Set in an undated future where mankind is capable of traveling through hyperspace and terraforming far-off planets, These Broken Stars is the shared survival story of the richest girl in the galaxy inextricably meshed with a lowborn boy “made good” by military commendations.
When the LaRoux Industries intergalactic flagship, the extravagant Icarus, is ripped from hyperspace travel and torn to pieces, teenagers Lilac LaRoux and Tarver Merendsen are lucky to be alive after their escape pod crash-lands on the surface of an unknown planet. Lilac, the daughter of the most powerful man in the galaxy and heiress to the LaRoux Industries empire, is confident that her father will locate them soon. A ship holding 50,000 people can’t just disappear unnoticed. Tarver, already a major in the military after two years of fighting rebellions on colonized planet outposts, is less than hopeful. He prefers to rely on his wits and field training, and, as a result, all the delicate social pretenses that once existed between Lilac and Tarver shatter in the name of survival.
As the assumed sole survivors, Lilac and Tarver trek across the seemingly vacant wilderness for over a month, hoping to find some way to call for help and searching for basic supplies. They’re holding up well until they begin to hear whispers on the wind. Pressing onward to either find or forget the voices, they unveil more of their truest selves and gradually discover why this strange planet was left abandoned and hidden.
These Broken Stars, the first in a trilogy, brilliantly unfolds by sharing alternating perspectives on the same ever-advancing story, all the while stressing the importance of subtext in everything the characters say and do. Co-authors Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner take the reader on a well-paced intergalactic adventure that reminds us that we’re still human—with all our weaknesses and awkward moments—continually dancing the intricate dance of society, even in hyperspace.
