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Spinning Starlight by R.C. | website | facebook | twitter | Publisher/Year: Disney Hyperion | October 6th, 2015 Pages: 336 Series: Stand Alone Genre: YA Sci-fi Format: ebook Source: The Publisher through Netgalley (Thanks!) |
I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. That did not sway my opinion in the least.
Shannan’s Summary
Liddi Jantzen is the heir to the largest tech company on their planet, or any of the neighboring ones. While her eight brothers develop tech for the company year after year, Liddi begins to question her abilities to even develop a simple piece of tech, let alone run the company. But when her brothers disappear, the person responsible makes sure Liddi can’t tell anyone about the plan to hopefully save the planets from economic ruin. So Liddi does the only thing she can: runs. Hoping she can find someone to help her.
First Off…
I loved Stitching Snow so as soon as I saw this book on NetGalley I had to break my requesting fast and ask for it. This only spurred me on to finish the ebook I was struggling through so I could read this book.
The Story:
Oh man, this story. I loved it. It’s been a long time since I read the 10 swans by Hans Christian Anderson, so I can’t speak much into the similarities, but you don’t need to even know it’s based off that story. Spinning Starlight is just a good book. Unlike Stitching Snow, which I felt had a small bit of fantasy in it with the tipping, Spinning Starlight is straight sci-fi. The primary sci-fi element is teleportation, and Lewis does a great job making it believable. There were times where the science piece got a bit much for me to follow, but it wasn’t so bad that I lost interest in the story.
I loved relationship building in this book. You get to see how Liddi’s relationship between her and her brothers, parents, and some other characters develop. As a result, you also get to see how the relationships around her make Liddi into the Liddi at the end of the book. I think that’s the best part of the book, the juxtaposition of the developing Liddi’s: who she was at the beginning of the book and who she was at the end of the book.
I also “hearts over my i’s” love the romance piece. It’s not the main point but settles nicely into the background. It’s good, but the strength of the story doesn’t depend on this relationship. It’s not a love triangle, and it’s not insta-love. Which, in my opinion, makes a great romance relationship in a story. The development of the relationship is gradual and a minor piece. This allows you to fall in love with the characters as they fall in love with each other. Plus you get to know them as individuals.
The Writing
The character development was great, which could have been catastrophic since the main character couldn’t speak for the majority of the story. However, Lewis uses flashbacks brilliantly to add more dialog as well as touches of body language that adds to the personality of all the characters.
Like I said earlier, some of the science of the world got a little much for me but I just skimmed until I understood what was happening again. It obviously didn’t affect my opinion of the story. But I think this can be a difficulty for any writer who has a techie world. Balancing the details with the story in a way that makes the world believable without loosing the reader. I think Lewis does a pretty good job with this.
In the End
This is the first book in a while I’ve had a strong emotional response to (yes I was crying by the end,) so I think I love it even more for that reason. But if you love sci-fi or fairy tales you should give this book a go.
10 Second Summary:
- Believable Sci-Fi: Some Sci-Fi is believable because of terms, some just because you believe the characters understand it, this is somewhere in the middle.
- Great Main Character development: You really get to know Liddi even though she can’t speak for the majority of the time
- Speechless Main Character: If you have a character that can’t talk, this is a great story to see how to develop them.
Hardback, both because of the story and because of the major cover love I have for it.