Review: These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner

These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner
Published: December 1, 2013
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Pages: 374 (Paperback)
Series: Starbound #1
Source: Bought
My Rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

It's a night like any other on board the Icarus. Then, catastrophe strikes: the massive luxury spaceliner is yanked out of hyperspace and plummets to the nearest planet. Lilac LaRoux and Tarver Merendsen survive. And they seem to be alone.

Lilac is the daughter of the richest man in the universe. Tarver comes from nothing, a young war hero who learned long ago that girls like Lilac are more trouble than they're worth. But with only each other to rely on, Lilac and Tarver must work together, making a tortuous journey across the eerie, deserted terrain to seek help.

Then, against all odds, Lilac and Tarver find a strange blessing in the tragedy that has thrown them into each other's arms. Without the hope of a future together in their own world, they begin to wonder - would they be better off staying in this place forever?

Everything changes when they uncover the truth behind the chilling whispers that haunt their every step. Lilac and Tarver may find a way off this planet. But they won't be the same people who landed on it.

The first in a sweeping science fiction trilogy, These Broken Stars is a timeless love story about hope and survival in the face of unthinkable odds.

I'm pleasantly surprised by how much I ended up enjoying this book. It was difficult to get into it in the beginning, but a little less than halfway through I found myself enjoying it.

The beginning is mainly Tarver and Lilac traveling on the planet that they crashed on. I rarely read survival books, mostly because they can be extremely boring. It also didn't help that I had no sympathy for the characters at this point, so Lilac and Tarver's attitudes towards each other and in general were less than appealing to me. Lilac is the spoiled daughter of the most powerful man in the galaxy, while Tarver is a war hero. They were raised in completely different worlds and obviously Tarver is more prepared for surviving on an unknown planet than Lilac, but that doesn't stop her from being horrible to him. 

Even though I wasn't particularly enjoying the story at this point, I kept reading anyway and my persistence was rewarded when the characters started to change and develop. Lilac seems to grasp the situation better after a near death experience and she starts to change from the rich girl that just wants to wait around for rescue to someone that is capable of saving herself. Tarver also starts to be more sympathetic towards Lilac and realizes that she's not as useless as he thought she was. Eventually they come to respect and trust each other, which was huge development for both of the characters since they basically started out hating each other. The best part was that none of their development seemed forced or rushed, it felt natural. Obviously, Tarver and Lilac fall in love. I actually liked their relationship because it made sense. They had to trust each other in order to survive on the planet, so of course they're going to form a strong relationship.

There was also a sort of paranormal aspect to the book that seemed a little weird and out of place, but by the end it starts to make a little more sense. It's easy to see why there is such a wide range of ratings for the book because while it does have some flaws, it also has so really great aspects as well. It mostly comes down to how much a person enjoys survival and romance stories.