Author: Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner
Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction
Source: Allen & Unwin
Goodreads
A year ago, Flynn Cormac and Jubilee Chase made the now infamous Avon Broadcast, calling on the galaxy to witness for their planet, and protect them from destruction. Some say Flynn’s a madman, others whisper about conspiracies. Nobody knows the truth. A year before that, Tarver Merendsen and Lilac LaRoux were rescued from a terrible shipwreck—now, they live a public life in front of the cameras, and a secret life away from the world’s gaze.Review by Nara
Now, in the center of the universe on the planet of Corinth, all four are about to collide with two new players, who will bring the fight against LaRoux Industries to a head. Gideon Marchant is an eighteen-year-old computer hacker—a whiz kid and an urban warrior. He’ll climb, abseil and worm his way past the best security measures to pull off onsite hacks that others don’t dare touch.
Sofia Quinn has a killer smile, and by the time you’re done noticing it, she’s got you offering up your wallet, your car, and anything else she desires. She holds LaRoux Industries responsible for the mysterious death of her father and is out for revenge at any cost.
When a LaRoux Industries security breach interrupts Gideon and Sofia’s separate attempts to infiltrate their headquarters, they’re forced to work together to escape. Each of them has their own reason for wanting to take down LaRoux Industries, and neither trusts the other. But working together might be the best chance they have to expose the secrets LRI is so desperate to hide.
Well, that was quite a satisfying ending to a great series. There really aren't that many "pure" sci-fi YA novels out there, and the Starbound trilogy is most definitely one of the best I've read. The world building is pretty decent, the characters are interesting and the plots are very compelling. On top of that, you've got those three awesome covers- all of this combined make for some pretty good reasons to get onto this series if you haven't yet.
I have to admit, this book was not quite as good as This Shattered World (which is my favourite of the three). I think the romance was a bit lacking in this book compared to the other two. It kind of seemed like the romance took too much of a back seat to the action and main overarching plot- the appearance of the couples from the other two books meant that a lot of development of the main two in this book was sacrificed.
That being said, I did really like both Sofia and Gideon as separate characters. They're both quite snarky, making for some great banter. They also both have interesting back stories which were touched on in previous books, but are explored much further in Their Fractured Light.
The ending was definitely satisfying, where all the loose ends were tied nicely. To be completely honest, I'm still not 100% convinced about the whole science behind the 'whisper' thing, but this was the type of story where I could ignore the scientific basis and still really enjoy the book.
The Starbound Trilogy is a series I'd definitely recommend.
Really liked it
RatingsOverall: 8/10
Plot: 4/5
Romance: 3.5/5
Writing: 4/5
World Building: 4/5
Characters: 4/5
Cover: 5/5
