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As you look up at the stars, you can imagine a world where any universe is at your fingertips. Imagine if those universes really could be at your fingertips with the mere thrust of hyperdrive. In These Broken Stars, by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner, the worlds, planets, and universes collide when two star-crossed lovers fall from space.
Lilac LaRoux's father is the richest man in the universe. To say she is untouchable isn't an understatement. Her father would make any man who dared to look at her too long, ultimately disappear. Tarver Merendsen may be a decorated war hero, but he wasn't born among these people, and they don't hesitate to let him know. He is on the luxury liner, but he doesn't belong there. When he bumps into Lilac, he is drawn to her. He doesn't know who she is, but she is still out of his league. She is equally as interested, but she will never risk putting another man on the wrong side of her father. Not after what happened to her childhood love.
When the ship starts to pull out of hyperspace, everyone is supposed to run for escape pods. Tarver tries to help people from being trampled, but in the rush, he and Lilac are swept the same way. They find an empty pod and manage to start disengage from the ship, although not all pods make it. In fact, they seem to be the only one that was able to actually disengage from the ship before it plummeted to the nearest planet. Lilac and Tarver have a bumpy landing, but at least they are alive. What they don't expect is a planet that seems to defy all logic. It appears to be terraformed, but there are creatures on the planet that wouldn't exist on a terraformed planet. If that isn't peculiar enough, Lilac keeps hearing voices in the wind. Tarver is convinced they are a result of her shock at the situation, but when they save them from certain death, he begins to realize there is something different about this planet. They had hoped to be rescued by Lilac's father soon, but will anyone find them before they find out the deep, dark secrets that lie in this planet?
This book has gotten a lot of hype and I can see why. It is like Titanic on a luxury spaceliner. And who didn't fall for the love story on Titanic, right?! Well, you will love Tarver and Lilac just as much as you loved Jack and Rose. In fact, this story was captivating. Not only the romantic spark between the two characters, but also the world they find themselves in. It is so unique and interesting, and I can't tell you how much I loved reading about it. I will say I preferred the first 2/3 of the book to the last 1/3, though. By the end it got really trippy and out there, and that is where the true science fiction came in. While this seemed at first like a simple space opera, there was a lot more to it by the end. The deep and confusing back story was interesting, but to be honest, I would have been just as happy following Tarver and Lilac around the planet! That isn't to say I didn't like that last 1/3, I just preferred the beginning of the story more.
This is a complex story with average to above average language but a clean story that would be appropriate for any age. Given the complexity of the story, I would save this for students of any age as long as they have strong reading and comprehension skills. A student with weaker skills might get lost in the latter portion of the book. I think my favorite part of the story has to be Lilac. Even though she could easily have been a useless, overprivileged brat, she surprised even Tarver when she bit her lip and muscled through the daunting task of surviving on an alien planet. It was an awesome portrayal of a female character, and I loved reading about her! I look forward to seeing where this series goes from here!
Magic is a fickle thing. A world open and full of magic can see it corrupted and misused. A world with no open magic can find it persecuted and hunted. But what about a world that needs magic and has lost it? In Skylark by Meagan Spooner, magic is something everyone needs, but only a few can create it.
Lark has never been harvested, and at her age, that is incredibly uncommon. When the city decides to harvest your magic to power the protective wall and their various machines (including pixies- little bug-like machines used to catch citizens if they break the rules), it is an honor to give up your magic and help the city. When Lark is finally up for harvesting, something is very different about her experience. They keep her and harvest her magic more than once- no one has ever needed more than one harvesting because no one is Renewable. When Lark, almost drained of everything that makes her Lark, stumbles upon a woman trapped and being drained of her magic, she realizes this will be her fate- a renewable to be held and hooked to wires, sucked dry. When one of the guards gives her the key to escape, she doesn't hesitate, but it lands her outside the wall. And she has heard the stories all her life about what lies outside the wall.
Without the wall to keep the magic in, people have lost their minds. Their magic dissipates, driving them crazy. Lark has heard the stories, but she isn't sure what to trust. When she finds a place to hide, she is discovered by a pixie, she manages to remove its tracking device. Nix, the pixie, cannot report back to the city, but it can help her find the Iron Wood, the place said to be a haven for refugees like herself. But she needs more than Nix to survive. When a ragged boy arrives and helps her, she can't believe people could survive out in the wild. Orin agrees to take her to the Iron Wood, but he is scared of such a place and won't be finishing the journey with her. But there is a lot of land between the city and Iron Wood, and that land is full of cannibalistic madmen who look more like monsters than the shells of the people they used to be. An with a whole city after her, crazy cannibals trying to eat her, and her own companions a surly boy and a traitorous machine, how can Lark possibly find a place where she feels like home?
I have to say, this book was certainly a new take on the dystopia and the magic angle! I really enjoyed the way Spooner wove all these elements together. It seems like they shouldn't go together, but Spooner creates this brilliant web that brings them into one complete story. It was really a great story, and the element of magic made it all the more mysterious. The story was broken into three distinct parts: the city, the journey, and the Iron Wood. This separation made the story a little broken up, but I actually liked it! The only thing I struggled with a little bit were the characters. I liked Lark, but she wasn't the most memorable of characters. You don't get enough of Orin to really want her to stay with him despite the dangers. And that all made me love the story, but not become totally devoted to them. Although, I will tell you that ending is exciting and will have you on the edge of your seat waiting for the sequel!
This is a good book for a variety of readers. It is completely clean, although there is a smidge of violence with the monsters in the wild. The idea of harvesting your citizens to power the very thing that protects them is an ethical conundrum. It would provide a number if interesting research, writing, and discussion topics for you and the student reading the book. Spooner does a great job at building such a complex world, and there is still much to be learned and understood, so you will be anxious to read the rest of the trilogy!
