Bookish Excursions

"This is a wilderness waiting to swallow me; I'd barely make a dent trying to fight it.  There are no rules for me to learn, no points to be scored, no bluffs to be called.  This is a hell I've never imagined.  And I think I'm going to die here."

Tarver Merendsen and Lilac LaRoux are an unlikely pair.  He's a war hero from modest means and she's the daughter of the richest man in the galaxy (think Persuasion meets Under the Never Sky).  There's no reason the two of them should notice each other on the spaceship Icarus, but their paths keep crossing.  What could easily be a convoluted romance tale quickly evolves into an intriguing and terrifying story about how the world is never what we think or expect.

I don't know what it is about survival stories, but I gravitate toward them like a bee to a flower.  These Broken Stars doesn't have a spectacularly innovative romance, but the characters' struggle to successfully work together and their attempt to learn the secrets of the planet in which they find themselves trapped is wholly captivating. 

My one teeny tiny miniscule criticism pertains to the book's conclusion.  For all the build-up we're given, the fallout fell kind of flat.  I can't really elaborate more without spoiling the story, but the ending was a little too convenient and slightly unrealistic.  Nonetheless, I still enjoyed reading it.