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kblincoln's review
4.0
Love, love, love Kate Elliot's (Alis Rasmussen) Spiritwalker series. So I'm coming at this series from the wrong direction as this was a precursor to the other series. Hoy, the parallels are quite obvious. Kick-ass young girl from a trading family that goes against the clan. Young, hot-headed but talented, clothes-obsessed, picked-on by society love interest. Other strong female characters both helpful and scary.
So in the sense that I loved Spiritwalker and wanted to read more, A Passage of Stars felt like coming back to an old friend. But in the sense that I think Kate Elliot's work got more sophisticated, less spare and bare in the action sequences, and richer in imagination and detail in the Spiritwalker series, this was like coming back to an old friend at a younger, rasher stage.
Sot still lots of fun, but not the excellent writing I've grown to admire.
Still, there's lots to have fun with. The story is set on a futuristic human otherworld colony and follows a young protege of a martial arts instructor who drops her rich, privileged-but-imprisoning life to follow after her mentor when he is kidnapped by mysterious aliens.
Along with her German-choral music spouting robot pal, she becomes involved in a revolution against the central government and a group of saboteurs who just might be from the original system humans came from.
There's a lot of cool revolutionary rhetoric, a "I can't control myself around you" insta-love from the love interest due to some weird genetics (if Twilight doesn't bother you, this won't, however the raging jealousy might push uncomfortable buttons for some) and lots and lots of secrets that Lily doesn't seem to hell-bent on discovering despite the fact that her mentor and her love interest are both lying to her.
Cool world and characters, but of course Spiritwalkers was even cooler. I'll still read the other two books in the trilogy, thought, just to find out how things pan out.
So in the sense that I loved Spiritwalker and wanted to read more, A Passage of Stars felt like coming back to an old friend. But in the sense that I think Kate Elliot's work got more sophisticated, less spare and bare in the action sequences, and richer in imagination and detail in the Spiritwalker series, this was like coming back to an old friend at a younger, rasher stage.
Sot still lots of fun, but not the excellent writing I've grown to admire.
Still, there's lots to have fun with. The story is set on a futuristic human otherworld colony and follows a young protege of a martial arts instructor who drops her rich, privileged-but-imprisoning life to follow after her mentor when he is kidnapped by mysterious aliens.
Along with her German-choral music spouting robot pal, she becomes involved in a revolution against the central government and a group of saboteurs who just might be from the original system humans came from.
There's a lot of cool revolutionary rhetoric, a "I can't control myself around you" insta-love from the love interest due to some weird genetics (if Twilight doesn't bother you, this won't, however the raging jealousy might push uncomfortable buttons for some) and lots and lots of secrets that Lily doesn't seem to hell-bent on discovering despite the fact that her mentor and her love interest are both lying to her.
Cool world and characters, but of course Spiritwalkers was even cooler. I'll still read the other two books in the trilogy, thought, just to find out how things pan out.
chenoadallen's review
1.0
Can we not with the "teenage girl falls in love with her captor" trope?
Also the writing is unbearably pretentious at times.
Also the writing is unbearably pretentious at times.
valer_reads's review
3.0
3.5 stars. Gripping pace, a very interesting other world, underdog protagonists and an awesome robot. The writing style and characters were at times erratic though and the book didn’t feel fully formed. Still a fun read.
virginiaduan's review
4.0
Nonstop action and story. Things move apace so quickly. Of course, I still have no idea what is going on but I love it. Also, I did not expect the book to end where it did. I could have read on forever.
kihadu's review
2.0
I struggled to get into this. More than 100 pages and I hadn't connected with the character or the world.
heyheyrenay's review
3.0
This was pretty fun! It's a deeply political book, from characterization to plot, with a robot pal! I would definitely slide this under the planetary romance subgenre, because 80% of the cool stuff happens planet-side (but that other 20% is super cool/important, and aptly, some of the most incisive political commentary happens there). It definitely earns the romance element, per the adventure definition, because it goes zero to 60 "young person leaves home and joins sprawling events beyond their ken".
(I mean, there's making out, too, and Lily's romance is important to her development, but it's only one part in a larger whole that seems like it will be important later.)
Full review: http://ladybusiness.dreamwidth.org/2016/09/06/robot-pals-and-revolution-a-passage-of-stars-by-kate-elliott.html
(I mean, there's making out, too, and Lily's romance is important to her development, but it's only one part in a larger whole that seems like it will be important later.)
Full review: http://ladybusiness.dreamwidth.org/2016/09/06/robot-pals-and-revolution-a-passage-of-stars-by-kate-elliott.html
ergative's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Not Elliott's best work at all. The plot was under-motivated; Lily's decision to take up with the Jehanists feels like a default, rather than a principled decision to right the wrongs she sees in society on her travels. The fact that there are two distinct powers---the foreignors, from the old sector of space, who were fighting against the Kapellans; and the Central government in the new sector of space---I think was supposed to offer some sort of parallel plot structure, so that the actions of Kyosti and Heredes felt like links between two related stories. But actually it got confusing, and for a while it felt like LIly was taking up with the Jehanists because she was mad at the foreigner type people. The actual history of how these two groups of space-faring humans got separated was muddled, and I'm still not sure why the foreigners were so happy pursuing Hebredes and his terrorist friends into the new sector of space if no one knows how to get back again. Or do they? I'm left confused, rather than satisfied. I suppose I could read the others, but I'd really rather focus on Elliott's newer stuff, when she's managed to figure out this stuff better. Knowing Elliott, it will all probably come together in a reasonably satisfying way by the ending, but I don't care enough to pursue it.
jldyer's review
3.0
I loved the world building. The world had a great atmosphere, reminiscent of Banks's culture series although different as well. The story lost me at times and I don't think the characters were as developed as Elliott's later work. I'll be reading the sequels.