So I ended up loving Starflight. It had space pirates, angsty romance, and just amazing action.
Summary
Life in the outer realm is a lawless, dirty, hard existence, and Solara Brooks is hungry for it. Just out of the orphanage, she needs a fresh start in a place where nobody cares about the engine grease beneath her fingernails or the felony tattoos across her knuckles. She’s so desperate to reach the realm that she’s willing to indenture herself to Doran Spaulding, the rich and popular quarterback who made her life miserable all through high school, in exchange for passage aboard the spaceliner Zenith.
When a twist of fate lands them instead on the Banshee, a vessel of dubious repute, Doran learns he’s been framed on Earth for conspiracy. As he pursues a set of mysterious coordinates rumored to hold the key to clearing his name, he and Solara must get past their enmity to work together and evade those out for their arrest. Life on the Banshee may be tumultuous, but as Solara and Doran are forced to question everything they once believed about their world—and each other—the ship becomes home, and the eccentric crew family. But what Solara and Doran discover on the mysterious Planet X has the power to not only alter their lives, but the existence of everyone in the universe…
Review
Listening to this on audiobook was thrilling. And so I’m just going to do a bullet list for this review, because I can’t even with this book.
I really enjoyed:
- The SF tech. There were people who were operated on, there was the question of fuel in the future, there were spaceships. Yas. I loved it all. It was the perfect mix between science fiction concerns and YA. Because these are real concerns. Fuel in the future and in space?? Totally valid.
- The relationship in this book was so tender and soft. Which is saying something because it takes place in a world with indentured servants, space craft battles, and pirates. So I was not expecting emotions that made me tear up at work while I was packing boxes. Nope. Did not expect at all.
- I really loved the side crew. They were full of personality and life. Even the villains made me feel bad a bit! And that’s saying a lot – more if you have read the book.
- Doran and Solara were hilarious and complex at the same time. We really get to know them throughout the book and what we find is fantastic. There’s actual growth within these pages (or for me soundwaves). At the same time, their banter is hilarious and it makes me smile just to think about it.
- Plenty of plot, action, and fights to go around.
- There’s also this undercurrent theme of family and finding your own/making your own and that was a straight shot to my heart.
What more do you want?? Check Starflight out on Goodreads.