Review: This Shattered World by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

Posted by Jessi (Geo) on March 28, 2016 | 1 Comment


Review: This Shattered World by Amie Kaufman and Meagan SpoonerThis Shattered World by Amie Kaufman, Meagan Spooner
Series: Starbound #2
Published by Disney Hyperion (12.23.2014)
Genres: Romance, Science Fiction, Young Adult
Format: Hardcover, 390 pages
Source: I own it


3.5 Stars

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. Terraforming corporations make their fortune by recruiting colonists to make the inhospitable 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 in a bloody and unrelentingly war, Flynn does the only thing that makes 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 the rebel base together, caught between two sides of a senseless war.

My thoughts

She pushes through the broken stars, which shatter and fall around her like curtains of rain.

I didn’t really expect this to be a companion novel, to be honest. I guess I just saw it was the follow up to These Broken Stars and was all OH SEQUEL and didn’t really bother to read the synopsis. I loved These Broken Stars – I gave it 4.5/5. While I still enjoyed this one, it didn’t quite have the magic that the first book did.

I felt like not much really happened throughout most of this book. It was a lot of Flynn and Jubilee traveling and getting to know each other, realizing that neither are what they expected.

Something real in all of this. This is real.

This book is definitely a romance. These Broken Stars was a romance too, but it had pretty strong sci-fi elements as well. The sci-fi was much more muted in this book, to the point of being almost non-existent. There were only a few little snippets here and there to keep the interest going. Not to say that it was boring, or that I didn’t enjoy this book – it wasn’t, and I did. It just didn’t live up to the expectations set by the first book.

The main focus of this book is characterization and the romance. It’s well written, and the characters are fleshed out and realistic. Kaufman and Spooner did a fabulous job bringing the characters to life! I wasn’t invested in the romance like I was in the first book, but I did love that it starts off as hatred. Jubilee and Flynn are bitter enemies, so it’s a forbidden romance. I love those kind!

I love that Tarver and Lilac appeared in the sequel, though! It was great to see them again, and I like that everything tied in together. I’m interested to see where things go in the third book!

Favorite quote

He could tell me he loves me, but he doesn’t know me the way a lover would; he knows the shape of me, though, the curve of my heart, as I know his. He could tell me he doesn’t want to lose me, but we’re both already lost, and only the tether between us keeps us from drifting out into the black.

Overall Assessment

Plot: 3.5/5 
Premise: 4/5 
Writing style: 4/5 
Originality: 4/5 
Characters: 3.5/5 
World-building: 4/5 
Pace: 4/5 
Feels: 2/5 
Cover: 4/5 
Overall rating: 3.5/5

Previous Book

these broken stars

Jessi (Geo)

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One response to “Review: This Shattered World by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

  1. danielle hammelef

    Ah, the traveling second book as a sequel. I might read the first book in the series based on your review and if I also really care for the characters and want to continue getting to know them, then I’ll happily read on.

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