These Broken Stars (Starbound, #1) in The Reader's Lounge

May 02, 2012 Jasprit rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: arc-galley, out-2013, read-in-2013, ya, sci-fi

These Broken Stars was another case of it’s me not you sort of book, which I’m really gutted about, as I’d gone into this book with extremely high hopes. The world created by Kaufman and Spooner is a majestic one, in a lot of ways it reminded me of the film Titanic; lots of passengers on board a spaceship (instead of a ship) on route to an incredible journey. Passengers on this ship were made of your upper class people and your normal soldiers. Again there’s an “invisible divide” between these p These Broken Stars was another case of it’s me not you sort of book, which I’m really gutted about, as I’d gone into this book with extremely high hopes. The world created by Kaufman and Spooner is a majestic one, in a lot of ways it reminded me of the film Titanic; lots of passengers on board a spaceship (instead of a ship) on route to an incredible journey. Passengers on this ship were made of your upper class people and your normal soldiers. Again there’s an “invisible divide” between these people, but then a special pull emerges between our two characters Tarver and Lilac. Lilac is the daughter of well established businessman La Roux industries and Tarver is a recently commended soldier. In my eyes it was Jack and Rose all over again. But the disappointing thing was that Lilac wasn’t the sweet, considerate Rose that we knew, the earlier glimpses she gave into her true character in her first meeting with Tarver were quickly scuppered as she realised she had a reputation to hold. In my eyes I quickly came to the realisation that Tarver could do so much better than Lilac. I was mad at why she made the effort with Tarver in the first place, when the person underneath was condescending and had derision dripping off her.

Tarver was one of the sweetest guys and honestly if it wasn’t for him, I don’t think I would have enjoyed this book as much. When Lilac and him ended up stuck together, he took everything in his stride; he was considerate of Lilac even though all she did was chuck everything back in his face. I appreciated that he quickly learned to deal with Lilac’s outbursts with his dry and snarky sense of humour. Lilac did grow into her own character and I did appreciate the changes and sacrifices she was willing to make. You probably know that as any other person I enjoy a good romance, I knew which way things would go between Tarver and Lilac, but for once I actually wanted more focus on the other things going on around them; making sense of why they crashed, why it was taking so long to come and rescue them when Lilac La Roux was such an important person. I didn’t mind the sweet scenes between Tarver and Lilac, but maybe would have appreciated less focus on it *gasp*

There have been many praising reviews for These Broken Stars and I know several of my blogging friends have loved this book. For me what had started as a steady interesting read ended up being a hard slog and I don’t like my reads being like this. These Broken Stars has a truly beautiful world and a lot of potential to offer, I’m thinking that if I had started off on a different footing with one of the characters, then maybe I would have appreciated this book a bit more.

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Feb 26, 2013 Danielle rated it it was ok

Can't be bothered to write a full review...

I had high hopes for this book and I thoroughly enjoyed the beginning with the rich description of the ship that made it so easy to visualise the setting and drew me in immediately.

However it was all downhill from there. I felt the pacing dragged immensely and for almost 2/3's of the book, the characters seemed to simply walk across the planet. While the survival aspect of the plot was mildly interesting, the repetition grew tiresome.

While I immediate ...more

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Jan 10, 2017 Pili rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

As it did the first time I read this one, the final part of the book was filled to the brim with emotional distress in spades!
A fantastic book in itself and a fantastic audibook too, with two great narrators for Lilac and Tarver!

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Feb 20, 2013 Pili rated it it was amazing

If I had to pick my most awaited book of 2013, These Broken Stars would be it. Since I discovered it early in the year I fell in love with its cover, a clear case of lust at first sight but I was wary cause I had been deceived before by pretty covers. Then I read the blurb and I knew I could really like this book, so I tried my best to get my hands on an ARC of this book without any luck. I preordered my copy from The Book Depository and it arrived a week after release day so I was about to blow If I had to pick my most awaited book of 2013, These Broken Stars would be it. Since I discovered it early in the year I fell in love with its cover, a clear case of lust at first sight but I was wary cause I had been deceived before by pretty covers. Then I read the blurb and I knew I could really like this book, so I tried my best to get my hands on an ARC of this book without any luck. I preordered my copy from The Book Depository and it arrived a week after release day so I was about to blow a fuse I was so impatient to read it after all the 5 star reviews it had been getting from bloggers I follow & trust.

It arrived on a day off and that was just perfect, I spent my whole evening reading it. I devoured the book in one sitting, though I kept on closing the book now and then to savour the amazing writing (and gaze at the stunning cover, getting a harcover of this one was a brilliant idea, so worth it!).

The book starts with something that makes you think "Titanic in space" with the super luxury hyperspace starship Icarus, the jewel of the LaRoux corporation and the privileged girl meeting the low class boy. You can draw some parallels but it also start getting very different very soon.

Tarver is a condecorated war hero of 18 that is doing a publicity trip on board the Icarus and has to endure the vapidness and shallowness of it all. Lilac is the only daughter of the all powerful LaRoux magnate and she's an expert at wading the waters of society and she has her own baggage of secrets. Their first meeting has some sparks of attraction flying but it all goes crashing down on their second meeting, where Tarver learns who the girl he liked really is, and Lilac acts like she's supposed to and treats Tarver like he's below her.

Then all Hell breaks loose when the Icarus is wrenched out of hyperspace and a wild panic of people trying to get to scape pods throw (quite literally) Tarver & Lilac together much to their dismay. But right from the start we see that there's more to Lilac than the vapid socialite that she projects. They crash land on a planet that is a mystery and they start a journey together to try and reach the crash lading of the Icarus in the hopes to get rescued.

Both Lilac and Tarver aren't happy to be thrown together into the unknown like this and both are resentful about the treatment of each other and at first relay on their dislike of each other to deal with the unknown of the planet and situation. Lilac keeps getting frustrated about having to depend on Tarver and feeling useless, and Tarver keeps shifting between being irritated about having to haul a socialite across an unknown planet and being worried about how she's going to deal with the trek.

This book is one that relays heavily on character development, gorgeous evocative writing and a creepy mystery to keep you completely glued to the page. You can't wait to see how their relationship keeps on progressing from dislike to friendship and learning to work together to a romantic tension that makes you want to scream at the characters "kiss already, will you!?! You both are crazy about each other and make a great team!!".

There's so much progression on their relationship and so much character growth! I am in love with them both and their relationship, even though at times I wanted to smack Tarver for making it hard for Lilac with his forced pragmatism and I wanted to shake Lilac out of her "I hate feeling useless so I'm gonna throw a tantrum" moments.

The mystery that starts shortly after they start their trek through the planet has a bit of a paranormal streak but it ties very well with the science fiction background of the book too, and it's done in a way that is so creepy and disquieting! Nothing like thinking that you're going mad to scare the bejeesus out of me!

One big warning about this book, once you feel safe and think things are looking up and you are so happy for these two and are feeling all the feels and shipping them to confines of the Verse... BAM! This completely unexpected twist comes and totally leaves you a wreck of denial and tears. And then another twist comes and you just don't know what to think anymore!

Once I was done with the book I was so glad I was reading a physical copy cause hugging a book is much more satisfactory than hugging your eReader... and this book was one that deserved being hugged afterwards! I foresee a re-read not too far in the future. Very well deserved 5 stars for this one! ...more

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