review; this shattered world
This Shattered World
by Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner
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.
Review:
It took me far longer than I would have liked to get my hands on this book. I’ve been searching for it since it came out, but was unable to even order the paperback version online. Until finally, my cousin (who also happens to be one of my best friends) found it, ordered it, and told me it was the birthday present she owed me from last year. Success, right? Wrong! The shipment took longer than we liked to reach, and by the time it reached her home, I was out of town again. Luckily, I was meeting my parents just a couple of days after that, so she passed it to them and I finally got my hands on the book two days before my younger sister’s wedding anniversary.
I started it the day after I got it – and finished it barely three days later. Not even, I think. I only put it down because I had to.
I will admit, I was a little apprehensive that the authors would not be able to reconstruct the magic of These Broken Stars. The first novel involved pretty much only two characters. Would they be trying to duplicate that with the second?
What even was I worried about though? I mean, the second I cracked open the book, I knew. This would be as magical a journey as the first, and so very different. Lee and Flynn are as different from Lilac and Tarver as chalk and cheese. They are kindred spirits, in a sense, with a different way of approaching problems. They clash and they argue, but there is a pull between them that try as they might, they just cannot ignore.
And they turn their backs on all they have known for the chance that the other is exactly who they hope – an ally to find a third way, a better way, out of a conflict that has gone out too long. And instead find themselves in the middle of a huge conspiracy.
From the beginning, I suspected that the whispers would be back. After all, LaRoux did not seem the type of mastermind to have only one secret facility. Weaving together Irish folklore and the whispers ability to show people things was masterful. The cast of characters were all engaging and strong in their own right, that one actually felt their hurt and pain. There was representation, and while I would love to hear more about some of the side characters (Mike and Turlough’s love story is something I would be fascinated by), Lee and Flynn kept me hooked throughout.
Having Tarver and Lilac appear as well was a stroke of genius. They did not take any of the focus off of Lee and Flynn, and rather brought together the pieces of the puzzle – it highlighted just how far LaRoux was willing and capable of going.
I am very glad that Their Fractured Light will focus on a character already introduced in the series, as well as, I think, one already mentioned. I am unsure if my suspicions are right yet, but I have a feeling they are.
Waiting until the novel comes out is going to be torture.
Ara
I’m Ara, a Southeast Asian writer who someday hopes to have published a novel, and who is currently losing herself in the worlds created by others. I love books and food and television and blogging and I get distracted and sidetracked easily.
4 Comments
thetomatowrites
I STILL haven’t picked this one up and it’s a little ridiculous at this point because I could easily. I gotta get back on that. Thank you for introducing me to this series, though.
Ara
ALEX PLEASE READ IT SO I CAN GUSH AT YOU MORE ABOUT IT. <3
TeaPartyPrincess
Fab review, sounds like you really enjoyed it 🙂
Cora | http://www.teapartyprincess.co.uk/
Ara
I love this series so much, it’s one of my favourites!