Author: Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Format: Hardback
Publication Date: December 23rd 2014
Pages: 390
Source: Bought
Rating: ☆☆☆
Purchase: The Book Depository / Waterstones
Jubilee Chase and Flynn Cormac should never have met.
Lee is captain of the forces sent to Avon to crush the terraformed planet's rebellious colonists, but she has her own reasons for hating the insurgents.
Rebellion is in Flynn's blood. Terraforming corporations make their fortune by recruiting colonists to make the inhospitable planets livable, with the promise of a better life for their children. But they never fulfilled their promise on Avon, and decades later, Flynn is leading the rebellion.
Desperate for any advantage in a bloody and unrelentingly war, Flynn does the only thing that makes sense when he and Lee cross paths: he returns to base with her as prisoner. But as his fellow rebels prepare to execute this tough-talking girl with nerves of steel, Flynn makes another choice that will change him forever. He and Lee escape the rebel base together, caught between two sides of a senseless war.
After the success of These Broken Stars, I eagerly ventured into the sequel, This Shattered World expecting the same heart racing pacing, action packed storyline and loveable characters. Did I get this from the sequel after being introduced to a new set of star-crossed lovers from either end of an ongoing war? Partially, yes.
The concept of this book was completely different from the first, and whilst the underlining story arc behind the intentions of LaRoeux Industries was present, this book could very easily of held out on it's own. That's what I love about this series so far - because we're presented with a new story each time with links to the side plot, it keeps everything fresh and desirable. Now plot wise this novel focused very much so on the Romeo Juliet idea that was heavily present in this novel. With a solider from one side and a rebel from the other, we're brought together and introduced to these characters and the ideals they bold hold. Obviously we knew from the idea that there was going to be some difficultly in attaining their happiness, however I found the way it was approached in this book was new and totally refreshing to how it's been pitched before. My only issue with the plot was that because so much was held back until the reveal towards the end, it felt quite disjointed as you went along reading. I feel that it witheld a lot of my enjoyment in comparison to the first book, which is such a shame because I was expecting a lot of the twists and turns to keep me on my feet and sadly these weren't as present.
Similarly to the first book, the beauty of the writing continued and flourished in this instalment. It was fluid and vivd, making it once again very easy to picture everything that was going on. In my review of These Broken Stars, I mentioned that I looked forward to seeing more of the breaks between the chapters, hoping they would be filled with content just as rewarding as the interview logs from the first book. Whilst we were introduced to Jubilee's dream sequences, I found them to be extremely confusing and unfortunately not very linear. Because of this, I struggled to fully understand what was happening and this sapped into my enjoyment of the novel.
Onto the characters. We're introduced to a new set of star-crossed lovers in this book, Jubilee and Flynn. Each brought their own unique traits to the table and individually I thoroughly enjoyed them. Jubilee was spunky and driven whilst Flynn was dramatic and determined. They complimented each other really well, but in my opinion I feel a close friendship would have worked better than their romantic relationship because I found Flynn to be very pitiful in his desire for Jubilee. Unlike Tarver and Lilac's gradual relationship, whilst this one didn't flourish until about 70% of the way through, it felt very sudden. Although I appreciated it slightly, I really felt their strong willed natures would have complimented a badass friendship more than a romantic one.
So overall This Shattered World didn't pack as much of a punch as perhaps I had hoped for. Whether this was because I had my expectations too high after the delight of the first book, I don't know. I still enjoyed this book though and I definitely will be completing this series at a later date because I am so invested in this story and these characters now, that I need to find out what happens in the finale. I'm also excited to meet the two new characters we have promised in the next instalment - I think they'll work well and I'm looking forward to what I hope to be an inevitable reunion of the previously beloved pairs. I award This Shattered World by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner a 3 out of 5 star rating on my classification scale!
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