Showing posts with label Amie Kaufman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Amie Kaufman. Show all posts

Favorite Friday (#52) - This Shattered World by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

Have a favorite book? Series? One that you've just read or are currently reading? Favorite Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Books and Swoons where we spotlight some of our Favorite Reads. Everyone is welcome to join. Just enter your information on the linky or leave us a comment!

This week pick is: This Shattered World by Amie Kaufman and 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.

This is such a great story filled with action and suspense! I love all of the characters!! It's definitely a must read!

About the authors:


Amie Kaufman is the New York Times bestselling co-author of Illuminae (with Jay Kristoff) and These Broken Stars, This Shattered World, and Their Fractured Light (with Meagan Spooner.) She writes science fiction and fantasy for teens, and her favourite procrastination techniques involve chocolate, baking, sailing, excellent books and TV, plotting and executing overseas travel, and napping.

She lives in Melbourne, Australia with her husband, their rescue dog, and her considerable library.
Author's links: Website / Goodreads / Twitter / Facebook




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.
Author's links: Website / Goodreads / Twitter / Facebook

I hope you can join us in sharing and talking about some of your favorite reads. Book talk always make me happy. 

What are one of your favorite reads?

Review: This Shattered World by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner


This Shattered World (Starbound #2)
Author: Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner
Release Date: December 23, 2014
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Source: Personal Copy
Review by: Nahomi
    
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.

5 stars out of 5 stars

      What happens when a soldier and a rebel cross paths? I’ll tell you what, This Shattered World is what happens! I really really really enjoyed reading this story!! I couldn’t read fast enough to satisfy my need to find out what would happened next. This story has so many elements that I would like to talk about that some I will mention briefly and others I will expound on. So, today's review will be in list/paragraph format. Lets begin with the elements I loved that I would like to mention briefly:

~There is more action through out the entire story.
~The mystery of LaRoux industry continues, yet left me wanting more.
~Avon is a complex world full of great three-dimensional characters.
~The story is fast paced.
~Lilac and Tarver appear briefly and I got to see how they are doing!

       This Shattered World really highlights our resilience, and the intricacy of our relationships with one another. It focuses on the ability we as humans have to survive and do what is right regardless of the consequences to ourselves. Both Jubilee and Flynn demonstrate that through their character and actions. Although, they are from different sides of the fight they have a common goal; to keep their people safe. Flynn is such a great character. He is strong in a non-conventional way. I love that he would prefer to try and resolve issues in a peaceful manner rather than resorting to violence. Jubilee is strong, really just a force to be reckoned with. I love that although she can drop a person in a number of ways she only resorts to violence when it's absolutely necessary.

     I love the complicated relationship that Lee and Flynn have. There is a hint of romance throughout the story but it isn’t the main focus. It is refreshing that both characters are aware that the circumstances under which they met are less than ideal, and that they would need to get to know each other under different circumstances to see if their relationship will actually work.

     The story line is more complicated than in These Broken Stars. There are a lot of different factors that are in play in this novel which make it such a suspenseful story. I can't wait to start reading Their Fractured Light!! I'm dying to know how this story will unfold.




Mini Review: This Night So Dark by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner


This Night So Dark (Starbound #1.5)
Author: Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner
Release Date: October 7, 2014
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Source: Personal Copy
Review by: Nahomi
  
Tarver still has nightmares about the night, six months before the Icarus crash, when he rescued civilian researchers held hostage by brutal mercenaries. Now he and Lilac reconcile his memories of that night with the truth uncovered after the crash.

Short connects first two novels.

Rating: 4 stars out 5 stars

This Night So Dark is a great segue novella between These Broken Stars and This Shattered World. I was really excited when I realized that there was a novella that connected the two stories!! After finishing These Broken Stars I was having Lilac and Tarver withdrawals, and started to read This Night So Dark immediately.

This novella is action packed and fast paced! It's full of descriptive action sequences and suspense. TNSD shows Tarver in action which we didn't really get to see much of in TBS. I was happy to get a peek of Lilac and Tarver's lives after they were rescued!! Overall This Night So Dark is a great novella that gives some background information about the LaRoux Industries mystery, but really, it just left me wanting more.




Review: These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner


These Broken Stars 
(Starbound #1)
Author: Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner
Release Date: December 10, 2013
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Source: Personal Copy
Review by: Nahomi
    
Luxury spaceliner Icarus suddenly plummets from hyperspace into the nearest planet. Lilac LaRoux and Tarver Merendsen survive -- alone. Lilac is the daughter of the richest man in the universe. Tarver comes from nothing, a cynical war hero. Both journey across the eerie deserted terrain for help. Everything changes when they uncover the truth.

The Starbound Trilogy: Three worlds. Three love stories. One enemy.

4.5 stars out of 5 stars

        A while ago I went to the book signing for This Shattered World. After hearing Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner talk about their stories, I had to have them (it didn't hurt that the covers are gorgeous)! So, I bought These Broken Stars and This Shattered World and they’ve been on my to-read list ever since. I was finally able to reading These Broken Stars and I am so happy I did! I am not a Sci-fi fan but this book is sooo good.

       These Broken Stars is a great story that depicts strength in the face of adversity. I love how this book highlights the ability to adapt and change through Lilacs and Tarver’s experience and character growth. The banter and dialogue between Lilac and Tarver is great; and I really enjoyed the love hate relationship between them. Lilac comes off as spoiled and superficial but turns out to be this really smart, strong, and a kind person. In the beginning Tarver was annoying, and a little too judgmental for my taste. Don’t get me wrong I really loved his character. Tarver is rough around the edges but a total sweetheart who had me swooning a lot. Lilac and Tarver are really multidimensional characters that I grew to love as the story progressed.

        My curiosity of how Lilac and Tarver's relationship would play out was the reason I kept reading this story; because I found the beginning a little slow. As I mentioned before I’m not a fan of Sci-fi and there was some world building in the beginning that was necessary but that I wasn’t into. After the beginning and the action started I was hooked. The pacing alternated between spurts of action and waiting. There is an element of mystery which really keeps the plot interesting and left me wanting more. There was a point in this story during which my heart literally broke and I was a hot mess. I couldn't believe Kaufman and Spooner did that. I was so freakin' sad, jeez. I was biting my nails right until the very end. These Broken Stars is a great story it has a little of everything: action, suspense, mystery, romance and heart break. I can't wait to read This Shattered World and Their Fractured Light.






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