These Broken Stars (Starbound #1)

These Broken Stars has been on my to read list since January 2012 and when I saw the cover I fell in love with it. That dress, the colors, space and star-crossed lovers! I had to have it and when Disney Hyperion approved me I started reading it that day.

The story starts with the first time our heroes meet, where Lilac acts like a snob in order to keep Tarver far away from her life. Lilac's father is the man who created Icarus, the space ship they were traveling. It was the biggest and the best ship ever made, basically fool proof until it wasn't. Lilac and Tarver find themselves on a strange planet where they start hearing voices and seeing things.

Before I started reading this book I was expecting to read about star wars, shooting from laser guns and strange aliens. But I got a survival book which happened to be set in the future on another planet. Now, I don't have anything against survival books if they're fast paced but These Broken Stars made me put the book down so many times. If I hadn't got it from the publisher I would've abandon it a long time ago. The first 280 pages were all about them arguing, sleeping, walking, eating their rations and hearing voices. I just felt it was repetitive and didn't have any progress.

It didn't have insta-love but it did happen too fast for my taste. Or is it that it bothers me because it started with physical attraction? They were lusting over each other the moment they met and I guess it all depends on the authors execution... If they have what it takes to write a genuine romance, not just shove it in our faces and wait for us to eat it up.

The last 100 pages really surprised me. I didn't see some things coming and authors finally found their stride. Story finally started making sense and we were getting answers on some important questions, like what are those voices and what are they after. I only wish the book was shorter or at least the first 280 pages were. I'm well aware my review is showing negative aspects of this novel but I did like it in the end. Hope Kaufman and Spooner give us more action and less sleeping scenes in the sequel.

"These Broken Stars" is an interesting YA sci-fi that follows two young people after a space shuttle crash. Lilac LeRoux is practically royalty. Her father owns a high-profile corporation and her life has been sheltered- she is covered in pretty dresses and has lots of nice things, but she knows that her future will be political. Her marriage will only be used to advance her father's company. Tarver is from a poor family and a military veteran. When the space shuttle crashes on a seemingly abandoned planet, they must fight to survive. As they traverse the planet in hopes of rescue, they discover there are more sinister secrets hiding there.

The story is told from Lilac and Tarver's point-of-views, along with some conversations between Tarver and someone questioning him about the time after the crash. As they fight for survival and answers, they grow closer to each other and a romance blooms. Partly sci-fi, partly romance, and partly thriller, this book captured my attention from the get-go, and I really loved following Tarver and Lilac's journey.

This book will definitely be a hit amongst YA romance fans, and I found it really entertaining and page-turning. I listened to the audiobook, and I highly recommend it- the voices are well done and the telling is fantastic!

Friends, if you like science fiction and romance and this book isn’t already on your Christmas list, please add immediately. It’s GOOD. Describing These Broken Stars is a bit difficult but think of taking Doctor Who, The Titanic, and your favorite YA contemporary romance, putting them all in a huge bottle, and shaking it like there’s no tomorrow. The result of that experiment would be similar to the final outcome of These Broken Stars.

I will admit that this book started a little slow for me. At the beginning, we’re introduced to Tarver, the soldier, and Lilac, the high society girl and daughter of the biggest corporation’s front man. Their encounters together do not go well, to say the least. The story starts aboard the Icarus, a luxury spaceship(this is the Titanic part). When the ship is pulled out of hyperspace, Lilac and Tarver are the ones who survive in an utility escape pod and land upon an unknown planet, where they have to survive and attempt to find a way to be rescued. The opening of this book was a little lackluster for me, but once Tarver and Lilac landed on the planet, I was hooked.

These Broken Stars has some of the best world-building I’ve ever seen in a science fiction book. World-building in sci-fi can be hit-or-miss for me. It’s generally not a big focus to begin with, to be completely honest, but if it’s too technical I get overwhelmed, and if there’s gaping logic flaws it pulls me out of the story. I loved finding out about Tarver and Lilac’s world though, and I looked forward to it the way I seldom do in stories like this. Hyperspace, flora and fauna growth. . . it’s all my FAVORITE things about the genre.

The characters are what make this story for me, though. I LOVE, love romances from two different social classes. I think it might be my favorite trope ever as far as love stories go, and this one was no exception. Even though Lilac begins as the rich girl who has no survival skills and is quite rude to Tarver, I really liked her from the beginning. And the reason for that is even when she was being whiny and cruel, she was determined. She was never the type of character to give up, and I really admired her. And while she might not have been survival-savvy, she proved over and over again she was smart–really intelligent, not just the daughter of an intelligent man.

Tarver is your ultimate no-nonsense soldier. I would say that even though at the beginning he’s a much more likable character, he’s also more mysterious. As their journey continued, though, and there were glimpses of Tarver’s past, I really began to feel for his past and what he had been through. The same with Lilac. I LOVED the romance in this because yes, part of it was because they were together with no one else, but through the glimpses of their past I felt I really got to SEE how compatible they were together. It was the perfect slow burn with their back stories being revealed slowly but steadily.

Spooner & Kaufman KILL the way they write reveals. Upon first landing on the planet, of course there’s tons of questions about if there’s other life forms and the history of the planet and such. I have to say the way the mystery is built and then slowly revealed just goes to show how good the writing actually is. One of my pet peeves, which I feel happens most often in science fiction, is when authors build up all these mysteries and just hold off plot reveals to build suspense. That works for awhile, but there comes a tipping point where it’s frustrating, not exciting. That never happened here. From about 20% in, I was on the edge of my seat the entire time.

And of course, I won’t give anything away, but THAT ENDING!!! This book has one of my favorite endings I’ve read since Parallel(which I declared my favorite ending ever). I’m not sure if These Broken Stars quite lives up to that, but it’s close. I loved how everything came together in the end and the way the story wrapped up.

Final Impression: Other than a slow start, this book was flawless. One of my favorite romances, using one of my favorite romantic tropes, really stole the show. Even so, it didn’t make the rest of the book suffer by any means. The world building, the writing, the slow burn, ALL were fabulous. I’m putting a finished copy on my wishlist STAT.

If you like journey and survival stories with a little romance thrown in, I think you'll like These Broken Stars. I could see this making a really good movie. Love the cover!

For the first 70% of this book I was kind of bored, it wasn't a bad book but it was basically a romance on space with some survival stuff and a hint of a possible mystery on the future. But them at 70% some things started happening and the mystery started to unravel and them at 80% I was totally involved on this and was like "wow and wow and wow again".
I can totally see from where all the four and five stars ratings came from, this book is definitely good, but for me I never really cared about the characters which is a bummer since the emotional aspects on this book are like really high because of the *things* that happen towards the end.
Still I want to continue with this series since the writing was good and my detachment to the characters have more to do with the place I'm right now than a problem of the book.

Recommend to: basically people who like romance that are wanting something different or people who like sci-fi/survival stories wanting something heavily focused on romance.