A year ago, Flynn Cormac and Jubilee Chase made the now infamous Avon Broadcast, calling on the galaxy to witness for their planet, and protect them from destruction. Some say Flynn’s a madman, others whisper about conspiracies. Nobody knows the truth. A year before that, Tarver Merendsen and Lilac LaRoux were rescued from a terrible shipwreck—now, they live a public life in front of the cameras, and a secret life away from the world’s gaze. Now, in the center of the universe on the planet of Corinth, all four are about to collide with two new players, who will bring the fight against LaRoux Industries to a head. Gideon Marchant is an eighteen-year-old computer hacker known in Corinth’s underworld as The Knave of Hearts. He’ll climb, abseil and worm his way past the best security measures to pull off onsite hacks that others don’t dare touch. Sofia Quinn has a killer smile, and by the time you’re done noticing it, she’s got you offering up your wallet, your car, and anything else she desires. She holds LaRoux Industries responsible for the mysterious death of her father and is out for revenge at any cost. When a LaRoux Industries security breach interrupts Gideon and Sofia’s separate attempts to infiltrate their headquarters, they’re forced to work together to escape. Each of them has their own reason for wanting to take down LaRoux Industries, and neither trusts the other. But working together might be the best chance they have to expose the secrets LRI is so desperate to hide.
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Sexual Content - /5
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Violence - /5
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Language - /5
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Drugs and Alcohol - /5
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Summary
Today at 1:17 AM, I finished the Starbound Trilogy. It\'s now 7:00 at night, and I\'ve just managed to pull myself together enough to write a review. I told myself I would be strong. I finish trilogies all the time. No big deal. I eat emotional endings for breakfast. I am a trilogy-finishing WARRIOR. I was a complete mess by the end. This book was so above and beyond all of my expectations. I was a little nervous going in, after struggling so much with This Shattered World, but this story is the book equivalent of Test Track at Disney World: you get on the ride with minimal safety equipment, it takes off out of nowhere and you go from 0 to 60 with your heart in your throat the whole way. I\'ll admit: I had to go back and read a little of This Shattered World to refresh, because I had no recollection of Sofia whatsoever. I was glad I did. I would also recommend a mini re-read of These Broken Stars also, to better appreciate some of the inside jokes and references. (Of course, I would ALWAYS recommend a reread of These Broken Stars.) While I still have to reread the scenes with the \"Whispers\" a few times because I find them confusing, otherwise the plot was pretty straightforward. The plot twists were EXCELLENT. You could feel the doom mounting, knew something really bad was going to happen, but when it hit it left you with your face pressed against the pages, making little whimpering noises while you tried to catch your breath (or was that just me? Ok, that was probably just me.) The conflict resolution was very neat, and tied in nicely to These Broken Stars. And now that I\'ve discussed plot (yawn), let\'s talk about that romance. THAT ROMANCE. WOOOOW. After reading a whole previous book about Jubilee and Flynn, whose relationship growth moved slower than a panda courtship ritual on the Discovery Channel, Gideon and Sofia didn\'t waste any time. It was fast, it was hot, and it was perfect. (ok, maybe I\'m biased, but I love romances where the characters are secretly playing each other). I found myself really rooting for those two good-looking kids to work things out- which was a hard job, considering Kaufman&Spooner are NOT afraid to have bad things happen to their characters. I mean, they probably killed what, over 200,000 people over the course of three books? Ruthless, those two. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the characters in the previous books played key roles in this book, instead of just the brief cameos (and Lilac\'s random midnight striptease) they had in the previous book. The only problem I had with this is that when the four previous MC\'s showed up, Gideon and Sofia just kinda... disappeared a little. Their emotional arc seemed almost.. put on hold?... while they solved everyone else\'s problems. I think as an author, it is hard to have six individual characters all competing for voice though, so it\'s understandable. Also in this vein, it seemed like in group situations, Flynn and Jubilee were just kind of there, getting sort of lost in the shuffle. Maybe it\'s because the POV\'s were Sofia and Gideon\'s, and the plot was Lilac and Tarver\'s so they were stuck in a bit of a middle ground. A few people have also suggested that Jubilee is more of a doer than a thinker, so her voice tends to be quieter than her actions. Ugh, that ending. I was fine. I was really gonna make it. Then a certain somebody in a certain outfit showed up and I was a goner. I can\'t believe it\'s really over, honestly. It\'s almost harder when a trilogy ends just like you wanted it to, because then you have nothing to channel your sadness into. Now I\'m just sitting here, staring sadly at my bookshelf, pouting because I\'m convinced I\'ll never find another series I like better (flash-forward to March, when I\'ll be doing the exact same thing with the Winner\'s Trilogy, then April with the Raven Cycle, etc.) So goodbye, Starbound trilogy. It\'s been a wild ride through hyperspace.