.    As with These Broken Stars, the romance in This Shattered World is between two people who seem to be from different worlds but end up having more in common than they believe, or want to believe, really.  The soldier and the rebel is an appealing trope and as a vehicle to launch the relationship between Flynn and Lee, it worked very well.

The world building was very well done and continued to develop on the foundation that was laid in book one.   The long and evil arm of LaRoux industries is still a presence in This Shattered World and while I don’t want to give too much away, I will tell you that, yes, Tarver and Lilac do make an appearance in this book.   Since Lee and Flynn are both soldiers you can bet on some fantastic action and a lot of fighting.  Their story also makes some wonderful nods to Romeo and Juliet, which I loved discovering, almost like Easter eggs in a story that was very much in the realm of science fiction.   While I was really looking forward to this book, I was still a little apprehensive and wondering if the magic of the first book would be created once again.  I can say that This Shattered World definitely lived up to book one while telling its own story and continuing a series that is gripping, engaging, and very romantic.

 

four-stars

About Amie Kaufman

Amie is the New York Times bestselling co-author of the award-winning These Broken Stars, This Shattered World and Illuminae. Based in Melbourne, Australia, Amie writes science fiction and fantasy for young (and not so young) adults.

About Meagan Spooner

Meagan Spooner grew up reading and writing every spare moment of the day, while dreaming about life as an archaeologist, a marine biologist, an astronaut. She graduated from Hamilton College in New York with a degree in playwriting, and has spent several years since then living in Australia. She’s traveled with her family all over the world to places like Egypt, South Africa, the Arctic, Greece, Antarctica, and the Galapagos, and there’s a bit of every trip in every story she writes. She currently lives and writes in Asheville, North Carolina, but the siren call of travel is hard to resist, and there’s no telling how long she’ll stay there.  In her spare time she plays guitar, plays video games, plays with her cat, and reads

Kate


3 responses to “This Shattered World By Amie Kaufman And Meagan Spooner

  1. I loved the Romeo & Juliet vibe I got from This Shattered World. It instantly made me love it even more than I already did, as I used to be obsessed with R&J. That being said, I think This Shattered World is a massively awesome addition to the series, and I’m definitely looking forward to what they have in store for the last one!

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