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tregina's review against another edition
3.0
I had a hankering for a solid space adventure and this hit the mark, runaways and misfit crew and space mechanics and all. (Although, I'm always a little disappointed when a book is so relentlessly heterosexual.) It didn't hold any surprises, but that was okay, that wasn't what I was looking for. It was comfortable, like a book I'd read and enjoyed before.
eesh25's review
4.0
4.5 Stars
I reread this book two days ago and wasn't very happy with my older review. So I rewrote it.
The book follows Solara and Doran. She's looking for a new life for herself. She needs to go to the outer realms of the galaxy to get a job and the only way she can do that is by serving a passenger of the spaceliner Zenith for the duration of the trip. But due to her felony tattoos, the only passenger willing to take her along is Doran, her highschool bully. And he does not go easy on her. Then something happens and they both end up on the ship Banshee. There, not only are they surrounded by a crew of people running from the law, they themselves seem to be running from the law.
Very Firefly, isn't it? If the synopsis doesn't seem that way, the book definitely will. With the addition of a romance. Though I'll be honest, in the beginning, I highly doubted the romance would work. Doran and Solara really hated each other. Solara would have happily strangled him if she didn't need his help. And I wouldn't have blamed her. Doran was an asshole.
Solara wasn't my favourite either. She did some dubious stuff. But she was okay. She deserved some revenge after what Doran put her through. I liked her a lot more as the book went on. And, surprisingly, I also really liked Doran. He somehow managed to redeem himself And the romance that initially seemed far-fetched, became a reality. n a very believable way. Almost can't believe it Melissa Landers pulled it off. And in such a fun way too. The banter between Doran and Solara was hilarious.
The rest of the characters were really funny too. I loved the crew of the Banshee. They all had their own stories and reasons for being on the ship. The relationship between the characters, their interactions, the camaraderie, definitely made the book for me.
The pace was fantastic too. This isn't a very big novel and yet so much happens. And it all happens at the right, natural, pace. Another great thing was that the romantic plot was resolved at the 80% point. Usually, we're still wondering, till the end, whether the protagonists will tell each other how they feel and if they even want be together. This time, that conflict was resolved before shit hit the fan for the they're-all-gonna-die climax.
Honesty, this is a great book. It's funny, it's sweet and it's entertaining. We've got a great set of characters, good writing and an engaging story. It's definitely a book that you find yourself rereading often. Hell, I've read it at least four times.
If I had one complaint, it's that I would've like some more depth with the world-building. It was good for the most part. I especially loved the touch about there being a painful and expensive procedure that can make your sweat smell good. Like, humanity may never find the cure for cancer, but I can be sure that that is totally happening. Still, would've liked more political and geological details.
Overall, great book, highly recommend. Just read it.
I reread this book two days ago and wasn't very happy with my older review. So I rewrote it.
The book follows Solara and Doran. She's looking for a new life for herself. She needs to go to the outer realms of the galaxy to get a job and the only way she can do that is by serving a passenger of the spaceliner Zenith for the duration of the trip. But due to her felony tattoos, the only passenger willing to take her along is Doran, her highschool bully. And he does not go easy on her. Then something happens and they both end up on the ship Banshee. There, not only are they surrounded by a crew of people running from the law, they themselves seem to be running from the law.
Very Firefly, isn't it? If the synopsis doesn't seem that way, the book definitely will. With the addition of a romance. Though I'll be honest, in the beginning, I highly doubted the romance would work. Doran and Solara really hated each other. Solara would have happily strangled him if she didn't need his help. And I wouldn't have blamed her. Doran was an asshole.
Solara wasn't my favourite either. She did some dubious stuff. But she was okay. She deserved some revenge after what Doran put her through. I liked her a lot more as the book went on. And, surprisingly, I also really liked Doran. He somehow managed to redeem himself And the romance that initially seemed far-fetched, became a reality. n a very believable way. Almost can't believe it Melissa Landers pulled it off. And in such a fun way too. The banter between Doran and Solara was hilarious.
The rest of the characters were really funny too. I loved the crew of the Banshee. They all had their own stories and reasons for being on the ship. The relationship between the characters, their interactions, the camaraderie, definitely made the book for me.
The pace was fantastic too. This isn't a very big novel and yet so much happens. And it all happens at the right, natural, pace. Another great thing was that the romantic plot was resolved at the 80% point. Usually, we're still wondering, till the end, whether the protagonists will tell each other how they feel and if they even want be together. This time, that conflict was resolved before shit hit the fan for the they're-all-gonna-die climax.
Honesty, this is a great book. It's funny, it's sweet and it's entertaining. We've got a great set of characters, good writing and an engaging story. It's definitely a book that you find yourself rereading often. Hell, I've read it at least four times.
If I had one complaint, it's that I would've like some more depth with the world-building. It was good for the most part. I especially loved the touch about there being a painful and expensive procedure that can make your sweat smell good. Like, humanity may never find the cure for cancer, but I can be sure that that is totally happening. Still, would've liked more political and geological details.
Overall, great book, highly recommend. Just read it.
kocsislaura25's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
uutopicaa's review
4.0
Before I begin with the review, I would like to say a few things for those who will read what I’m about to write. First of all, I got this book in my monthly UpperCase subscription. And second, I’m not a native English speaker so my grammar could be a bit odd.
Now, about the book.
I’ve never liked Sci-fi or any type of futuristic/post-apocalyptical story. I guess I could make a few exceptions with books like the Partials saga by Dan Wells, but I normally get bored with sci-fi novels. That’s why I was disappointed when my first UpperCase subscription came with a book about a person who travels in a spaceship.
I promised myself I will read it anyway, and I told my husband that if I kept getting sci-fi books I would cancel the subscription. On top of that, I didn't like the cover (looks like out of a really bad videogame) and the text on the back of the book is STUPID.
But, I read it anyways.
And I loved every single page.
I’m always a bit scared when I’m about to read a YA book. Some of them are wonderful but some others are terrible. It’s about half and half. Fortunately, this book was great.
Since the beginning, the main character was different, unique. A girl with a dark past who was trying to get a new life. Someone with strong personality and not scared to take risks. The main guy was a jerk who slowly became a good human being. The characters development was slow and felt real, there was none of that “suddenly I’m in love and I’ve changed” bullshit.
All characters are human, in the sense that they have their good and bad sides. They also make mistakes and get scared. Nobody is perfect in this book, and that makes it special.
I finished the book in two days. I couldn’t stop reading it.
BUT of course there are a few things I didn’t like.
-The cover and the text on the back. They are both terribly stupid and make the book look “bad” when it’s really great.
-Missing parts. I feel like the author left TOO many gaps in time so she could rush the main events. There’re constant jumps from “And so, they took off” and the next sentence is “When they landed…”. And like that with most scenes. It was too rushed. She should’ve taken more time to fill a few gaps.
-The fact that it is a saga. I’m sick of sagas. Some books are good as a stand-alone novel. This story, for example, ends in the perfect spot. MOST things are solved, but not all. The ending is neither totally open or totally closed, its great and I feel that IF ONLY the author added a better epilogue telling a few things about what happened AFTER the book, she could have end it all there, no need for a sequel. I’m terribly disappointed about this fact. I don’t know if I want to read more about this story, it’s perfect as it is, it doesn’t need anything else.
BUT all in all, I loved the story and I recommend it. Even for people like me who dislike sci-fi. It’s great. Every detail, every character, the way things are slowly explained in the right moment. WOW. It was incredible.
Go read it.
Now, about the book.
I’ve never liked Sci-fi or any type of futuristic/post-apocalyptical story. I guess I could make a few exceptions with books like the Partials saga by Dan Wells, but I normally get bored with sci-fi novels. That’s why I was disappointed when my first UpperCase subscription came with a book about a person who travels in a spaceship.
I promised myself I will read it anyway, and I told my husband that if I kept getting sci-fi books I would cancel the subscription. On top of that, I didn't like the cover (looks like out of a really bad videogame) and the text on the back of the book is STUPID.
But, I read it anyways.
And I loved every single page.
I’m always a bit scared when I’m about to read a YA book. Some of them are wonderful but some others are terrible. It’s about half and half. Fortunately, this book was great.
Since the beginning, the main character was different, unique. A girl with a dark past who was trying to get a new life. Someone with strong personality and not scared to take risks. The main guy was a jerk who slowly became a good human being. The characters development was slow and felt real, there was none of that “suddenly I’m in love and I’ve changed” bullshit.
All characters are human, in the sense that they have their good and bad sides. They also make mistakes and get scared. Nobody is perfect in this book, and that makes it special.
I finished the book in two days. I couldn’t stop reading it.
BUT of course there are a few things I didn’t like.
-The cover and the text on the back. They are both terribly stupid and make the book look “bad” when it’s really great.
-Missing parts. I feel like the author left TOO many gaps in time so she could rush the main events. There’re constant jumps from “And so, they took off” and the next sentence is “When they landed…”. And like that with most scenes. It was too rushed. She should’ve taken more time to fill a few gaps.
-The fact that it is a saga. I’m sick of sagas. Some books are good as a stand-alone novel. This story, for example, ends in the perfect spot. MOST things are solved, but not all. The ending is neither totally open or totally closed, its great and I feel that IF ONLY the author added a better epilogue telling a few things about what happened AFTER the book, she could have end it all there, no need for a sequel. I’m terribly disappointed about this fact. I don’t know if I want to read more about this story, it’s perfect as it is, it doesn’t need anything else.
BUT all in all, I loved the story and I recommend it. Even for people like me who dislike sci-fi. It’s great. Every detail, every character, the way things are slowly explained in the right moment. WOW. It was incredible.
Go read it.
sunshine2332's review
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
maatkare_j's review
3.0
It's not *terrible* - but apparently everyone is white or so light-skinned it doesn't matter... and let's not discuss the two characters with blonde dreadlocks. More sadly, the badass lady count is zero. (Even though Solara is a mechanic who has ideas and does things, she's also the object of thrilling rescues by a dashing young man, and the romance conforms to patriarchal gender norms.)
msrcreation's review against another edition
3.0
I really like the characters in this. It takes a bit to really like the main two as they are both horrible in the beginning. But by the end I started to care for them and truly like the relationship between them. I like the idea of the side characters but never really felt connected to them enough. They could have disappeared and I wouldn’t have noticed so I really wanted more from them. But the problem I had most with this book was the plot. It just felt all over the place and I lost interest in it and this world pretty quickly.
cutenanya's review
5.0
Actually 4.5 stars, -0.5 for the abrupt ending.
I really love this book, especially the crew on board the Banshee. You may not be able to choose the family you're born into, but you can always build or find a family you can love and care for. Still, I notice a recent trend in YA where the heroes/ heroine have awful parents and they have to seek for love elsewhere.
As for the characters, both Doran and Solara are awesome, each brave and loving in their own ways. I am particularly amazed at the transformation of Doran, from the rich brat in the beginning to the strong man in the end. I would love to know more about Cassia and Kane but will have to wait till 2017 as they will be featured in the sequel. I also love the adults, the trusting and selfless Captain and the flawed but sweet Renny.
What disappointed me in this book is the inadequate world building and the ending.
Although there is some levels of world building, like we know the future consists of Earth in the center surrounded by colonial planets and lawless areas in the outer rim, I think the story would have been stronger had they described more how the system works.
Then there is the ending. When the narrator announces the end of the book, I'm like WHAT!? Ending here? Really? I know there is a sequel but can't we end on a better note. DUH!
Overall though, I really love this book and I'm absolutely looking forward to meeting the crew on the Banshee and finally learning the whole story between Kane and Cassia.
I really love this book, especially the crew on board the Banshee. You may not be able to choose the family you're born into, but you can always build or find a family you can love and care for. Still, I notice a recent trend in YA where the heroes/ heroine have awful parents and they have to seek for love elsewhere.
As for the characters, both Doran and Solara are awesome, each brave and loving in their own ways. I am particularly amazed at the transformation of Doran, from the rich brat in the beginning to the strong man in the end. I would love to know more about Cassia and Kane but will have to wait till 2017 as they will be featured in the sequel. I also love the adults, the trusting and selfless Captain and the flawed but sweet Renny.
What disappointed me in this book is the inadequate world building and the ending.
Although there is some levels of world building, like we know the future consists of Earth in the center surrounded by colonial planets and lawless areas in the outer rim, I think the story would have been stronger had they described more how the system works.
Then there is the ending. When the narrator announces the end of the book, I'm like WHAT!? Ending here? Really? I know there is a sequel but can't we end on a better note. DUH!
Overall though, I really love this book and I'm absolutely looking forward to meeting the crew on the Banshee and finally learning the whole story between Kane and Cassia.
bookdevouringmisfit's review against another edition
5.0
4 stars?? 4.5 ?? 5??
I DON'T CARE, I LOVE IT.
I DON'T CARE, I LOVE IT.
annettebooksofhopeanddreams's review against another edition
4.0
All the books I've read by Landers so far were amazing. I love her writing style, her characters and the plots she comes up with. This book has been on the shelves for quite some time already, but for some reason there were always other books I wanted to read first. Yesterday I had a spare hour and felt like picking this one up. It was already quite hard to put the book down so I made sure to make time to finish this one today.
This book is addictive from start to finish and that's mostly because of the characters and the world they're living in. Landers never explains the world to us. We get snippets of information throughout the story and whenever it's relevant and with those snippets we can slowly paint the picture of what's going on. And even though there was not much explanation I never had the feeling I was lost or couldn't follow what was going on.
And there is a lot going on in this book. Although it's not the kind of sci-fi where there is an active war and our characters are using spaceships to fight, there is a lot of action in this book. Our characters are constantly fighting and running for their lives. They must be quite exhausted actually because even as a reader I sometimes had the feeling I barely had the time to take a deep breath and recover from what has happened.
The characters are however strong in multiple ways. It's quite clear from the start that this is gonna be a haters to lovers romance, but it's a well done one and a true one. Those characters hate each other and have loads of reasons to do so. They are just forced to really get to know each other and change their look on life and that slowly changes how they view each other and the crew they're traveling with.
I can't wait to discover what is waiting for them in the next book!
This book is addictive from start to finish and that's mostly because of the characters and the world they're living in. Landers never explains the world to us. We get snippets of information throughout the story and whenever it's relevant and with those snippets we can slowly paint the picture of what's going on. And even though there was not much explanation I never had the feeling I was lost or couldn't follow what was going on.
And there is a lot going on in this book. Although it's not the kind of sci-fi where there is an active war and our characters are using spaceships to fight, there is a lot of action in this book. Our characters are constantly fighting and running for their lives. They must be quite exhausted actually because even as a reader I sometimes had the feeling I barely had the time to take a deep breath and recover from what has happened.
The characters are however strong in multiple ways. It's quite clear from the start that this is gonna be a haters to lovers romance, but it's a well done one and a true one. Those characters hate each other and have loads of reasons to do so. They are just forced to really get to know each other and change their look on life and that slowly changes how they view each other and the crew they're traveling with.
I can't wait to discover what is waiting for them in the next book!