Players pushed into impossible situations, fighting back, losing, fighting even harder, finally finding an alternate and very sneaky way to overthrow the evil person responsible for nearly every woe inflicted upon them and their planes. High tension, interesting cast of characters. Definitely worth reading. ( )

Title: Made of Stars
Author: Jenna Voris

I like the cover on the book "Made of Stars" by Jenna Voris. I love the illustration and color palette used on it. It's very pretty the artist did a great job. Made me want to read it. This book was not a favorite of mine but I semi liked it a little. I struggled to get through it the book was very confusing from the start I could barely understand what was happening to be completely honest. It didn't have a build up and went straight into action.

Quote: "Shane had always thought killing would be harder, that it would take a certain king of person to wrap their hands around another's throat and squeeze until there was nothing left, but it had been over by the time the warden arrived, before the droids swarmed and the prisoners rioted. Killing was the easiest thing in the world. And Shane wasn't sorry." ( )

This was a mixed bag Space Opera reimagining of the Bonnie and Clyde story. We started off right in the thick of the action as Ava (space Bonnie) and Jared (arguably the best cinnamon roll of a hacker character ever) were in the midst of breaking Shane (space Clyde) out of prison.... the breakout action happened primarily off page, which was a bit of a letdown, BUT since it was written well it didn't trigger my ADHD as badly as you'd think seeing as off page action/drama/ major plot point intimations are one of my biggest pet peeves sooo no obsessing over trope triggers = point in favor of this story.

Anywho, this book managed to set up the Dastardly Evil Empire trope, rife with political corruption and I, for one, really enjoyed that aspect. Being a Space Opera geek, I loved that it was set in space BUT when I think of the original Bonnie and Clyde story I think of a tale of crazy young love with unlawful mayhem and property destruction. Now, we got some of that... especially the property damage... but the romance(s) was/were woefully underdeveloped. It left me wanting... wanting more chapters, more interrelationship development especially for Ava & Shane as well as Lark & Cyrus... they all felt stilted. I (kind of) wanted to know: Will they? Won't they? Have they? Should they? AND when we FINALLY got those answers ... VERY late into the story, I might add... (AND, a lot of it happens off page GRRR)... I was extremely underwhelmed. The rest was fun, and luckily carried the story but, again, when I think of the Bonnie and Clyde lore, I think crazy lovers doing crazy ish and I got the crazy actions but the lovers?? Not so much. Ok... I said what I said (twice), and I'll leave it at that.

Now, onto other aspects. The world building was a bit clunky at times and the the action was decent but Jared (arguably the most interesting and most underrated character) gets a paultry amount of respect (and page time) while Shane (who felt as cuddly and as receptive to kind interactions as a Borg) and Cyrus (Space academy superstar experiencing issues with blindly following orders) were given loads of page real-estate... it failed at feeling like a Bonnie and Clyde story, and it failed at giving us what we really wanted... MORE JARED!!

Soooo, I'm a little salty about this book's shortcomings... can you tell?

Overall:
This was an entertaining book, BUT it, in my eyes, didn't achieve what it set out to achieve, nor did it deliver what it promised. The writing was good enough to take this mish mosh of the Trifecta of Awesome (Trifecta of Awesomeness = Quality of the Writing + Background Detail + How Robust the Chatacters Are- with a notable mention for plot/premise) and turned it into a decent (small guys vs evil military might) read. Does that make this a win? Wellll, kind of... if you're into that kind of space opera trope OTHERWISE, this is a near miss... BUT I did enjoy my time in this world, so do with that as you may.

~ Enjoy ( )

I don't think I've ever heard the story of Bonnie and Clyde told like this. It really drew inspiration from them, and twisted their love story into something completely different. I liked how they were fighting for something good, something right. They weren't completely lawless, but had to do what they did to help those they loved. It gave a reason behind everything, and really brought the whole story together into something bigger than just a tragic love story.

I really enjoyed the way each and every character was brought in and how they added to the story overall. I actually really hope that we will see more of them in another book. I don't know if this was supposed to be a series or not, but the ending was too incomplete for me to ever be satisfied unless there is another book.

The writing really drew me in and made the world come alive. The world building was great, but so much more could be done with the setting. That tends to happen when something is set in space.

I really enjoyed the book, but there was just something missing to make me absolutely love it. I can't quite put my finger on what it is, though. This was a good book to spend an afternoon reading. ( )

Thrilling Space Heist

This captivated me from the start. The setting alone is so well done that it felt real--from the cold planet surface to the insides of the space crafts. The characters are flawed and make decisions that lead to committing crimes, yet their motivations make them people I believed in and could make a difference in their world by ultimately helping others. The danger and suspense of the action kept me reading and not wanting to put this novel down.

The plot brings together characters who start out thinking they know what they want from their lives and that what they want makes them enemies, but then as they interact, they start to question everything they've ever been told and wonder what truly is the right thing to do. What makes a good person? These characters all face difficult challenges, not only physically, but emotionally as well. The ending had me cheering despite the bitter sweetness it brought. ( )