This Shattered World (Starbound, #2)

by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

[ladygrey]

I really liked this book... eventually.

It wasn't what I expected, though I didn't expect much. Well, I think I expected more urban sci-if than swampy, terraforming military sci-fi. Little bits were reminiscent of other stories I've read, not in plot but in the setting and the way it felt.

There were hard parts of this book. Not like [a:Melina Marchetta|47104|Melina Marchetta|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1277655889p2/47104.jpg] hard. But hard nonetheless. McBride was hard. But he's not in the story enough to ruin it. And Flynn and Jubilee were kind of great. Not at first. At first they were good and I wanted to see where the story would go. But the story kind of pulled me in, kept moving and veering in unexpected ways and then it changed.

I can't help it, as soon as Tarver showed up the book came to life in a new way. Not just because it was Tarver (though partly because it was Tarver) but because the story became so much bigger, the threads to the larger story coming into focus. The story became exciting in a new way, the characters more compelling, and it continues long after Tarver left.

I have some advantage in having bought the books when they were released but waiting so long to read them. I have glimpses of where the third book goes that give a bit more depth to this story. Speaking of which,

Not all the side characters were perhaps as developed as they could have been. But they were as developed as they needed to be. And I liked Molly and Sofia a lot

One of the things I loved is how much heart is in such a difficult sci-fi story. I also like that Amie Kaufman and Meghan Spooner keep it unpredictable. I was convinced the story was going in one direction because all the pieces fit but they turned it on its side and made something completely new out of it.

Mostly I love that a story that seems to be written in a straight-forward manner suddenly has me feeling so much and then turns unexpectedly poignant.