This Shattered World (Starbound #2) by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

Amy      
Lynnie 

action/suspense, sci-fi, young adult

Flynn and Jubilee are living on the planet Avon, which has experienced stunted terra-forming, and a war is brewing. Flynn, a member of the natives (whom the soldiers view as the rebels), takes matters into his own hands by kidnapping Jubilee, the toughest soldier on the base, in order to get answers. Adventures ensue.

Amy's Review

Switching it up, this sequel to These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner has a female soldier and a male civilian. My initial impression was that this was not switching it up enough. I hoped that this would not be another survival story—a retelling of the story in the first novel but with different game players. Thankfully, my wish came true and this was NOT a retelling but, rather, its own unique story. Mostly, it’s a story about overcoming barriers and learning to work together toward a common goal. (Okay, so that is also the message of These Broken Stars but at least it’s a different story.)

The story kept a good pace and had some good action. I liked seeing Lilac and Tarver from These Broken Stars make a brief reappearance. I also liked the swampy setting for something different.

I listened to the audiobook. While the main two characters were voiced well, the dream voice was entirely ridiculous. He sounded like the comedian Jim Gaffigan’s high “inner voice” and it got really, really annoying. Not to mention most of the dream sequences did not give us any useful information and I began to grow weary of those sections. The ending sort of redeems these sequences, but really I could have done without them (and that voice!) entirely except for the couple where you learned a bit about Jubilee’s past. The way to “solve the problem” in the facility with the handprint at the end (I can’t say more without giving it away), was way too easy after all the other difficulties the characters faced in the book. With all that technology that was too simple and low-tech.

Despite its flaws, I did enjoy this story enough to continue with the series.

Lynnie's Review

I'm torn about this book because while I sometimes enjoyed it, it's basically the same story as These Broken Stars; a boy & girl from different worlds/environments meet as enemies, try to solve the mystery of their planet (which is basically the same mystery in both books), fall in love & try save the planet, and themselves. The main differences between the two books is that in this novel the soldier is a girl (ooooh, how exotic!) & there's much less adventure but much more talk of how their differences make them incompatible. They are tortured by their differences- tortured I tell you!

There's a brief cameo of Lilac & Tarver from These Broken Stars, but it felt a bit forced and weird. Honestly I don't know if this is 2 1/2 stars or 3... but I do know I won't be recommending it to anyone soon.