These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

What makes a human being? Is it their memories, things they've done throughout their lives? Are we made up of tiny moments absorbed from other people, not really ourselves but a million faceted reflection of the world around us? Or is there something more? Are our thoughts, feelings, and desires driven by our memories or do we have souls, individual and precious to each of us? I'd never thought this through too deeply until I read the spellbinding tale of the Icarus, and it's two passengers, Lilac and Tarver.

After crash-landing on an unknown planet, Lilac and Tarver are thrown into a race to survive far more taxing than either could have ever imagined. Led across the land by mysterious beings called the Whispers, they find that the world is nothing like anything they've ever seen before. They each find something in themselves they never thought could exist, and in each other find a reason to keep on living. Both driven by the desire to signal for help, each with a different reason.

This is the best book I've read in a very long time. From the writing, to the characters, the plot and the setting, it is a rose in a briar patch of young adult novels. I'd forgotten what a good book really read like until I picked this up, and set it down not hours later, gasping for breath after finishing it.

The writing is incredible, some of the best I've ever seen. The world is painted in such bright clarity that not once was it a struggle to picture what was happening. Though not overly descriptive to the point of being tedious, I was so swept away it felt like I was watching a movie rather than reading a book. Had I known how amazing it would be, it would not have sat on my shelf for the week it did.

This book as changed the parameters for which I rate things, and now I feel like I should go back through every book I've rated in the last year and take away a star. This book has raised the bar for literature, rivaling some of the best books in history.

Lilac and Tarver are wonderful characters. Not only are they great to begin with, both outsiders in their own worlds, but they grow too. Not just though their love for each other, but also within themselves. Lilac goes from a complaining, eager to aggravate princess, to a hardworking and stubborn fighter. She grows from a child to an incredible woman throughout the book, and you don't even feel it happening. Tarver, a war hero and self-appointed guardian also grows throughout the story. You don't realize it at first, but looking back it's easy to see that finally loving someone the way he loves Lilac allows him to truly grow into his potential as a man. Their personalities are distinct, and don't falter throughout the story.

In an attempt not to spoil the heart-wrenching action of the last seventy pages, I'll try to keep my next sentences as vague as possible, while still getting my point across.

The writing in this book is so good, they tell you things without having to say them. Feelings and emotions practically pour from the pages without you reading a word. Your mind changes with the story up until a point, and then you feel like you've been snapped out of a coma, the bleak world snapping back into brilliant, colorful focus. As a reader it was a tantalizing experience, one I can say I am grateful to have been given the chance to read.

Five Stars.

Rosalie Williams

These Broken Stars on Goodreads