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These Broken Stars: A Starbound Novel (The Starbound Trilogy Book 1) Kindle Edition

4.4 out of 5 stars 2,238

"One of the most intense, thrilling, and achingly beautiful stories I've ever read."--Marie Lu, New York Times best-selling author of the Legend trilogy

The first in the New York Times bestselling author duo Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner's sweeping science fiction trilogy, These Broken Stars is a timeless love story about hope and survival in the face of unthinkable odds.

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 into the nearest planet. Lilac LaRoux and Tarver Merendsen are the only survivors. 

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.

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.


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Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Gr 9 Up—Lilac LaRoux is the belle of the ball on board her father's large and luxurious spaceliner, Icarus. Beautiful Lilac is constantly denying suitors who seem only to be after two things, her fame and her father's fortune. War hero Tarver Merendsen doesn't know who she is when he invites her to view the stars with him. When the Icarus suffers severe damage, it begins a disastrous decent out of hyperspace toward the nearest planet, and Lilac and Tarver find themselves in the same life pod. They soon realize they are the lone survivors on an eerie, uninhabited planet. Will rescuers be able to find them? More importantly, do they even want to be found? This first installment in a new series is a sci-fi thriller with a touch of Titanic, a hint of Romeo and Juliet, and a pinch of Lost. Readers Cynthia Holloway and Johnathan McClain give life to this story, making the listening experience enjoyable and exciting. This would be a great addition to any audiobook collection especially among fans of sci-fi romances.—Betsy Davison, Cortland Free Library, NY

From Booklist

*Starred Review* As the passengers and crew of the Icarus cruise through hyperspace, spoiled and aloof rich-girl Lilac LaRoux drops a glove before war-hero Major Tarver Merendsen, only to rebuff him later. Yet during a horrifying accident, Lilac and Tarver escape the death-spiraling Icarus, eventually finding themselves stranded on a strange, terraformed, yet abandoned planet. Their prickly relationship continues because both realize they have no future together, even if they are rescued: Lilac is the daughter of the universe’s richest man, while Tarver is a lowly soldier. Together, they struggle to save their lives and maintain their sanity—despite disturbing whispers, strange appearances, and disappearances of things lost and treasured—and gradually, the dire circumstances break down the barriers between them. Though Kaufman and Spooner use the pair’s survival in an alien environment to propel the narrative, These Broken Stars is at its heart a love story. Voiced in alternate chapters, Lilac and Tarver are characters of depth, complexity, and strength, young people who alternately elicit the reader’s admiration, frustration, and sympathy. While the book is the first of a promised trilogy, it stands on its own as a testament to love, loyalty, courage, and the power of good over dystopian greed and perversity. Grades 8-12. --Frances Bradburn

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00CXXEX0A
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (December 10, 2013)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ December 10, 2013
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 6482 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 350 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 out of 5 stars 2,238

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Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
2,238 global ratings
Cracked spine
4 Stars
Cracked spine
I've read this one before and because I enjoyed it so much, I bought the series. I'd give it five star review if the book hadn't arrived damaged. Took it out of the box and noticed the spine had a giant crack for more than half of the book. Saddened that no one noticed it when they boxed it.
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Top reviews from the United States

Reviewed in the United States on July 23, 2014
These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner
Edition reviewed: Hyperion, First Edition hardcover
No major plot spoilers.

Why I picked it up:
I was browsing books on Amazon one day, and was looking for a science fiction romance. Why? Because of the (small) hole left in me by "For Darkness Shows the Stars" by Diana Peterfreund. I heartily give it a solid 4 star review, because it had everything I was looking for at that point in time: no paranormal elements/creatures (taking a break from fantasy), an original plot, and strong, likeable characters. It hit all of the aforementioned elements, BUT it was lacking a bit in chemistry – and the two leads did not ever share a kiss.
Thus, These Broken Stars. It promised romance, as well as everything else that For Darkness Shows the Stars delivered, so I dived in.

The Writing:
Rather than describing the general summary of the novel, I’m going to assume that most of you have read the provided description.
First of all, I was blown away by the fluidity in this book despite the fact that it was written by two authors! Had I not known, I would never have guessed it because the writing flows so beautifully. Kaufman and Spooner have forged an amazing partnership in the creation of this novel, and I am so glad that they found each other as writing partners.
Lilac and Tarver were both stunningly well developed characters. Throughout the book, I liked Tarver’s personality, through both his perspective, and Lilac’s perception of him. On the other hand, I grew to like Lilac over time. I definitely liked her at first – but it was only during her chapters that I found her to be sympathetic. I disliked her everytime it shifted to Tarver’s chapters, because she seemed like an absolute brat. This remedied itself as the plot unfolded, as it revealed Lilac’s fragility in the face of her outwardly strong persona. Basically, I felt like I liked her more and more as Tarver began to like her – which really demonstrates the authors’ talent, that I was sharing these emotions with the characters.
Plot wise, I didn’t choose this book for originality. It was more or less a replacement for For Darkness Shows the Stars, which was based on Persuasion by Jane Austen, so I didn’t care that this book seemed like it was a sci-fi version of Titanic. However, I was happy to discover that although the initial premise of this novel sounded cliché, the plot started spinning a much more interesting and original storyline than I had anticipated. I was thrilled by every turn of events, and did not find this book to be predictable in the least. Even at the end (more on this later in the review), I didn’t know what was going to happen to the protagonists, so I was kept at the edge of my seat the whole time. I haven’t read such a thrilling, absorbing novel in Young Adult fiction in a long time. I didn’t set out to read such a gem, but I found one in These Broken Stars.

The Romance:
This is where this book really shines. This is doubly true for me, since I picked this one in large part for the promised romance. The relationship between Tarver and Lilac developed at the perfect pace, and did not seem manufactured or forced. It was both believable and sweet. Yes, they feel an immediate attraction at the beginning of the novel while on the Icarus, but this turns out to have little to no effect on the burgeoning romance once they crash onto the unknown planet. Tarver files her away as a beautiful, but typically spoiled and helpless heiress, and it almost seemed as if her appearances worked against her at first. But after being stripped to their innermost layers, removing all the superficial personas, Tarver and Lilac fell in love with the vulnerable and true personalities that they saw in each other.
While this can be a pro or a con depending on the person, I loved that the heat was turned up a bit for this novel. There were definitely references to sex, nudity, and even the “problem” that Tarver woke up with after sharing blankets with Lilac. It’s a PG-13 level romance, but I loved the amped up heat after their relationship blossomed.
Favorite line about their relationship: Tarver, in Chapter 31:
“There are moments like this when I can actually imagine her at my parents’ cottage. I can see her hauling wood with the rest of us, chopping vegetables, going to long walks and calling it entertainment. I think my parents would like her.
I can see her happy there.”

The Ending:
The ending, in my opinion, was pretty perfect. Loose ends were tied up, and although the ending was pretty brief, it did everything right. I loved that I couldn’t really predict the ending. Maybe I guessed what type of ending it was going to be, but I had no idea how Tarver and Lilac were going to reach that point. Basically, everything in the last few chapters was a surprise to me, and it was thrilling to figure out how things were going to be tied up. So even if you know the starting and ending point of a book, I think it’s the actual journey that’s the most fun to read. With another of my favorite books, Les Miserables by Victor Hugo (a very different type of book), or The Road by Cormac McCarthy (also a very different book), the actual ending really mattered to me. With These Broken Stars, it was just so thrilling to read how they were going to get themselves out of a seemingly impossible situation.

Final Thoughts:
This book far exceeded my expectation in everyway. So much, that I added it to my favorites shelf, which I reserve for books that really leave an impact on me. It’s probably one of the best Young Adult reads of 2013, and I actually resent the fact that the School Library Journal book summary (the first one you see on Amazon) sounds so cliché.
It starts by saying that “Lilac LaRoux is the belle of the ball,” despite how Lilac is first seen sitting away from other people, almost isolated despite her reputation. The next sentence says, “Beautiful Lilac is constantly denying suitors who seem only to be after two things, her fame and her father’s fortune,” which is even farther off the mark. The only “suitor” that comes up to her in the entire span of the book is Tarver, who doesn’t even know who she is at that point. The only other guy that is mentioned to have approached her romantically is a boy that Lilac herself loved, who was poorer than her, and bonded with her over things like electric wiring. So why does the summary begin with those statements? I turned away from the book at first, having only read that description, and only came back to it after reading other reviews that insisted that this book was original.
Don’t think that this book is just a rehashed Titanic or Romeo and Juliet! It’s so much more, and I believe that any Young Adult romance lover will find this book just as intense and enthralling as I did. It really is a splendid read.
The only thing I still want to know: Who is Sarah? When Lilac hears Tarver call her Sarah, I wanted to find out if she was right in her assumption that it was Tarver’s ex-girlfriend. Maybe this was cleared up somewhere in the book, but if it was, I missed it. I combed the chapters before and after that scene, and I couldn’t find any clarification. I know it’s not really relevant at all, but it’s my tiny nit-pick for this book.
But anyway, read this book! It will blow you away, and you will fall in love with Lilac and Tarver because of their hardships, not in spite of them. You’ll fall in love with their fragile-on-the-outside but inwardly unbreakable bond.
You’ll fall in love with the amazing world and expertly spun storyline that makes These Broken Stars such a thrilling ride.
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Reviewed in the United States on March 27, 2014
How to describe this book - An adventure, survival, syfy, love story.
It was okay, that is the main thought I had in my head after finishing this book. I went in to this expecting it to pull on my heart strings and leave me gasping for breath, that's what I took away from the reviews I had read of it and that's not what I got. Let me start off by saying this is a good book, it's not a bad book, I can't honestly think of one thing I hated about it, I can't think of one moment I stopped waiting to love it and starting feeling nothing for it. It just wasn't for me, I guess.

Likes -
-The Characters - I loved both characters which just makes it all the more confusing as to why I didn't like this book! The romance was sweet and slow and I love that but when they finally did get together and when all these bad heart breaking things started happening I didn't really feel anything, my heart didn't break for these characters the way I wanted it to.
-I liked that it was a kind of survival story, I'm a sucker for a survival story.
- Beautiful writing.
- Characters - Again I really did love the characters!

Dislikes -
- My main "dislike" I guess would have to be that I didn't really feel invested in this book. I don't know why, the writing was good, I loved the characters, just something about the book, the pace, the plot, just made me feel disconnected and while I was excepting this book to pull my heart every which way and keep me on the edge of my seat it just didn't.
-I guess I felt that the over all world in this book, with all the planets and the terraforming could have be explained a little more, you kinda have figure it all out for yourself and it's slightly confusing at times.
-While I liked that it was a love story/survival novel/ adventure/sy-fy I also feel that it was trying to be too many things at once and so nothing got enough attention.

In conclusion - The writing was beautiful, the characters were well developed and likable, it was just missing that 'pulling on my heart strings' factor that I so love in a book and that I was expecting in this book. And at some point along the way I kinda just stopped caring about this book for the most part. I got disconnected and never really connected again even when we got to the most important parts.

I gave this book 4 stars because It's not that it's a bad book it's just that at some point along the way it lost something for me, but I don't think that will happen to most people, I think most people will probably really enjoy this book. I guess for me it was just that it took too long to get where it was going and I kinda lost interest. I will probably at some point pick up the next book when it comes out just to see what happens but it's not something that I have the overwhelming desire to read the minute it comes out.​

Top reviews from other countries

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Léa
5.0 out of 5 stars AHHH
Reviewed in France on December 31, 2020
tellement, tellement bien! je ne m'attendais pas à aimer autant ce livre. Il est super.
Quin
5.0 out of 5 stars Love the book
Reviewed in the Netherlands on October 1, 2020
Great book. DHL threw the package in my yard and it was rained on but customer service was great of amazon
María Cristina
5.0 out of 5 stars Genial
Reviewed in Spain on February 6, 2019
Llego a tiempo y las condiciones bastante buenas por el precio que es. Lo volvería a comprar incluso para un regalo
Beatrice in Bookland
4.0 out of 5 stars Particolare
Reviewed in Italy on July 4, 2017
Non sono una grande amante dei libri sci-fi ma la copertina mi ha attirata e non ho saputo resistere, sono debole ahahah. In generale il libro mi è piaciuto anche se secondo me la prima parte è troppo lenta e l'ultima un po' confusionaria
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cathy clun
5.0 out of 5 stars Great read. Didn’t want to put it down
Reviewed in Australia on May 30, 2020
The story line is interesting and has lots of little twists and turns that you don’t see coming. The characters are very likeable and you want to cheer them on . I really enjoyed this book and now want to read more from these authors.
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