jeannamichel
Written on Feb 25, 2018
Petty criminal Zara Cole is nearly on the road to jail when she is selected to be a member of Honors, an elite team of humans selected by a race of sentient alien ships to explore the outer reaches of the universe. Zara seizes the chance to flee Earth's dangers, but nothing could have prepared her for the dark, ominous truths that lurk behind the alluring glitter of starlight.
- ISBN10 006257101X
- ISBN13 9780062571014
- Publish Date 13 February 2018
- Publish Status Active
- Imprint Katherine Tegen Books
- Format eBook
- Pages 496
- Language English
Reviews
lizarodz
Written on Feb 13, 2018
- Outstanding writing! If you are a fan of either (or both) authors, like I am, you are in for a treat.
- I loved Zara. A lot. She's feisty, good, full of empathy, knows how to fight, she's stubborn, relentless, loyal, and persistent. She grows a lot as a character during the story.
- I also liked Beatriz, her partner/roommate. She's from Brazil, she's super smart, she understand a lot of what's left unsaid and she's an amazing singer.
- Nadim is a sentient alien ship. So he's basically a huge alien and people live inside of 'him'. Honors are the 100 people selected every year to live inside 50 ships for a whole year. They perform tasks for the ships, do experiments, visit other planets and then come back to earth. Nadim felt almost like a person, but 'he's' everywhere at once.
- The worldbuilding is unique, easy to understand, if not always comfortable to read. I hope that makes sense for you because I got confused just writing that sentence :)
- The 'bonding' that takes place between Zara - and at a lesser degree with Beatriz - and Nadim is kind of weird. For Zara and Nadim feels almost romantic in nature, which is impossible as they are different species, right?
- There is a lot of unexplained things, events, cruelty, mysteries. A LOT. Other concepts were really hard to understand for me, like singing stars.
- There's a lot of action, but sometimes it felt like the story was going nowhere fast, you know what I mean?
Overall, Honor Among Thieves was weird. That's not necessarily a bad thing, it's just unlike anything I've read before and might not be for everyone. It was good enough to hook me to read the next book, that's for sure. This review was originally posted on Quite the Novel Idea
Amber
Written on Jan 25, 2018
I think Honor Among Thieves is a strong science fiction book in a lot of ways. There’s a fair amount of action, although the focus is definitely on the world-building and the relationship between humans and these Leviathans. I really liked what the authors did here.
That said, the book gets very weird when it comes to the romance. There was flirting between the main character and the Leviathan that she was living in. The word “seduce” was used. I think it would have been better if the relationship had stayed platonic and they’d forged a really strong bond (like an unstoppable force, y/y?) but instead it became very odd. I’m not sure how readers will feel about this.
I loved the relationship between Zara and Bea, and I was actually shipping these two because they had some chemistry. Individually, they’re also really good characters. Zara is the main, but Bea was also given a decent amount of development. I hope we get to see more of her in the sequel, and that her character doesn’t get pushed to the side in favour of the weird romance.
In terms of plot, there’s a good amount of action. There are a couple of slow points, but the book is mostly quite suspenseful. I was really interested in learning more about the mysterious Journey. The ending was creepy, and I’m really excited to learn more about what is going on there.
Honor Among Thieves isn’t the best book I’ve read, and it’s certainly not the strongest YA science fiction, but I enjoyed it and I’ll be reading the sequel when it’s releases.
shannonmiz
Written on Dec 28, 2017
Well that was unexpectedly awesome! See- I expected to like it of course, otherwise I'd not have read it. But one, I didn't expect it to be as awesome and two, it did start off slow, and I wasn't sure it was going to work for me. Clearly, I was incorrect.
That little bit of initial slowness is the only negative I have with the book whatsoever. So let's get that out of the way. The first maybe 12% didn't wholly capture me (and in hindsight, the level of detail seemed a tad unnecessary). But I was interested enough to keep going, and I am so glad with my life choice! Let's talk about why I loved this, shall we?
- •It was one of those incredibly rare books that I literally lost hours of my life in and didn't realize. You ever find yourself reading along, then suddenly look at the clock and actual huge amounts of time had passed? Yeah, me either. This does not ever happen to me, and it did with this book. I was just so completely engrossed in it that I straight up lost track of time- it was that compulsively readable.
- •I loved all the moral dilemmas and struggles the characters faced. The stakes were so incredibly high during the whole story, and often there wasn't a good decision to be made.
- •Zara's character growth was awesome- and believable. Zara had spent her life going through family issues (we'll get to that) and getting in trouble. She initially rejects the chance to go into space with the Honors, but finds herself in space. She learns about herself, about others, and figures out that she is someone worth fighting for.
- •The relationships the characters formed were amazing. There is a romantic relationship, which I shan't spoil (but if you have read the book, I chuckled as I wrote the spoiler tag 😂 (the ship with a ship on a ship?) . But that was far from the only important relationship. Zara and Beatriz becoming friends was such a lovely journey. They complimented each other perfectly, and they brought out the best in each other. And I loved how much Zara cared for her family, even as she knew that her going away from them was probably the best choice she could make for them.
- •There was so much freaking action! I am often wary of books that offer a lot of action, but this one was so perfectly balanced. Enough stuff going on that I was always engaged, but never overwhelmed. And of course, the downtime necessary to truly fall in love with the characters!
- •Despite the complexity of the world, it never confused me. I don't necessarily understand it all yet, but the authors did a phenomenal job of giving the right amount of information at the right times. The world itself became a huge part of the plot as a result, and I felt fully immersed, yet always excited to learn more.
Will I Read the Next Book? Um yeah, can I have it this actual second? Of course I will read it! I feel like with such a vast world, there is unlimited potential, and I cannot freaking wait.
Bottom Line: In the end, the slow start was a non-issue because the rest of the book was just that epic. This book had it all: fabulous characters I was rooting for, a world I couldn't get enough of, and super high stakes that made it impossible to put the book down!
*Copy provided for review
Ashley
Written on Aug 28, 2017
This book was... okay. There were definitely some interesting parts, like Zara's relationship with with Nadim (the ship). I quite liked that connection they had. But ultimately I didn't really connect with the story style and some of the ideas. A few elements felt kind of whimsical (like singing stars) and it just wasn't my thing I guess.
The book ended setting the stage for book 2, but the big "reveal" at the end didn't really excite me. I just don't think I'll be really interested in the rest of the series.
In short, it was a good book and I would recommend it if the synopsis makes you go HELL YEAH.