Skip to main content

Lost Stars by Claudia Gray (Science Fiction)

Lost Stars follows two pilots that grew up together on their home world of Jelucan-Thane Kyrell and Ciena Ree. They have been best friends since they were kids and they enlist to the Imperial Academy to become pilots for their Empire together. Growing up, Cienna grew up on the poor side of the planet and Thane grew up with the more wealthy people. Their parents were never happy with their friendship but they never cared. Once they graduate, they have pledged their lives to the Empire. Cienna couldn’t be happier, being an imperial pilot is all she had ever dreamed of as a poor little girl on Jelucan, but Thane starts to see the ugly side of the Empire. He has second thoughts on serving the Empire and defects to join the rebel alliance. The book follows Thane and Cienna’s relationship and how it can survive when they are on opposite sides of a war. And the hardest parts of war they are forced to deal with.

I really enjoyed reading this book for a number of reasons. For one, it showed parts of Star Wars that aren’t represented in the movies. For example, Thane doesn’t believe the force even exists and he doesn’t see Luke Skywalker as this hero he is shown as in the movies. It also goes more into what it is like being a part of the Empire, between climbing in the ranks, attending the Imperial Academy, and the fear the troops have of Darth Vader. Another reason this book was great was that it took place over a long period of time. In the beginning of the book Thane and Cienna are just kids when they first meet, the war was just getting started, the rebellion was still small. Then it follows them through their training at the Imperial Academy and their rising in ranks in the Empire throughout the entire war, and ends after the war was basically over. While it being a long book made it very interesting, it was also a bit of a set back. It took a while to read and there were some parts where there wasn’t much happening just like there are times in real life, not every second of every day has something interesting going on and I think this book did a good job showing that. 
Reviewed by Grace S., Grade 10

Popular posts from this blog

Prodigy by Marie Lu

Prodigy by Marie Lu is the second book to a dystopian young adult book series titled Legend. The series follows the story of June Iparis and Day in the new America, which is split between the Republic and the Colonies. June, a sixteen-year-old girl who scored a perfect score on her trial and was born into an elite republic family. Her life has been planned perfectly since the day she was born. Day is a sixteen-year-old boy who lives an opposite life of June. He is fugitive who is currently hiding out from the Republic in the streets of Los Angeles. After the first book, June and Day are currently on the run from The Republic. After Day’s brother pretends to be Day to save his life, he dies, leaving the Republic to believe that Day is dead. While June and Day are injured and on the run with targets on their back, they seek to find an alliance with the Patriots- a rebellious group whose mission is to shut down the Republic and to kill the new elector. As Day and June venture outside of L...
Read more

Every Last Word by Tamara Ireland Stone (Realistic Fiction)

In the book Evert Last Word, the main character Samantha explored the struggle of having mental illnesses as a teenage girl in high school. She has always kept these mental illnesses from her friends because she was scared of what they would think. Her mind is constantly filled with dark thoughts and worries that she can’t let go off or turn off. Daily life is a struggle because she constantly questions her every action, idea, and statement. It also doesn't help that her lifelong friends will become toxic at the first sign of a wrong outfit, wrong lunch, or wrong crush. Samantha is aware that it would be insane for her to leave the safety of the most well-liked students. Samantha feels a strong attraction to Caroline as soon as they meet. Caroline stands out from the crowd because she doesn't wear makeup and doesn't care what people think of her appearance. Her lack of judgment and focus solely on friendship is like a breath of fresh air. Samantha meets up with some of Caro...
Read more