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prof_chronotis's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Is it ridiculous? Yeah, but it's also pretty fun.
lifeinthebooklane's review
4.0
4.5 stars
The fun, peril, intrigue and adventure continue in another wonderful and exciting 'episode' of the Sky Full of Stars series. Jelana, Thorian, Erick and Masika embark on a little side trip, trying to raise some extra money and end up in the middle of a war.
Of course Jelana's empathy soon has her at odds with her "employers", it gets all the adventures in trouble but thankfully Thor again and again leaps to their rescue. Just a small part of me wishes that Jelana was a couple of years older. I appreciate that many of their exciting adventures result from her impulsive and slightly immature nature, but I think this would still have been believable if she were 20 or 21. For me this would have made her role as captain, as well as her confused feelings for Thor, more natural.
That said, the writing is as amazing as we have come to expect from Ms Buroker, with witty banter, touching scenes, unexpected twists galore, fast paced action and wonderful characters. Talking of characters, we meet some wonderful new ones in this adventure, some of whom decide to join Jalena's motley crew.
I can't wait to find out how this adventure continues.
The fun, peril, intrigue and adventure continue in another wonderful and exciting 'episode' of the Sky Full of Stars series. Jelana, Thorian, Erick and Masika embark on a little side trip, trying to raise some extra money and end up in the middle of a war.
Of course Jelana's empathy soon has her at odds with her "employers", it gets all the adventures in trouble but thankfully Thor again and again leaps to their rescue. Just a small part of me wishes that Jelana was a couple of years older. I appreciate that many of their exciting adventures result from her impulsive and slightly immature nature, but I think this would still have been believable if she were 20 or 21. For me this would have made her role as captain, as well as her confused feelings for Thor, more natural.
That said, the writing is as amazing as we have come to expect from Ms Buroker, with witty banter, touching scenes, unexpected twists galore, fast paced action and wonderful characters. Talking of characters, we meet some wonderful new ones in this adventure, some of whom decide to join Jalena's motley crew.
I can't wait to find out how this adventure continues.
alicjaz's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
abashton's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
barbtrek's review
4.0
I liked this but some of it just seemed kind of juvenile I guess. Maybe partly because the main character is young but also it’s sort of too convenient when their powers work and when they don’t. Anyway, I still enjoyed reading this and may continue the series at some point.
colorcrystals's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: War
Moderate: Death
Minor: Rape and Death of parent
kdf_333's review
2.0
it was maybe 2 1/2 stars. i liked more of this book, but still only ok overall. maybe if i had never read any of [a:Lindsay Buroker|4512224|Lindsay Buroker|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1292869920p2/4512224.jpg]'s books i would like it more. i know her potential as a writer that is why i am constantly disappointed by this series.
Lindsay is not that original in the basic plot points and characters of her series. there is
a spunky heroine
a very skilled killer who is her enemy
that the heroine turns into a good guy
magic
war
(usually an orphan) prince without a throne
a quirky cast of characters that make up the "team"
missions to fulfill
governments in disarray due to war/rebellion
trouble with the governments that they are trying to help
humor
and they all remind you of the bestest tv shows
(a-team, buck rogers, star trek NG, stargate sg-1, BSG, macgyver & also star wars).
kinda formulaic but, so what! they are great fun adventures which i love. so this series is disappointing.
same formula but just not clicking. :-(
granted book 2 in this series is soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much better than book 1. why?
Thorian.
(i love his kylo ren, anakin walker, loki, siciarius vibe.)
also less stupid decisions by jelena. but only cuz thorian (and sometimes erik) give her lots of ideas/solutions to problems. so she actually chooses ones that are smarter since they are not really her schemes.
but there are still lots of annoyances. jelena is young and dumb cuz she is only 18 yrs old. never been to university and well... 18. teens are selfish and rarely think about consequences until too late. i get that. i don't get all these 20+men and the almost 30 year old woman following her dumb decisions. they don't even try that hard to convince her to do something else. now in lindsay's other series, the folks were military (former) or had a background/culture that made them follow chains of command instinctively. these folks are young, none of them have been in the military, and they don't have a respect your elders culture.
thorian is 2 years older than jelena
has been on the run from folks trying
to kill him since he was 10
was raised to be an emperor (as loki would say - kneel!)
is currently an assassin
is a more powerful starseer than jelena cuz his training was more focused.
yet he just goes along with jelena. umm, ok. not buying it.
erik is 6 years older
like a big brother
has lived some place other than the ship
has graduated from a 4yr university
constantly thinks jelena is making decisions her parents would not approve of
is looking for another job that is not working on a shipping freighter
yet he too goes along with her decisions. umm, ok. not buying it.
mariska
has been to university
been so traumatized she changed her whole plan for her life
trained in self defense
been working full time as a security officer/guinea pig
living on her own and taking care of herself for years.
yet she too just goes along with jelena's decisions.
also there is not enough of her and erik in these books. or thorian for that matter. maybe that is what is wrong with this series compared to the others. hmmm
the war
and the epilogue
also did she give the entire amount to her parents instead of keeping some to repair/upgrade the ship and pay her crew??? cuz that is how i read it. maybe i am mistaken.
also not buying that Alisa wouldn't have yanked jelena's ship and privileges away by now. then again she didn't discipline her much when she was little in the other books. but that was when she had just gotten her back into her life. hmm
BTW, the epilogues in this series are not true epilogues since they happen right after the last chapter and are as long as a regular chapter. but whateves. that is the least of the troubles with the series.
again i am still reading it cuz i bought it and i want to see what happens to the characters, esp the ones from the preceding series. not because i am in love with the books or the characters in them.
Lindsay is not that original in the basic plot points and characters of her series. there is
a spunky heroine
a very skilled killer who is her enemy
that the heroine turns into a good guy
magic
war
(usually an orphan) prince without a throne
a quirky cast of characters that make up the "team"
missions to fulfill
governments in disarray due to war/rebellion
trouble with the governments that they are trying to help
humor
and they all remind you of the bestest tv shows
(a-team, buck rogers, star trek NG, stargate sg-1, BSG, macgyver & also star wars).
kinda formulaic but, so what! they are great fun adventures which i love. so this series is disappointing.
same formula but just not clicking. :-(
granted book 2 in this series is soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much better than book 1. why?
Thorian.
(i love his kylo ren, anakin walker, loki, siciarius vibe.)
also less stupid decisions by jelena. but only cuz thorian (and sometimes erik) give her lots of ideas/solutions to problems. so she actually chooses ones that are smarter since they are not really her schemes.
but there are still lots of annoyances. jelena is young and dumb cuz she is only 18 yrs old. never been to university and well... 18. teens are selfish and rarely think about consequences until too late. i get that. i don't get all these 20+men and the almost 30 year old woman following her dumb decisions. they don't even try that hard to convince her to do something else. now in lindsay's other series, the folks were military (former) or had a background/culture that made them follow chains of command instinctively. these folks are young, none of them have been in the military, and they don't have a respect your elders culture.
thorian is 2 years older than jelena
has been on the run from folks trying
to kill him since he was 10
was raised to be an emperor (as loki would say - kneel!)
is currently an assassin
is a more powerful starseer than jelena cuz his training was more focused.
yet he just goes along with jelena. umm, ok. not buying it.
erik is 6 years older
like a big brother
has lived some place other than the ship
has graduated from a 4yr university
constantly thinks jelena is making decisions her parents would not approve of
is looking for another job that is not working on a shipping freighter
yet he too goes along with her decisions. umm, ok. not buying it.
mariska
Spoiler
is over a decade olderhas been to university
been so traumatized she changed her whole plan for her life
trained in self defense
been working full time as a security officer/guinea pig
living on her own and taking care of herself for years.
yet she too just goes along with jelena's decisions.
also there is not enough of her and erik in these books. or thorian for that matter. maybe that is what is wrong with this series compared to the others. hmmm
the war
Spoiler
in this portion of the book is kinda too simple. the reasons it started are very reminiscent of WWI. only since there are only 2 parties involved instead of multiple allies, i doubt it couldn't have been settled without conflict. i know they have outdated tech but in a year they couldn't have contacted somebody higher up in the Alliance or the mining corporation??? the way they ended the war...umm, ok. these experienced adults couldn't figure out this very simple solution. REALLY???!!! yeah, not buying it.and the epilogue
Spoiler
so this country has been devastated from the war. their city was literally flattened. they had a warehouse full of cactus stolen. yet they give jelena and crew palettes of cactus worth more than 20, 000 tindarks. umm, ok. not buying it.also did she give the entire amount to her parents instead of keeping some to repair/upgrade the ship and pay her crew??? cuz that is how i read it. maybe i am mistaken.
also not buying that Alisa wouldn't have yanked jelena's ship and privileges away by now. then again she didn't discipline her much when she was little in the other books. but that was when she had just gotten her back into her life. hmm
BTW, the epilogues in this series are not true epilogues since they happen right after the last chapter and are as long as a regular chapter. but whateves. that is the least of the troubles with the series.
again i am still reading it cuz i bought it and i want to see what happens to the characters, esp the ones from the preceding series. not because i am in love with the books or the characters in them.
devlyn's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.0
navsy's review
3.0
This book had more of a serious undertone than its predecessor. It starts off a few weeks from where the first one left off. Jelena finds out that she has acquired her family's business a huge loan after destructing Alliance government's airbase. Leonidas and Alisa feel that she should take responsibility for the loan and help her parents pay it off. This ends up with Jelena and co. brainstorming ideas to earn extra cash on the side while freighting cargo on the outer edge planets. Lemonade stand seems to be in the running unsurprisingly but as one can guess, that doesn't quite cover even a portion of the loan she owes the Alliance. Erick's idea of accounting classes fail to bring Jelena any relief and she turns to Thor for a quicker and more effective solution. Thor suggests becoming temp mercenaries and Jelena takes it as a challenge upon herself to be the "good" mercenaries, contradictory to what Thor had in mind. Little did she know that her side job would land her in a planet undergoing war and that being the good guy was never easy.
Throughout the book, we see Jelena's compassion shine amidst all the action. I really liked reading how she struggled to stay strong in a war-affected country (continent?). She wanted to be the leader but it was nice to see her try and learn to become one. There were moments when she wanted to be selfish, but her empathy towards people and animals made challenging decisions easier for her to follow through. Her group goes through under water attacks, airborne attacks, countless bombings and shootings and encounters a mysterious new enemy that seems to be after Thor. Between all of this, there is still room for the author's humor and witty banter among the characters.
I would admit though that I didn't find this book as fast paced as the first one. The second half seemed to be more intense and action packed. Although, there is an awesome dolphin scene in the first half that I really enjoyed reading! Also, I think I was hoping for some more plot development in terms of Thor's plans to overthrow the Alliance. Overall though, this book didn't fail to deliver. It was another light, entertaining read and I would definitely stick around for more of Jelena's adventures.
Throughout the book, we see Jelena's compassion shine amidst all the action. I really liked reading how she struggled to stay strong in a war-affected country (continent?). She wanted to be the leader but it was nice to see her try and learn to become one. There were moments when she wanted to be selfish, but her empathy towards people and animals made challenging decisions easier for her to follow through. Her group goes through under water attacks, airborne attacks, countless bombings and shootings and encounters a mysterious new enemy that seems to be after Thor. Between all of this, there is still room for the author's humor and witty banter among the characters.
I would admit though that I didn't find this book as fast paced as the first one. The second half seemed to be more intense and action packed. Although, there is an awesome dolphin scene in the first half that I really enjoyed reading! Also, I think I was hoping for some more plot development in terms of Thor's plans to overthrow the Alliance. Overall though, this book didn't fail to deliver. It was another light, entertaining read and I would definitely stick around for more of Jelena's adventures.