Striving for the Stars was a pretty enjoyable read. A space opera set around a girl just trying to live a better life. Working every day looking for scraps on her planet to fix up and sell, trying to make enough money to get a visa for another planet that would have more opportunities. Until one day she finds an old pilot simulator, manages to fix it up and practice flying, leading her to a whole new opportunity to officially study to be a pilot.
Aristeia was a strong character that always did what she had to do, I liked that about her, I liked that she could make the hard decisions and didn't beat herself up over the consequences that those decisions had. I really liked the story, it was very logical and reading it felt like I was in her head. I love this kind of writing style when you have no idea what characters outside the main character are thinking.
I would have to say though that this book wasn't quite ready for publishing, the writing was very formal and felt clunky to read. Aristeia didn't have high enough stakes, and nothing really seemed to go wrong, everything would always resolve itself. And while I did actually really enjoy the story, I feel like the story has lots more potential.
This was a fun little read to me regardless.