Author: Cecil Castellucci
Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction
Source: Macmillan via NetGalley
Average Goodreads rating: 3.65 out of 5.00 (180+ ratings)
Goodreads | The Reading Room
On their way to start a new life, Tula and her family travel on the Prairie Rose, a colony ship headed to a planet in the outer reaches of the galaxy. All is going well until the ship makes a stop at a remote space station, the Yertina Feray, and the colonist's leader, Brother Blue, beats Tula within an inch of her life. An alien, Heckleck, saves her and teaches her the ways of life on the space station.Review by Nara
When three humans crash land onto the station, Tula's desire for escape becomes irresistible, and her desire for companionship becomes unavoidable. But just as Tula begins to concoct a plan to get off the space station and kill Brother Blue, everything goes awry, and suddenly romance is the farthest thing from her mind.
DAMN YOU MISLEADING BLURB.
"But just as Tula begins to concoct a plan to get off the space station and kill Brother Blue, everything goes awry, and suddenly romance is the farthest thing from her mind"
THEN WHY THE HECK WAS THERE STILL SUCH A BIG FOCUS ON THE ROMANCE AT PAGE 200 OF 240 OF THE DAMNED BOOK. See, I went into this expecting the barest hint of romance. And okay, there wasn't much until the three humans crashed onto the station (not a spoiler, it's in the blurb) and the book actually wasn't particularly interesting until the crash happened and the "romance" began, but still. Also, the romance took a massive turn to the weird at about page 230. PAGE 230 OF 240. Seriously, I was just like:
But that twist definitely meant that I want me the sequel. No doubt Castellucci had it all planned out...crafty.
I must admit the first half of the book is a little bit boring. Not much happens- and when things do happen, they happen very quickly, so they're over in a few pages. Then back to not much happening. Basically, the pacing was pretty shoddy. Until we get to the end! In the last 30 pages or so, the action just EXPLODES and you're just completely drawn in and ermahgerd me needs the sequel.
I'd say that the world building is pretty good overall- Castelluci does quite a decent job of setting up a futuristic universe. The only slight problem I had with it was that it was a bit overwhelming at first- although I must admit this happens with most science fiction books (at least, those heavy on the sci-fi aspect of things), probably because it's quite difficult to reveal things at a slow pace if there's just SO much needed to be revealed. Once everything was set up, though, I definitely enjoyed reading about the world Castelluci crafted.
Character-wise...meh. Most, if not all, the characters felt pretty underdeveloped, especially our protagonist Tula. I feel like we never really get a good grasp of her character and therefore things like her need for revenge and the romance and the hardships she faces aren't really that engaging. However, I do also have to say that despite this underdevelopment, I actually did sort of ship the romance towards the end of the book. Not quite sure why...maybe because it was so unexpected.
If you're a person who doesn't like slow books or a person who is a character reader, I'd say to perhaps not read this book. On the other hand, if you're a person who likes to try new things, Tin Star offers up a rather unique world and story.
Liked it
Ratings
Overall: 7/10
Plot: 3.5/5
Writing: 4/5
World Building: 4/5
Characters: 3/5
Cover: 3/5
