Book Review :: These Broken Stars, by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman, Meagan Spooner
ISBN: 1423171217
Published by Allen & Unwin
on 2014-11-11
Genres: Science Fiction, Young Adult
Pages: 374
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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.

Last updated on 6 July 2020

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My thoughts on These Broken Stars

These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner has been on my TBR list for a long time now, even before I bought a copy for myself at a book sale. I finally picked it up after realising it was only book that I had on hand that fit the Blogger’s Bookshelf Book Club prompt for June: an author who shares your initials (thanks, Amie!).

I’m really glad I read These Broken Stars, despite the kick I needed to pick it up. As the description says, it tells the story of Lilac and Tarver, two teens who escape an exploding spaceship in a pod, only to land on a planet which appears to have no life. These Broken Stars follows the two as they try and stay alive on the planet, search for other survivors of the explosion, and figure out why Lilac is hearing whispers.

“And there it is, against all hope, like the sun peeking out from behind the clouds. The smallest hint of a smile.”

Science Fiction books, especially ones actually set in space, are not my jam, despite me loving the genre in TV and film. When it comes to Science Fiction stories set in space I tend to stay away from them. However, These Broken Stars surprised me. While it started on a spaceship and was full of space jargon (one of the things I don’t love), as Lilac and Tarver crash-landed on a planet it soon became more enjoyable.

What I found great about this book was that even though it started with all the tropes you might expect – a girl, a boy, vastly different in personalities and status in the world they live in, they fall in love, and it’s a little Romeo-Juliet situation – the plot and the setting were such that it kept surprising me. ‘What is happening’ was a question that often came to mind. Those relationship tropes weren’t a big deal in the end, and they only added to the surprising aspects of the book.

While I don’t currently have books two and three – This Shattered World and Their Fractured Lights, respectively – I am looking forward to seeing where the story goes.

Have you read These Broken Stars? Have you read the rest of the series? What did you think?