"These Broken Stars" - Book Club

Welcome to the first installment of my online book club! Just as with any normal book club, on this post we will be discussing the book "These Broken Stars" along with Kate and Marie. I'll start by offering a brief synopsis.

"These Broken Stars" is a compelling sci-fi romance written by Amie Kaufman and Megan Spooner. When the giant ship called the Icarus crashes onto an unknown planet, two teenagers survive and are forced to roam this unknown planet in isolation. Lilac and Tarver are as different as they come. Tarver is a hard working soldier of a humble background who otherwise would never dream of associating with the rich and beautiful Lilac LaRoux. Not only was I surprised that I ended up enjoying a sci-fi novel, but I was amazed by the writers' ability to keep the reader hooked on a story that revolves around two characters. I think that should testify to the fact that this book is engrossing in all regards. But I'll let my friends share their thoughts. *BEWARE OF SPOILERS* tread, I mean uh...read lightly guys. Read lightly...

Marie: 

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I pulled my copy of “These Broken Stars” out of the mailbox. The cover, for example, practically screams “YA dystopian romance!” a genre which I am not very fond of.

But I had made a commitment to read it. So I opened up the cover, and started on the dust jacket, a habit I cannot seem to get rid of even though it annoys me so much that I usually just buy paperbacks. The front inside flap was a plot summary. Okay, I thought, a snobby rich girl and a soldier stranded on a planet, they fall in love…pretty much what I was expecting from the cover.

I congratulated myself for being so insightful. But then I flipped over to the back cover, to the biography of the two authors, and saw something there that made me think twice about judging a book by its cover. At first, I sort of skimmed the paragraph. In my head, it went something like this. Bla bla bla Australia, bla bla bla writing , bla blab la space opera, bla bla—wait, space opera?

And I had to stop and read it a few times. I don’t know how many people know this, but I am a giant space opera nerd. I love the Star Wars movies with a passion that rivals my love for Cheetos. I’ll sit at home by myself just so I can watch reruns of Star Trek and Lost In Space. 

The knowledge that this book could technically be considered space opera gave me the push I needed to stop procrastinating and start reading. And I did. I read it all the way through. And I was very pleased to find that it is space opera, beautifully written and wonderfully melodramatic.

I’ll admit I still have issues with the whole “first-person-present-tense” thing. But that’s just me; I’m silly like that. The authors did a wonderful job of differentiating between the two styles. I really did like Tarver and I really did hate Lilac (for a few chapters.) Then I started liking both of them, and things probably would have continued like that for the rest of the book, only they fell in love with each other.

Maybe it’s just me, but as the reader, I feel like the awkward third wheel during the more romantic scenes of the book. I suppose, in most books, there are usually a few other characters hanging around, characters who are just as awkward as you, and you can be like, “Yeah, this is awkward. Hey, let’s go throw some rocks at a tree. Yeah. Sounds cool. Rocks. At a tree.”

That being said, I liked Lilac for the rest of the book. She changed a lot, and in a positive way. She started being true to herself, and discovering what her talents were. (Blowing things up. That’s a good talent. I was jealous.)

Tarver, however, turned into this hormone-driven animal-type guy. I suppose that’s how any boy would be, and Lilac was okay with it. I wasn’t, but I’m not the one who fell in love with him. Anyways, he was starting to get on my nerves until something horrible happened to Lilac, and she sort of changed forever. Then I could see that he actually cared for her. And it was really very sweet.

I have a few other things I would like to say, about the ending, but I don’t know how much longer I can keep dancing around major plot points—which some of you may not have read yet, so I should probably stop before I give anything away. (Plus you’re probably bored to tears by now.)

I’ll say one more thing before I finish. I loved how the authors put excerpts from Tarver’s interrogation in between each chapter. That was clever. I had the same idea, before I read this book, and was a bit crushed to find that they did it, and even more that they did it better than I did.

So I liked the book. I didn’t love it, and that’s my problem, but I liked it. I might even read the next one, when it comes out, because I want to see what happens to Lilac. Oh, and I guess Tarver too. Hopefully, the writers will put their brilliance to work and have more than just five or six characters. I liked the solitary feeling of this first book—very intimate and private, unusual things for a work of science fiction—but I think Kaufman & Spooner have more tricks up their sleeve.

Kate:

I think this book was amazing in every way possible. The characters, the plot, the writing, everything! I took me a little bit to get into, but once I got past those first 80-100 pages or so, I couldn't put it down.

I loved Lilac and Tarver, but I think that Lilac especially grew as a character throughout the book. She started out as a snobby, gossiping, rich girl who wouldn't even take her ridiculous high heels in the wild. And I loved that! It was such a refreshing change from the stereotypical Katniss Everdeen heroines we see in today's books. I loved seeing Lilac slowly change as the book went on, seeing her slowly transform from the girl in the green dress to a girl who wasn't afraid to walk around a crashed spaceship to save Tarver. The scene at the end when she confronts her father and basically goes ballistic on him about Simon in Tarver was just awesome. I was scared of her just then!

And Tarver! Oh my God, when Lilac died, he just about broke my heart. I cried the entire way through the following chapters before she "came back" (I'm not sure what term you'd use for what happened to her).

I also thought the passages in between when somebody's asking Tarver questions were really cool. It reminded me of the beginning of the chapters in Ender's Game. Except I thought these bits were easier to follow than those.

And Tarver had some of the best lines. For example, this one made me laugh out loud:

She considers the question, then nods, reaching up to tuck her hair back where it belongs. "Where will I sit?"Sit? Why, on this comfortable chaise longue I've carried here for you in my pocket, Your Highness, so glad you asked.

These quotes were heartbreaking:

Her hand lifts to grab at me, finding my arm and clutching tight. "Tarver." Her whisper's a gurgle, the blood in her throat now. "I lied. I'm--I don't want to die." Her blue eyes are wide and terrified as she gazes past me.

I'm shaking as I ease down to stretch out beside her, pressing my forehead to her temple, whispering my words against her skin. "I'm here." I can barely make myself loud enough, but I think she hears me. "I promise, I'm right here, Lilac. I won't go anywhere. I won't leave."

The Frost in my chest creaks, something else trying to come through. "I remember being dead, Tarver." I swallow, and my breath comes out like a sob. "How do you live again, knowing what waits for you in the end?"

And this one was beautiful:

But for now, as we wait for the engines to kick in, all of that is far away. For a moment the image before us is frozen: our world, our lives, reduced to a handful of broken stars half lost in uncharted space. Then it's gone, the view swallowed by the hyperspace winds streaming past, blue-green auroras wiping the afterimages away.

Until all that's left is us.

Thanks so much for participating, ladies! And you guys for reading! Hopefully in future this online book club thing will be a little more organized, but I'm pretty pleased with how this turned out. Have you read "These Broken Stars"? Let us know your thoughts in the comments! OH, and be sure to check out Kate's blog at: themagicviolinist.blogspot.com. And I'll have a link to Maria's site soon!