These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman
Luxury spaceliner Icarus suddenly plummets from hyperspace into the nearest planet. Lilac LaRoux and Tarver Merendsen survive -- alone. Lilac is the daughter of the richest man in the universe. Tarver comes from nothing, a cynical war hero. Both journey across the eerie deserted terrain for help. Everything changes when they uncover the truth.
The Starbound Trilogy: Three worlds. Three love stories. One enemy.
Spoilers are in these: [ ] Highlight to read.
I wanted to love this book lots. I expected a lot of sarcasm and banter between Lilac and Tarver. But it was more just "meh." There wasn't a lot of action, and there was a lot less space then I wanted. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I was falling asleep reading this book-- I read in in a couple hours. But what kept me reading had nothing to do with questioning whether or not they would live due to the harsh circumstances. Rather about the planet itself.
Lilac and Tarver
There is less sarcasm/banter and more just hating each other. And then they just... DON'T hate each other. For me, it was a very fast transition. I was a little confused. In fact, I thought they'd have to work out their issues or something. At least discuss some of the many reasons why their relationship WOULDN'T work out before actually being in a relationship. BUT NOPE. Their interactions go from heated arguments to passionate kisses within a page. WHAT. WHAT WHAT.
Individually, I have to say I liked Tarver a lot more than I liked Lilac at first. I thought she could have found better ways to handle things than by manipulating at every turn. You avidly flirt with a guy, then cruelly ditch him the next day? Um. Why would you even flirt with him in the first place if you KNEW it was never going to happen? Lilac did have a lot of development-- probably more than Tarver. She really matured, and I appreciated that. My only issue is that they seem a lot older than they are. Lilac is 16. Tarver is 18. They both seemed over twenty. And I hate to say this, but I didn't really see the two being a great couple. They seemed to be together mostly because of how much they needed and depended on each other for survival. Other than Lilac and Tarver, there is no one else interacting within the book.
The World(s)
Well, obviously, the setting changes rather dramatically. First of all you're on the spaceship Icarus. The next, on a foreign planet with no other signs of human life. Maybe it was just me, but this book didn't feel very... survival-ish to me. I mean, yes, they're trying to survive, but it felt pretty easy. They had food rations. A canteen that purifies water. They were hiking through woods. I LIVE around woods. It's not that hard to find water sources or edible vegetation, and, if you can set traps like Tarver can, there are tons of little animals all over the place. Your problems lie solely in shelter and bugs.
Of course, there are the "hallucinations," but I thought that they brought about more questions to push the plot forward-- not that they added to the action or the element of survival.
[Also, what was with the whispers and bringing Lilac back? I'm still not entirely sure how they were able to manifest other objects, even living objects, through their energy.]
To be completely honest, I would have loved to learn about the other planets and how they functioned as well as how the Colonies were so different, and how they powered everything. I wanted to know the details of space life, but the only time the book really describes it in detail is in the first couple chapters.
In my opinion, the world was what made this book interesting, not the characters.
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