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kathydavie's review against another edition
4.0
First in The Honors science fiction series for Young Adult readers and revolving around Zara Cole, a petty criminal escaping certain death.
My Take
The Leviathan are a fascinating new species with a twist on what makes them tick, although in the long run, it comes down to fear and lies. What is truly sad is that the Leviathan rescued earth from us. And they don’t have a high opinion of us as a whole.
I adore the relationship that develops between Zara and Nadim, and eventually with Bea. Caine/Aguirre use first person dual protagonist point-of-view with the majority perspective from Zara and Nadim having his own moments. It’s an easy exploration of their very different cultures, after all, Nadim is a space-going whale with Honors who will live inside him.
I don’t know why Zara blamed Derry for his last action in her life. Zara does, however, grow in this, questioning how she had interpreted events in her past. She keeps her central core, but she’s evolving along with Nadim.
There are some weird chapter starts and endings with some that make sense and a few that don’t; they’re little interruptions that give us some back story. I also wish Caine/Aguirre had done a better job of explaining the Journey. It doesn’t sound as if it’s any different from exile, so I didn’t grasp Nadim’s horror of it.
It’s an interesting blend of complex and simple with rescues, an inner surgery, terrifying evasions, alien encounters, force shields, and communication between different species. And yet, there is a gentleness to it all.
The Story
A missed diagnosis makes Zara’s childhood a nightmare. She’ll do anything to escape her “prison”. Even live inside a Leviathan for a year “exploring strange new worlds”.
It’s when she meets Nadim, the alien ship to which she’s assigned that Zara starts to feel at home for the first time. But nothing could have prepared her for the dark, ominous truths that lurk behind the alluring glitter of starlight.
The Characters
The suspicious and paranoid Zoe Cole survives by petty thievery (I think she's under 18). Her partner will be Beatriz “Bea” Teixeira, an incredible singer from Brazil.
Zara's mother, Sharon, and younger sister, Kiz, won the Mars Colony lottery. Her father was a misogynistic religious nutjob. Angela was a faith healer. Bea’s grandmother was at opera singer at the Teatro Real and very famous.
Nadim is a young Leviathan who hasn’t always followed the rules, and because of that, he’s on probation. EMITU is a medbot.
Marko Dunajski and the extremely prickly Zhang Chao-Xing finished their Tour with Nadim and have been claimed by Typhon, an Elder Leviathan just waiting to catch Nadim out. Yusuf served on Xolani for his tour and bonded with Artemisia, their bond name Temiyus, for the Journey. Another who was rescued is He Who Sings the Star Current who had sailed with Ship of Breakwater for the Tour and was bonded with Hail to You, My Goddess, their bond name was Star Current Goddess.
The Zone is…
…a really bad side of town, the Lower Eight in New Detroit. Derry McKinnon is special — and drugged-out; the rest of her crew includes Lo, Timo, and JJ. Conde is a fence; Gert is his closest competition. Moonshine Charlene makes liquor. St. Benedict’s Medical Facility, a.k.a., Benny’s, is a free clinic.
Parkview Rehabilitation Home is a reform facility run by Mrs. Witham. Camp Kuna is a step down with Kamryn Kotlitz its CEO. Clarice is a fellow inmate. Dr Yu will be Zara’s therapist with an insight that breaks through. Barraga is the bogeyman of institutions.
There are always two Honors aboard each Leviathan: a starsinger and a pilot. The Tour is a one-year mission inside a Leviathan who acts as host and living quarters for two Honors, two humans chosen to roam the universe. The Journey is longer, much longer, and the Leviathan must bond with someone and take on a new name, a bond name. I think an b is a combination tablet and communicator. The deep bond is a meshing of human and Leviathan. A Hopper is a shuttle. To dark run is to disappear. Dark sleep is almost like a coma, and Nadim is susceptible. A Gathering is a group of Leviathans who make judgments.
Tenty is Zara’s nickname for the tentacled alien who shows up, one of the Abyin Dommas, the singers in the deep. The Phage are another type of alien, a black swarm. The Biiyan had inhabited Firstworld, which will be their first stop.
Kephana Washington and Saladin Al-Masih are the hosts of Good Day, New Detroit. Ingmar Ström is with the Truthseekers. Hermann L. Schulz is a scientist. Torian Deluca is a legendary, ruthless billionaire. Enzo is one of his goons. Garry Moscowtiz is the director of a banned documentary. Obari is a famous Nigerian pop star.
Just-returned Honors include Sarah Simms and Ivor Johanssen. Gregory Valenzuela was on the 2140 Tour, and is now in treatment. In 2112, Dr. Elacio Camacho partnered with Leviathan Moira. A Moira Krull was another Honor. Gidra Valdez will be Zara’s press liaison.
The Cover and Title
The cover has a darkness to it with its deep, deep purple background, a lighter broken violet beneath the rainbow of a globe in its yellows, reddish purples, oranges, and blue. It looks like a giant and gorgeous glass marble but you’ll soon learn it’s a star, the source of power for the Leviathan, the black silhouette in the center that looks like a fancy compass with orange balls on the four major points. Within that silhouette is the earth. The text is all in white, starting at the top with an info blurb, the authors’ names, the title covers the globe in the center, and last is the tagline for the story.
The title is a dichotomy between the truth of an Honor Among Thieves in the Zone and the reality of Zara and Beatriz’s partnership with Nadim.
My Take
The Leviathan are a fascinating new species with a twist on what makes them tick, although in the long run, it comes down to fear and lies. What is truly sad is that the Leviathan rescued earth from us. And they don’t have a high opinion of us as a whole.
I adore the relationship that develops between Zara and Nadim, and eventually with Bea. Caine/Aguirre use first person dual protagonist point-of-view with the majority perspective from Zara and Nadim having his own moments. It’s an easy exploration of their very different cultures, after all, Nadim is a space-going whale with Honors who will live inside him.
I don’t know why Zara blamed Derry for his last action in her life. Zara does, however, grow in this, questioning how she had interpreted events in her past. She keeps her central core, but she’s evolving along with Nadim.
There are some weird chapter starts and endings with some that make sense and a few that don’t; they’re little interruptions that give us some back story. I also wish Caine/Aguirre had done a better job of explaining the Journey. It doesn’t sound as if it’s any different from exile, so I didn’t grasp Nadim’s horror of it.
It’s an interesting blend of complex and simple with rescues, an inner surgery, terrifying evasions, alien encounters, force shields, and communication between different species. And yet, there is a gentleness to it all.
The Story
A missed diagnosis makes Zara’s childhood a nightmare. She’ll do anything to escape her “prison”. Even live inside a Leviathan for a year “exploring strange new worlds”.
It’s when she meets Nadim, the alien ship to which she’s assigned that Zara starts to feel at home for the first time. But nothing could have prepared her for the dark, ominous truths that lurk behind the alluring glitter of starlight.
The Characters
The suspicious and paranoid Zoe Cole survives by petty thievery (I think she's under 18). Her partner will be Beatriz “Bea” Teixeira, an incredible singer from Brazil.
Zara's mother, Sharon, and younger sister, Kiz, won the Mars Colony lottery. Her father was a misogynistic religious nutjob. Angela was a faith healer. Bea’s grandmother was at opera singer at the Teatro Real and very famous.
Nadim is a young Leviathan who hasn’t always followed the rules, and because of that, he’s on probation. EMITU is a medbot.
Marko Dunajski and the extremely prickly Zhang Chao-Xing finished their Tour with Nadim and have been claimed by Typhon, an Elder Leviathan just waiting to catch Nadim out. Yusuf served on Xolani for his tour and bonded with Artemisia, their bond name Temiyus, for the Journey. Another who was rescued is He Who Sings the Star Current who had sailed with Ship of Breakwater for the Tour and was bonded with Hail to You, My Goddess, their bond name was Star Current Goddess.
The Zone is…
…a really bad side of town, the Lower Eight in New Detroit. Derry McKinnon is special — and drugged-out; the rest of her crew includes Lo, Timo, and JJ. Conde is a fence; Gert is his closest competition. Moonshine Charlene makes liquor. St. Benedict’s Medical Facility, a.k.a., Benny’s, is a free clinic.
Parkview Rehabilitation Home is a reform facility run by Mrs. Witham. Camp Kuna is a step down with Kamryn Kotlitz its CEO. Clarice is a fellow inmate. Dr Yu will be Zara’s therapist with an insight that breaks through. Barraga is the bogeyman of institutions.
There are always two Honors aboard each Leviathan: a starsinger and a pilot. The Tour is a one-year mission inside a Leviathan who acts as host and living quarters for two Honors, two humans chosen to roam the universe. The Journey is longer, much longer, and the Leviathan must bond with someone and take on a new name, a bond name. I think an b is a combination tablet and communicator. The deep bond is a meshing of human and Leviathan. A Hopper is a shuttle. To dark run is to disappear. Dark sleep is almost like a coma, and Nadim is susceptible. A Gathering is a group of Leviathans who make judgments.
Tenty is Zara’s nickname for the tentacled alien who shows up, one of the Abyin Dommas, the singers in the deep. The Phage are another type of alien, a black swarm. The Biiyan had inhabited Firstworld, which will be their first stop.
Kephana Washington and Saladin Al-Masih are the hosts of Good Day, New Detroit. Ingmar Ström is with the Truthseekers. Hermann L. Schulz is a scientist. Torian Deluca is a legendary, ruthless billionaire. Enzo is one of his goons. Garry Moscowtiz is the director of a banned documentary. Obari is a famous Nigerian pop star.
Just-returned Honors include Sarah Simms and Ivor Johanssen. Gregory Valenzuela was on the 2140 Tour, and is now in treatment. In 2112, Dr. Elacio Camacho partnered with Leviathan Moira. A Moira Krull was another Honor. Gidra Valdez will be Zara’s press liaison.
The Cover and Title
The cover has a darkness to it with its deep, deep purple background, a lighter broken violet beneath the rainbow of a globe in its yellows, reddish purples, oranges, and blue. It looks like a giant and gorgeous glass marble but you’ll soon learn it’s a star, the source of power for the Leviathan, the black silhouette in the center that looks like a fancy compass with orange balls on the four major points. Within that silhouette is the earth. The text is all in white, starting at the top with an info blurb, the authors’ names, the title covers the globe in the center, and last is the tagline for the story.
The title is a dichotomy between the truth of an Honor Among Thieves in the Zone and the reality of Zara and Beatriz’s partnership with Nadim.
yodamom's review
5.0
Aliens come to earth offering help and more to humans. These are not your typical two legged, upright aliens no these are like spaceships. You can travel in them, and some humans go on a kind of foreign exchange program traveling out into the universe with them. How cool is that ? Oh but it gets so much better, they can communicate with humans, in ways that I'm not going to tell you but they are awesome. The book centers on one alien, and his honors (humans) two very different girls. This alien is a kind of runt of the litter, and on his last chance mission. Yes, there is a tug on the heart strings. One of the girls is not a follow the rules type and quickly crosses the line with questions and bonding with her host more than she should. There are space fights, dramatic encounters, emotional breakthroughs, and revelations that shock.
I loved it, I want to hear it on audio now. It was so visually written it would be a fabulous movie. Please make the movie somebody. I was on the edge of my seat through the whole book. it had a slight Star Trek vibe going- bonus. The characters where all so well developed I was felt for all of them. I'm shocked I'm not a SciFi reader, I expected to not like this. It ends with a cliffhanger so be ready to grab the next book.
I loved it, I want to hear it on audio now. It was so visually written it would be a fabulous movie. Please make the movie somebody. I was on the edge of my seat through the whole book. it had a slight Star Trek vibe going- bonus. The characters where all so well developed I was felt for all of them. I'm shocked I'm not a SciFi reader, I expected to not like this. It ends with a cliffhanger so be ready to grab the next book.
raix's review
dark
funny
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
I enjoyed this a lot more than I expected to! I thought Zara was a great protagonist, and I liked that she was able to keep her rough way of doing things. Her instinct toward violence ends up both helping and hurting their mission. I thought her connection with Nadim was lovely, and it really raised interesting thoughts about alien beings that also happen to function as space ships. Nadim had a lot more personality than we originally might believe. I also like the way Beatriz wasn't pushed to the side, and had a role to play in the story as well as her own bond with both Zara and Nadim. The action sequences were really exciting, and aside from a few awkward sentences, the narration was incredible. The ending threw some unexpected things at me. I'm excited to continue the series!
bluejaybooks's review
4.0
You need to go into this knowing that it's not a heist novel: it's a let's go be amazed by the wonder of the galaxy and an unfamiliar alien society novel. It reminded me a lot of a YA version of Octavia Butler's Lilith's Brood Series, because of the living ships that have a sort of symbiotic relationship with humans. Refreshing to see a novel with aliens in YA where the aliens actually act like aliens.
novaturient_bibliophile's review
4.25
This was one of those books that seemed to drag on forever during the first half and was super boring, but then got to be really engaging towards the end, which makes it hard to rate. It was different, for sure, and definitely not predictable or clichéd, which is good. All of the characters and the relationships between said characters were really interesting and complex, and there was a good sense of humor and sarcastic tone throughout the book despite it being action-packed and dismal, which helped to balance it out. Overall, I felt a complete 180 of emotions regarding this book. At first I didn’t care for it at all and then I couldn’t put it down. My opinion on it flipped like a switch.
It reminded me a lot of the Sound of Stars by Alechia Dow and Doctor Who.
It reminded me a lot of the Sound of Stars by Alechia Dow and Doctor Who.
sccrethistory's review
1.0
I understood why I'd been chosen. Why I'd been plucked out of the grim and struggle.
I'd always been at war.
Lo he dejado pasar la lectura del libro pero es que no me ha gustado. No se si porque los libros de naves espaciales no son lo que más me gusta o porque pero este libro simplemente no era para mi.
I'd always been at war.
Lo he dejado pasar la lectura del libro pero es que no me ha gustado. No se si porque los libros de naves espaciales no son lo que más me gusta o porque pero este libro simplemente no era para mi.
story_goblin's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
I am absolutely fascinated by this world & concept- the idea of sentient ships, the workings of how those ships would carry people, the confusing and strained relationship between this race of being and humans. The character development is also very strong. However, there are spots where the mechanics of the plot development are weak. I'm still interested in the next one, though. :)
izzys_internet_bookshelf's review
DNF
Once I started I felt the ship took too much away from the main characters plot
Once I started I felt the ship took too much away from the main characters plot
deetour8's review
3.0
I really liked the idea behind this book, but the characters in the book weren't built up in a way to make me care about them or their story. I just couldn't continue reading it just to know about the alien aspects of it, I love stories because of the characters.
myriadreads's review
3.0
A fantastic concept! I loved the characters of Nadim, Beatriz, and Zara, and really enjoyed reading the beginning to what is sure to be an epic battle between good and evil. I found myself wanting to skim through and rush the end to get past the prolonged flight and battle, but still really enjoyed the read. Looking forward to the next in the trilogy.