Review: This Shattered World

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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 rebels. Rebellion is in Flynn's blood. His sister died in the original uprising against the powerful corporations that terraformed Avon. These corporations make their fortune by terraforming uninhabitable planets across the universe and recruiting colonists to make the 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 base together, caught between two sides of a senseless war. As Flynn and Lee attempt to uncover the truth about Avon, they realize that there is a conspiracy on the planet that runs deeper than either of them could imagine, one that Lee's former commander Tarver Merendsen only scratched scratcehd the surface of two years ago. The stunning second novel in the Starbound series is an unforgettable story of love and forgiveness in a world torn apart by war.

Genre: science fiction romance

Publication date: December 2014

Mature content: no

Review: This Shattered World is book two in the the Starbound Triology by Amie Kaufman and Megan Spooner (following These Broken Stars - you can read my review here), and while it's almost as amazing as book one, I found it a bit harder to read. 

First, those introductory paragraphs at the beginning of each chapter are only fully explained at the end - until then you're left to read things that apparently fail to make any sense. Then the plot goes back and forth a lot between the same places, which makes it harder to keep track of. And the end felt a bit rushed and unrealistic - even for a science fiction book. I get the whole conspiracy thing, which follows from book one, but I never expected anything so complex and so overwhelming. 

Nevertheless, it's still a wonderful book and it's written in a way that once you start, you just can't put down. But in my opinion it's not as good as book one. Tarver and Lilac, from book one make an appearance in book two and it was great to "see" them again, though.

Now, although This Shattered World can be read as a stand alone book, I would recommend you to read book one first in any case - not just only because it will help you understand the most complicated part of the plot a little bit better, but also because These Broken Stars is really good and you shouldn't miss it.

I'm going to start book three (Their Fractured Light (Starbound)) right away, so you can expect a review of that one soon. 

Happy readings,