When Princess Cassia Rose fled her home world of Eturia to escape an arranged marriage, website like this she had no idea her sudden departure would spark a war.
Genre:
Young Adult, Contemporary
Pages:
368 pages
Part of a Series?:
2nd of Starflight series
Release Date:
February 7th, 2017
You Can Find the Book At:
GoodReads Summary:
When Princess Cassia Rose fled her home world of Eturia to escape an arranged marriage, she had no idea her sudden departure would spark a war. Now after two years hiding as a ship hand, she is finally returning to her beloved home, but not in the way she imagined. Shackled by bounty hunters, she is violently dragged back to account for her crimes. Her only solace is that the Banshee crew managed to evade capture, including Kane Arric, her best friend…with occasional benefits.
Meanwhile, Kane and the rest of the crew of the Banshee plan a desperate rescue mission. But when they arrive on Eturia, Cassia isn’t exactly in need of heroics—she’s claimed her birthright as Eturia’s queen, but has inherited a war-torn planet simmering with rebellion. Cassia must make alliances, and Kane, the bastard son of a merchant, isn’t a choice that will earn her any friends. Kane knows he will never find someone to replace Cassia—and is certain she returns his feelings—but how can he throw away his own promising future waiting on a queen?
When the outer realm is threatened by the dangerous Zhang mafia, Cassia, Kane and the rest of the Banshee crew uncover a horrifying conspiracy that endangers the entire universe. In the face of unspeakable evil, Cassia must confront her own family’s complicated legacy on Eturia and decide once and for all who her real family is.
My Review:
The first time I read Alienated by Melissa Landers, I was truly blown away. She had managed to accomplish something that I was working so damn hard to do…writing a YA novel that managed to balance romance and science fiction. She became an instant favorite and a huge inspiration in my quest to finish the Awakened duology.
Then when Starflight came out, I fell even more in love. She wrote such an amazing story, reminiscent of Firefly, one of my favorite shows, and she again mastered that goal of balancing romance and science fiction. I was blown away yet again. I didn’t know that it was going to be a series until she announced it later, and I have been counting down the days until we got to read Cassia and Kane’s story and it was worth every moment. I have been in one of the worst reading slumps that I’ve been in and yet I still managed to devour this book in a matter of hours. That is the power of Melissa’s storytelling.
She once again manages to bring a whole world to life. It definitely feels like Firefly, but it stands on its own, which what makes it so great. Melissa creates this world that just feels so real. And the best part is, even with it having been months since I read the first book, and the details are a bit fuzzy, it doesn’t feel like that. The book has a way of bringing you back into the story, so that you remember the details, without regurgitating the entire first book. I immediately remembered characters and scenes from the last book and it felt flawless. It was so great.
Plus I just loved the story of Cassia and Kane. I loved that they each went through their own struggles and that they had to learn their own lessons before coming to each other. I felt like there was so much going on in this book, politics and rebellion and addiction and pirates and the original crew and so much…it felt like a whirlwind but it doesn’t feel like too much is packed into one book and its what keeps you reading from page one until the end. You don’t know what’s going to happen to Cassia or Kane or any of the characters (a lot of them familiar faces from book one) and I just love it.
There’s romance and action and so much adventure. As someone who is looking to write her own space adventure soon, this was exactly the kind of motivation and inspiration that I needed. Once again, she’s written just a fabulous book.
Rating:
4.5 out of 5 Stars
