Becky's View: These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner

These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner
♦publisher: Disney-Hyperion
♦release date: December 10th, 2013
♦hardcover, 374 pages
♦intended audience: Young adult
♦series: Starbound, book 1
♦source: gifted

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.

Review:
This book. THIS BOOK.  ♥♥♥

Most of the time, I don’t really go for survival stories, and I’ve even started to cool a bit toward the dystopian/sci-fi genre, but this book brought me right back into love with both.   The scope of These Broken Stars just feels so grand, and romance builds so genuinely that it doesn’t overpower the story. It's just the perfect blend of so many things that really make this story shine.

The Icarus is basically like the Titanic in space.   Wealthy, spoiled heiress Lilac, daughter of the ship’s creator, is on board.  Tarver, a recently decorated war hero , is on his way home to his family.  The story is told in alternating POV by these two and that worked so perfectly for this story to fully bring the reader into their completely opposite worlds.  They catch each other’s eye almost immediately, but their second encounter ends in disaster. 

And then the ship goes down.

Tarver and Lilac find themselves thrown together on a deserted planet.  As much as they try to keep hating each other---sometimes to emotionally protect themselves, sometimes to protect the other---they each can’t help but be surprised by the other’s cleverness, kindness, or unexpected skill.  I love how slowly the ice melted between them and how the reader gets to ease into knowing each of these characters back story and the reasons for being the way they are.

What I loved most is the eerie feeling of the planet itself.  The mystery surrounding the lack of life or terraforming,  the creepy, haunting occurances that start to happen, the psychological  play between madness, hallucination, or…something else.  It all had a very “Twilight Zone” type of feel to it.  There are a few wicked twists that will literally tear your heart out and leave your jaw gaping.

Beautifully crafted storytelling, a tale that I found myself swallowed up into from the beginning and hypnotized by until the end.

Find Amie Kaufman online: Website  •  Twitter  •  Facebook

Find Meagan Spooner online: Website  •  Twitter  •  Facebook

Purchase These Broken Stars: Amazon  •  BookDepository  •  Indiebound