Friday, May 15, 2020

Review: This Shattered World by Kaufman & Spooner

This Shattered World
(Starbound #2)
Publication Date: December 23, 2014
Hardcover, 394 pages, Disney-Hyperion
Genres: YA, Sci-Fi

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.

My Review

Science fiction and romance are two genres I can definitely get behind. It also doesn’t hurt that the covers for this trilogy are absolutely gorgeous!

This Shattered World has somewhat of a different tone from its predecessor, These Broken Stars. Unlike Lilac and Tarver’s shipwrecked romance, this book takes place on a war-torn planet. It’s supposedly a science fiction version of Romeo and Juliet, which, after reading it, I can see the similarities. Flynn is the rebel trying to free his people from a life of hardship, and Jubilee (nicknamed Juliet), is a soldier in the forces sent to Flynn’s planet to squash the rebellion.

Now, while This Shattered World has a very fascinating concept, I don’t think it quite lived up to its description. Romeo and Juliet plus sci-fi romance should equal a riveting read. I just think it never fully explored the hardships of rebellion or being a soldier. Since this is a 2014 YA release, I can understand why it didn’t go into detail, but it was disappointing all the same. Still, it had its fun moments with a nice mix of action, adventure, and mystery.

I had the same feelings for Flynn’s character, in terms of unmet potential. Flynn is a pacifist, something we really don’t see a lot of in YA. It’s all about assassins and soldiers. However, his chapters were short. Often way shorter than Jubilee’s. I wish we could have explored his character more, since his perspective was supposed to be unique. I also thought Flynn was the more interesting and realistic of the two characters. Jubilee’s just isn’t realistic, as she’s the captain of her squad at the grand old age of 18. The fact that the authors never really address why teenagers are used as soldiers in the book is actually really annoying. (The same could be said about Tarver’s character in the first book.)

In addition to the unmet potential, at times the storyline was a tad confusing. Not because of the Flynn and Jubilee plot, but because of the alien aspects that were added later. I remember the aliens that were included in the first book, and I never understood them then, either. It’s just not explained very well. Also, the ending was rushed, though it did make a strong point about how easy it is to declare war versus having civilized discussions with those you disagree with.

Oh, and I was excited to see characters from book one make an appearance in this installment. And, originally, I was excited to have all of them come together in book three. (I have since read book three, and now I have some nitpicks about how all of that went down. I was excited when I first finished This Shattered World, though.)

All in all, This Shattered World is a solid sci-fi teen romance. It’s not fantastic, and it’s not bad. It’s just middle-of-the-road okay.


*Note: I purchased a copy of this book myself. This in no way affected my opinion/review.

2 comments:

  1. I won the first book years ago and never had a chance to get around to it. Glad you enjoyed it. I figured it be middle of the road for me also.

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    Replies
    1. Yeah, it used to be such a hyped series, but I can definitely tell that it's dated now. It has that early 2010s YA vibe.

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