This Shattered World (The Starbound Trilogy, 2)

The Starbound trilogy continues with this book and it does not disappoint! Bringing in new and old characters, the story of Flynn and Jubilee is engaging, interesting and complicated. What you discovered in These Broken Stars is built upon and it takes the series to a new level with warring cultures, a different planet and new rules. Read on for a review - slight spoilers ahead!

My Thoughts:

This book is a really great follow up to These Broken Stars and I loved every moment of it! We follow the story of Jubilee Chase and Flynn Cormac, two people on a planet called Avon who are on opposite sides. Jubilee is an army captain sent to fight against the rebels and Flynn is the head of the rebellion, a role he doesn’t want to have. The two of them meet and it’s a wild ride from the beginning, with the politics of the army, the rebellion and whatever the otherworldly forces are that appear to be impacting their lives without them knowing it.

I love that the events of the Icarus crash and what was learned in TBS plays a big part of this story. I like that you’re looking at it from a new perspective, out of the eyes of Lee and Flynn and that it’s not all widely known. It adds intrigue into the story, especially as the reader learns about the background of the rebellion and everything that has lead to it. The issues of the rebels and the military as well as what is happening with La Roux industries are all new to the story and gives this great depth to the series. There are moments that are particularly heartbreaking and stressful which adds to the plot and keeps you on the edge of your seat while reading.

The two main characters are great and while I missed Tarver and Lilac (because let’s be honest they’re amazing!) Jubilee and Flynn really grabbed me from page one. I wanted to know why Lee was so harsh and learn more about the military captain with a past and I wanted to read more about Flynn, the rebel leader who wants peace in a world that demands war. The two completely opposite characters on page have so much great chemistry and while you know it is a love story, it’s not overwhelming and enjoyable to read. They bounce off each other a lot and snap with witty retorts and the tension is so palpable in their joint chapters. Their voices on page are so clear and obvious and I love that they are so unique and individual.

Seeing Tarver and Lilac again on page is fantastic and I was so excited. I would have liked to have seen them a bit more on page but they stole the show when they were. I particularly loved when Tarver is speaking to Lilac online and she doesn’t realise that Lee and Flynn are there - very funny! I think it was great to have that connection between Lee and Tarver and I loved seeing him get involved with the story.

The writing is great and so smooth considering there are two authors. I love that between each chapter you have a look into one of the characters backstory which as the book goes on makes more and more sense. Some parts are just so heartbreaking and makes it easy to forget that you are reading a fictional book because it feels so real. The writers have a great gift at making the book hard to put down as you just want to continue the story!

The final third of the book is fantastic and so full of intrigue, confusion and intensity. I love seeing the Whispers and learning more about what they are, their lives and the depth of what La Roux industries is up to. The book ends really well, with questions but also with some answers. It sets up what would be the final exploration without leaving too much in the air.

I really love this sci-fi adventure and think it is a great second book. Just writing about it now makes me want to read the book all over again and I think that is a sign of a great book!

Recommended for: YA lovers, science fiction readers, romantic adventurers. If you loved the first book I would recommend it!

Quotes (Spoiler Free):

“Letting yourself get hurt isn’t brave, love. Brave is protecting others from hurt.”

“It's not that he's choosing me, a girl he met less than a month ago--he's choosing a world in which no one has to die.”

“I don't have the luxury of dealing with his hormones- or mine, for that matter. What, did he think I was just going to melt into his arms? Start a tragic and dramatic tale of star-crossed lovers on a war-torn planet?”

In this installment, we follow Captain Jubilee 'Lee' Chase, a soldier stationed on Avon to quell the colonist's rebellion, and Flynn Cormac, a leader of the rebellion he inherited from his sister. However, Flynn doesn't want to fight and is determined to find a way to peacefully end the hostilities. The key to this might be Jubilee and her knowledge about the base.

Throughout this book we find out more about Avon's history, it's terraforming progress and the scope of the whispers problem that was introduced in These Broken Stars. I enjoyed how well Flynn and Jubilee complemented each other. Jubilee is a lot more take charge and run in guns blazing, while Flynn is constantly questioning what he's been told. I did miss Tarver's unique sass, but I liked our new MCs well enough.

I enjoyed learning about the conflict with the soldiers and rebellion group. It really reminded me of the Troubles that occurred in Ireland. I loved how rich Avon's history was compared to the blank planet that was explored in the first book. The way this ended, book 3 is bound to be explosive and rife with danger.

Overall, stellar second installment, can't wait to reread the last one!

Amazing.

Second book in the trilogy-but almost like a standalone. It was a continuation of the story but with totally new MCs. It definitely did not suffer from the middle book syndrome. Very well done!

So I'm still debating on whether I want to give this 3 or 4 stars but I think 4 just for the Lilac and Tarver cameos. This was entertaining and insane just as I expected but it wasn't as amazing as the first. I loved These Broken Stars and this sequel just wasn't as great. Still a good read and has some great characters but I felt like I was dragging when reading this. Some parts had me flipping the pages and reading like crazy but others I just didn't really feel like reading. Again still a great story and I definitely will still continue with the trilogy.

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This Shattered World is very different from These Broken Stars. Although I desperately miss Tarver and Lilac's chapters, the new characters introduced with this book are still very captivating and tell a story on their own.

With This Shattered World we're introduced to Captain Jubilee Chase and rebel Flynn Cormac on the planet Avon. Avon had only been mentioned in passing by Tarver in the previous book, but here we get to see the daily life of Avon and the havoc that it wrecks on off-worlders, mostly soldiers, who are stationed here. None of the soldiers last more than a month or two before being overtaken by something they have come to know as the Fury. Only Jubilee has been stationed on Avon the longest and seems unaffected by the Fury. Flynn wants nothing more than to find out why Avon isn't terraforming on schedule like other planets have, and he thinks that Jubilee and all her infamy amongst the rebels will be leverage enough to demand answers from the other soldiers. Unfortunately, his naiveté towards the whole situation is endearing, but nothing goes the way he planned.

I liked the story introduced with Jubilee and Flynn. It's a war-torn planet that tentatively tiptoes the promise of a ceasefire between the soldiers and the rebel forces who live in the swamps of Avon. There's more of a love-hate relationship between Jubilee and Flynn than the relationship with Tarver and Lilac. Where one was a class boundary that separated the two characters, this reflects a relationship on opposite sides on the verge of an all-out war. It's nice to see some diversity introduced in this story. In this book, we see a story of a half-Chinese character, Jubilee, remembering her childhood and wanting to reconnect with what her mother taught her when all she has on Avon is a 300 pound Chinese bartender who never got a chance to know his family. My only gripe would probably be that one line of Mandarin that is slightly confusing due to the lack of tones for the pinyin where accent marks were clearly used for the Irish words.

Overall, I really liked the book. There were lots more characters than These Broken Stars and I loved seeing how the characters, the whispers, and LaRoux Industries were weaved into this storyline. And bonus, remember the dead rat story Tarver told Lilac in book 1? We finally found out which soldier he was talking about. I'm interested in finding out how all this gets resolved in Their Fractured Light with the introduction of new characters, because I'm starting to find it hard to let go of these characters in order to read new ones.

My full review can be found on my blog, Reader Rayna, as well as Goodreads.

Throughout the book the characters’ points of view change every chapter between Jubilee and Flynn. Both characters have their own distinct voices so you never confuse one for the other, which is nice when there is so much going on in their world as it is.

Now we get a lot of description of Avon: swampy, watery, muddy, cloud covered atmosphere. It’s nice to be able to read about this world and to get a true sense of it. It makes sense that a world with little to no sunlight would have barely any landmasses suitable for living on, that a lot of it would be water. It obviously has had enough sun or terraforming substances to help it become habitable for humans to occupy and everything, but it’s not a thriving world.

This actually plays a great deal into the rest of the story that surrounds Jubilee and Flynn. As they go throughout the novel and venture forth together (though they don’t want to through the beginning of the novel), they have to trek through terrain that is less than friendly and oftentimes very dirty.

My full review can be found on my blog, Reader Rayna, as well as Goodreads.

Throughout the book the characters’ points of view change every chapter between Jubilee and Flynn. Both characters have their own distinct voices so you never confuse one for the other, which is nice when there is so much going on in their world as it is.

Now we get a lot of description of Avon: swampy, watery, muddy, cloud covered atmosphere. It’s nice to be able to read about this world and to get a true sense of it. It makes sense that a world with little to no sunlight would have barely any landmasses suitable for living on, that a lot of it would be water. It obviously has had enough sun or terraforming substances to help it become habitable for humans to occupy and everything, but it’s not a thriving world.

This actually plays a great deal into the rest of the story that surrounds Jubilee and Flynn. As they go throughout the novel and venture forth together (though they don’t want to through the beginning of the novel), they have to trek through terrain that is less than friendly and oftentimes very dirty.

I liked this one about as much as These Broken Stars, and appreciated the new characters/situation while continuing with the big-picture plot. This one featured a military captain - Jubilee - and a rebel fighter - Flynn - who combine forces to solve what's happening to their planet, even though they are on opposite sides. If the idea of an intergalactic mystery/forbidden romance sounds appealing, then I recommend trying out this trilogy.