Beyond Our Stars by Marie Langager Release Date: December 19, 2013
Format: eARC, 180 pages
Publisher: Bloomsbury Spark
Source: Publisher in exchange for an honest review
Description from Goodreads:
Fleeing a destroyed Earth, seventeen-year-old orphan Hope grew up living in the confines of a spaceship heading to CR-3, a new home planet. She's been kicking the steel walls for too long and ever since she broke her boyfriend's heart, touchdown could mean open air and a fresh start. But no one expected the Locals.
Hope’s dreams of freedom turn into nightmares when the Locals trap the humans and mark groups for observation. At any moment she can be called into a holographic observation room for testing. Some days she’s drowning in a strange dark ocean, some days she’s locked up without food, and all with the one boy she can't seem to forget.
As the Locals study Hope, she studies them. She wants to believe the tall grey creatures could be peaceful, but as the simulations become more dangerous, Hope is about to become the human race’s last chance for survival.
Unfortunately, no. That is not how this book turned out for me. I was actually pretty disappointed, considering how much I honestly thought I'd be into this book.
Beyond Our Stars started off great. I loved how we were pretty much thrown into the situation Hope was facing and were learning things little by little as we went. It kept me engaged and interested. But then the story went back to BEFORE they got to the planet they land on and the story got kind of dull for me. I'd much have preferred to keep going ahead instead of backtracking. After we went back, the story never really gained back to the level of awesome I felt like the very beginning was.
Hope got on my nerves. She contradicted herself all the time, and she wasn't very open to ideas that weren't hers. She pretty much decided what she wanted to do and then stopped caring what anyone else had to say. And then everyone--even the captain/chief person of their spaceship--listened to Hope and followed her without question. Well, except for the rebel people. They didn't listen to her. But still, why did ANYONE listen to her? I don't understand what was so special about her.
And then the rest of the characters...I didn't really care much about them. At all. They all seemed to practically worship Hope, and the ones who didn't were side-eyed by everyone else. I felt like all of the characters were pretty much puppets to do as the plot required. I wasn't attached to any of them. At all. Even when a certain twist happened (though I KNEW how that would turn out, so it wasn't a big deal for me), I didn't care much.
The plot...yeah, I still don't get it. I spent a majority of this book confused as to what the point was. The beginning was so promising, and then everything went downhill. I think the book may be about trying to make this new planet their home, and getting along with the Locals. Okay. But there was other stuff going on that didn't hold up. Things with Legacy--whose mind was very easily changed--and the rest of the rebel people. It all kind of linked. Sort of. I think.
Romance is something I freaking LOVE. I hoped so hard that the romance may be the saving grace in this book. But no. The fact that I didn't feel anything for these characters carried over to the lovey dovey stuff. I didn't care if they ended up together. I have to say, however, that I am glad the guy (his name was Chance, right?) didn't try to make Hope jealous. If he did that, I very well may have had to DNF this book because one more thing on top of the annoying MC and confusing plot with characters I cared nothing about would have been TOO MUCH.
The world building didn't work for me. Just like the plot, I'm still utterly confused about what was going on. I understand the basics. I won't deny that. But I would have preferred to gain a more thorough understanding. The world sounded so interesting, but I don't think we got the explanations necessary to make that boat float.
I have to give this book credit, though. The premise, in general, was awesome, and the writing was pretty good. And the beginning rocked my socks. I have to give credit to the boyfriend/ex-boyfriend who didn't try to make the MC jealous. That made me happy. Other than those few things, though, there wasn't much I liked about this book. I honestly wish I could have found more enjoyment in this story.
