BOOK REVIEW
This was the first time I ventured into anything SCI-FI related and I felt like it was a good stepping stone into the genre, heavily hyped on space exploration and travel but at it's core centres an enemies to friends story in the midst of the fight of two nations over a single planet.
The one thing I struggled with at the beginning was the information dump and names. Of course with a new book there is a lot of story telling and back story to proceed with, but it felt obtuse at times. I think the thing that made it worse was the fact, the names themselves were very farfetched from any names were use to and the tribes/people and learning about the history of the planets, I found it increasingly confusing. I was constantly skipping to the glossary at the back until I got the hang of it.
Akos and Cyra's enemies to friends dynamic was the part I loved most! I loved how Cyra was the alpha to Akos in many ways - she the fierce warrior and Akos more the silent assassin with his extensive knowledge on herbal extract/potions. Usually the male being the strong fighter, warfare was in turn Cyras strong point, being ruthless when she needed to be, as opposed to the male in that senario usually is. I kinda of look at it like Cyra's dad raised her as he would have the son he never had. Similarly to the way Ako's was smothered by his mother as if he were a girl.
One thing I loved were the lights in Shotet - which were lit by fireflies. The inter-world traveling and different depictions of the worlds they visited are exquisite to be apart of. The Shotet ship is one I wish I could be a fly on the wall of, overseeing the galaxy during sojourn!!
Now I think its a Veronica Roth habit - but she tends to always leave me ever soo slightly unsatisfied. I hated the ending of Divergent (without ruining anything....) because a certain someone didn't make it to the end of the series. With the end of this series I felt how I did with the Hunger Games - I felt like the final couple at the end didn't really get the consolidation at the end. I think this may very solely be a me thing - but I like a strong ending to a series!!
This two part series, certainly delivered on shock value, with the storyline keeping you in check, turning things on its head, every time you think you know exactly what's going to happen!! Surface to say, I thoroughly enjoyed this one!! It's an epic tale of love and sacrifice in the back drop of a interstellar showdown.
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