What a fantastic second book! I expected a lot of things, but not this gorgeous and beautiful story full of emotions and characters who complement each other in such a perfect way. Yes, the story is different from the first book and yes, the two main characters are not to compare with the ones from book one. But that doesn´t mean that this novel isn´t thrilling or filled with things you never thought could happen.
This Shattered World*
by
Amie Kaufman &
Meagan Spooner
Starbound #2
Publisher Disney Hyperion on December 23, 2014
Genre Children 14+
Pages 400
Format Hardcover
Source Publisher
Goodreads
✶✶✶✶½
Jubilee Chase and Flynn Cormac should never have met. Lee is captain of the forces sent to Avon to crush the terraformed planet´s rebellious colonists, but she has her own reasons for hating the insurgents. Rebellion is in Flynn´s blood. His sister died in the original uprising against the powerful corporate conglomerate that rules Avon with an iron fist. These corporations make their fortune by terraforming uninhabitable planets across the universe and recruiting colonists to make the planets livable, with the promise of a better life for their children. But they never fulfilled their promise on Avon, and decades later, Flynn is leading the rebellion. Desperate for any advantage against the military occupying his home, Flynn does not only things that make sense when he and Lee cross paths: he returns to base with her as prisoner. But as his fellow rebels prepare to execute this tough-talking girl with nerves of steel, Flynn makes another choice that will change him forever. He and Lee escape base together, caught between two sides in a senseless war.
Story
Jubilee is a commander with all her soul and heart. Since she was a young girl she knew that she wanted to become a soldier and to fight for what she believes in. But what she sees on Avon, the war, and the voices, all that is nothing compared to the problems the planet is facing. The Terraforming process isn´t working the way it is supposed to and no one knows why. Flynn fights for the future of his people and his planet. The only place he knows as home. And the only place where people expect him to fulfill the plans his sister had. But what when he is not the same person? When he can´t see any point in a senseless war and in killing others only to get justice? And justice for what exactly?
Style
The novel is written in the first-person narrative from Jubilee and Flynn. One chapter is Jubilee´s turn, the next Flynn´s. This way the reader gets a great insight into how both think, what they believe in, and how they see the various situations. The author duo uses a simple, clear, and very effective language. The writing is profound and even during the bloodiest and cruelest scenes is a fine sense of what happens to feel. Yes, each word is to the point. And it was so great to see Lilac and Tarver again. They gave answers to many questions I still had after finishing book one and it was an absolutely wonderful feeling to see how they are doing now.
Characters
Good, Jubilee and Flynn are completely different than Lilac and Tarver. Jubilee is down to earth, knows what to do in every situation, and the fact that she can´t dream and is therefore resistant to the furor is something she accepts as what it is: Something she has no answer for why it is as it is. The answer the author duo gives to that was as stunning as logical and brought the novel back to a point where book one had ended. It was like a circle was closed.
Flynn is not like his sister was. He wants to end the situation and to find out why his planet isn´t making any progress with the terraforming. He wants to do things his way, has to fight against some of his own people, and knows by instinct that another war isn´t the right answer to the problems his planet is having. The way how he handles everything, how he sees the world and the situation he is in, and how he wants to solve what he believes is going wrong, is really remarkable.
Conclusion
I am speechless. What a great book. Filled with action, emotional, and not at all what I´ve expected. This was way more! And I can´t wait to read the next book. Wow, wow, simply wow. Read.
Happy reading
*I read the German edition published by Carlsen on November 25, 2016.
Amie Kaufman
Amie Kaufman grew up just one block from her local library and took full advantage of that fact. She spent her childhood summers re-creating with her sister their favorite books by camping in the backyard, mapping their neighborhood, climbing trees and kissing the Blarney stone six times, thoroughly cementing her gift of the gab. She graduated with honors degrees in history, literature and law, and a master´s degree in conflict resolution. Today she´s a full-time writer and lives with her husband and her rescue dog in Melbourne, Australia.
Meagan Spooner
Meagan Spooner, born in Washington, D.C. is the New York Times bestselling author of the award-winning Starbound trilogy and the Skylark trilogy. She has traveled all over the world to places like Egypt, Greece, Antarctica, the Galapagos, Chile, the Arctic Circle, and Australia. After graduating with a degree in playwriting from Hamilton College in New York, she spent several years off and on traveling between D.C. and Melbourne, Australia, to write. In her spare time, she plays guitar, video games, plays with her cat and reads.
