Early Review: This Shattered World by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

This Shattered World
by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner
Read: October 23 - 28, 2014
Published: December 23, 2014 by Disney-Hyperion
Source: BEA (Thank you, Disney!)
Tags: Sci-fi/Fantasy, space travel, YA
Series: Starbound #2
Find: Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | The Book Depository 

The second installment in the epic Starbound trilogy introduces a new pair of star-crossed lovers on two sides of a bloody war.

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.
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This Shattered World is book two in Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner's Starbound trilogy. Book one was These Broken Stars, and you don't want to miss the novella This Night So Dark. Starbound is a sci-fi series, with each book featuring a new couple and planet. The stories interconnect and the mysteries get more frightening, while the villain becomes more dangerous as the series progresses. Plus lots of swoon!

Five points about This Shattered World: 

1) The intergalactic plot thickens - If you've read These Broken Stars, you know that something serious is happening in space. Book two, This Shattered World, gives readers a better sense of the enormity of what these characters are up against: what the Bad People are trying to accomplish, what they're willing to do to get there, and what they are capable of doing to cover their tracks. I loved watching the lens widen and catching all the clues as to what was happening, as Jubilee and Flynn work to figure it out for themselves. 

2) Two Narrators - In Jubilee and Flynn, we have another pairing that seems mismatched at first, but as the story unfolds, you realize how perfect they actually are for each other. Even better, each of them stood out to me individually. Especially the fact that they have incredible convictions. I admired both of them, even when those convictions seemed diametrically opposed. 

Lee is a badass captain stationed on Avon. But though she is excellent at being a soldier, she has a history that has shaped who she is and why she believes so strongly in her mission. Plus she loves her job and knows that she's good at it. Flynn is on the exact opposite side of the line as Lee. Raised on Avon, he is a leader of the resistance group, the very people that Lee and her soldiers are fighting against. Lee's favorite accessory is her gun, but surprisingly, Flynn would rather win without violence. Though he's willing to do what it takes to complete his mission. It's very clear that neither saw the other coming, especially not the part where they team up…or fall in love. And that all happens after Flynn kidnaps Lee. 

3) Love - The romance in this story is slow burn and delicious. It's the kind where both parties have much bigger commitments than each other. Commitments that are taking them in different directions, but you are desperate for them to find a way to be together anyway. I won't tell you what happens, but it was another aching, lovely romance from these authors. 

4) Revisit from old friends - AKA we get to see Tarver and Lilac again, and I love them even more now. One thing that I like so much about companion series is the ability to get an outside perspective on previous characters. It's so fun to see what Jubilee thinks of Lilac. After getting to know Lilac so well in her book, I'd almost forgotten the way the rest of the world perceives LaRoux's famous daughter. And Tarver can't get any more amazing. But as the larger plot builds, it's fun and also frightening to see these two groups converge and broaden each other's perspective on what they're facing. 

5) More WHOA moments - The book doesn't quite have the !!!!!!! moment of These Broken Stars. But it definitely has at least one event that had me completely freaking out, and not sure how the characters would recover from. I love that these authors include scenes that test the characters and add to the complexity of the story. 

This Shattered World features another strong science fiction storyline that builds on and raises the stakes from the previous story. The tension is high and the romance is yummy. Don't miss book two in the Starbound trilogy! 

Love Triangle Factor: None
Cliffhanger Scale: Low - This is the end of Lee and Flynn's narratives. But we are given some clear direction for the future, including the next planet and at least one of the characters. 

Come back Friday for my stop on the This Shattered World blog tour. Amie and Meg will be discussing gender in science fiction, which you do NOT want to miss!