These Broken Stars - Hardcover

Amie Kaufman; Meagan Spooner

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1423171020 ISBN 13: 9781423171027

Publisher: Hyperion Book CH, 2013

Synopsis

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. 

Then, against all odds, Lilac and Tarver find a strange blessing in the tragedy that has thrown them into each other’s arms. Without the hope of a future together in their own world, they begin to wonder—would they be better off staying here forever? 

Everything changes when they uncover the truth behind the chilling whispers that haunt their every step. Lilac and Tarver may find a way off this planet. But they won’t be the same people who landed on it.

The first in a sweeping science fiction trilogy, These Broken Stars is a timeless love story about hope and survival in the face of unthinkable odds.

About this title

About the Author

Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner are longtime friends and sometime flatmates who have traveled the world (but not yet the galaxy), covering every continent between them. They are sure outer space is only a matter of time. Meagan, who is also the author of the SKYLARK trilogy, currently lives just outside D.C., while Amie lives in Melbourne, Australia. Although they currently live apart, they are united by their love of space opera, road trips, and second breakfasts.

Reviews

*Starred Review* As the passengers and crew of the Icarus cruise through hyperspace, spoiled and aloof rich-girl Lilac LaRoux drops a glove before war-hero Major Tarver Merendsen, only to rebuff him later. Yet during a horrifying accident, Lilac and Tarver escape the death-spiraling Icarus, eventually finding themselves stranded on a strange, terraformed, yet abandoned planet. Their prickly relationship continues because both realize they have no future together, even if they are rescued: Lilac is the daughter of the universe’s richest man, while Tarver is a lowly soldier. Together, they struggle to save their lives and maintain their sanity—despite disturbing whispers, strange appearances, and disappearances of things lost and treasured—and gradually, the dire circumstances break down the barriers between them. Though Kaufman and Spooner use the pair’s survival in an alien environment to propel the narrative, These Broken Stars is at its heart a love story. Voiced in alternate chapters, Lilac and Tarver are characters of depth, complexity, and strength, young people who alternately elicit the reader’s admiration, frustration, and sympathy. While the book is the first of a promised trilogy, it stands on its own as a testament to love, loyalty, courage, and the power of good over dystopian greed and perversity. Grades 8-12. --Frances Bradburn

Edition details

• Publisher: Hyperion Book CH
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1423171020
• ISBN 13: 9781423171027
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 384