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A review by kblincoln
A Passage of Stars by Alis A. Rasmussen, Kate Elliott
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.