These Broken Stars

By: Amie Kaufman, Meagan Spooner

Narrated by: Cynthia Holloway, Johnathan McClain, Sarge Anton

Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's summary

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 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.

©2013 Amie Kaufman (P)2013 Listening Library

Enjoyable Story

These Broken Stars is a well written YA science fiction novel that does circumvent a lot of the cliches in the genre. What begins as a "Titanic" type disaster turns into a survival story with the characters slowly bonding over the course of their ordeal.

Lilac LaRue is the daughter of one of the wealthiest men in the galaxy. Tarver Merendsen, son of a teacher and a poet, comes from humble origins. When Lilac's father's flagship unexpectedly fails, both are forced to use each of their unique talents to survive the disaster - and then find help on the oddly empty terraformed planet they've been stranded upon. But things are not as they should be and both are going to be forced to find inner strengths in order to solve the mystery of the planet and the disaster.

Lilac is a strong character and brings as much to the plate as her male counterpart. What I feared would start out as a 'big misunderstanding' (which would be yet another endless bickering between the two) ended up having a good root cause and quickly overcome by the very real dangers they face together. There are very few deux ex machina to make their journey easier and the mystery at the end justified the middle survival story.

I especially liked that throughout, they each have to save each other and both are more than they seem on the outside.

The Audible version has both a male and female narrator and both did a very good job with the characters.

Not bad.

Good story, a bit slow in places but nice characters and a good love story.

Excellent

Performance was great easy to listen to. I was really able to picture the world and the struggle to survive In my head I was actually able to draw an image I kept seeing of the ship the Icarus. Love the authors and have read hunted by them as well and it is just as amazing and vividly written.

I could read this book over and over

I doubt I could ever grow tired of this book. I have already read this book 7 times since I first read it in July 2016.

First book is the best book in this great series

A beautiful story. A great love story and a great scifi. The performance is wonderful. It's incredible that this novel could be so well carried by two characters. Tells you how great the characters are. A little suspense with a very satisfying ending. I listened to, enjoyed and would recommend the whole series, but the first book is without a doubt the best.

These Broken Stars

I started out reading this book and couldn't get into it. so I decided to try the audio version & that made all the difference. Listening to the story made it so much better.

I guess the science mixed with prissy rich girl/soldier boy needed to be acted out for me to enjoy it. I really liked the character of Lilac by the end of the book. And I can see myself going onto the next book in the trilogy. Before turning to the audiobook I was afraid it would be a DNF for me.

These broken stars

This was a very good story I just wish it was longer at the end it was very well written I'm is my favorite book!!

Excellent Twists! Sweet Love Story!

I really thought this was going to be a si-fi love story, but my-gosh it was unexpected and surprising adventure! More twists than I could have imagined. I kept looking at the timer as the minutes melted away through the book. I kept asking myself "There are only 6, 4, 2, then 1 hours left?! What can they possibly do that would solve THIS before the book ends?"

These two are an unlikely couple, however, it is mostly because they are individually so strong have their own independent issues (Social caste issues, loved ones dying in the past, and daddy issues, each respectively). Can they truly harmonize enough to save both of their lives? They are both intelligent people and Tarver's military experience is definitely what keeps them alive...at first. Then it is Lilac's turn to woman up. Can Tarver accept her strange brand of help? Can she learn anything from Tarver in time to save him or her from death? I couldn't put it down until all my questions were answered. I will be getting the sequel.

A sure fire 10! Sweet love story. Some cussing. Excellent descriptions of the surroundings and well executed action scenes! The ending was more than satisfying.

obsessive

love it. the chemistry and writing is so amazing. i recommend so so so much

Captivating novel- want sequel but ok without

What made the experience of listening to These Broken Stars the most enjoyable?

The different narrator voices made the difference here. The interview portions of the book where completely unexpected and made me feel like I was watching a movie in my head. It was done well and didn't create any confusion. Made it clear in the beginning that parts of the book where jumping time periods.

What other book might you compare These Broken Stars to and why?

Won't bother doing homework on this question but did want to say that this novel was a survival/mystery novel with bits of romance. And I love a survival novel with romance. And I love sci-fi as well so perfect fit for me.

Which character – as performed by the narrators – was your favorite?

The male lead. Sounded like young Kevin Bacon. His narration of the female character's voice wasn't superb but not bad enough to make me cringe. Both main characters' narrations were very well done. Attitudes were clearly expressed. Characterizations quite clear from narrators' voice.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The ending. Cried like a baby. Not the very end but the culmination of the plot- bawled like a baby and went through many tissues even though I knew the ending would satisfy

Any additional comments?

The female main character was a little annoying here and there. Also, I believed I found a review stating that the characters actually communicated unlike some novels- this was not the case till the end. But, they were young and stupid- just like the rest of us but it was a smidge annoying here and there when a simple explanation would have solved a lot of nonsense and there would have been no negative consequence for the character to give it- such as pride issues. There could have been more great conversations between these two characters added to the novel if some of the communication nonsense had been toned down a bit. Just my opinion.

It seems like I read somewhere that this is going to be a series- not sure about that. But I found the ending to be complete and I was absolutely okay with it- no cliffhanger for me. I'll still check for a sequel and if I find one, I'll let others review it first before reading because I have found sometimes that the first in a series and where it stands at the end, is where it should have stopped. But should a sequel be well received, I'll definitely pick it up and probably through audiobooks as it was quite engaging in how it was produced and directed. I will definitely be reading more from this author in the future.