Lovin' los libros

Starglass
   by: Phoebe North

Publication Date: July 23, 2013
Publisher: Simon & Schuster for Young Readers
Genre: Science Fiction
Age Group: Young Adult
Source: e-ARC received from Itching For Books and the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Page Count: 448 pages
Order Links: Amazon | B&N
My Rating: 3/5 stars



Excerpt:

"Do you remember the day we met?"
"We sat next to each other in school," I said. But to be honest, that was all I could remember. Everything before my mother'sdeath was hazy.
"Yeah. But that wasn't the whole story. It was the first day of class. And the other girls were making fun of me. My mother had dressed me in a ridiculous outfit, all blues and greens. That would be the style next season, but that year it was all earth tones. They called me a fish. You turned around and glared at them. You were so angry. You told them to shut up, that I was beautiful. And then you reached down and grabbed my hand and held my pinkie so tight I thought it might fall off. And I sat there thinking that if this smart, brave girl thought I was pretty, then I must not be so bad. We were always friends after that."
I couldn't help it. I crushed Rachel in a hug. She smelled like honey and violets.
"If you think I'm smart and brave," I said, pulling away. My voice was tight with tears. "Then I must not be so bad."
"No," she agreed, holding me at arm's length. "You're not. You're so courageous, Terra. I've always thought that. I might not agree with the choices you make. But I don't doubt for a second that you can do anything you set your mind to."
We stood there for a moment, grinning at each other in the shadow of the clock tower. Then the bells began to chime.


My Review:

I must say when I first saw this tour opportunity I couldn't wait! I love science fiction books set in the future where Earth is a distant memory. I really enjoyed the premise of this book and I felt North did a very thorough job of worldbuilding. I felt like I really understood Terra's world on the ship and how their society functioned as a whole. Everything is definitely not as it seems on Asherah...

Our main character is Terra, and we begin the novel with her dealing with the death of her mother. Terra, 12, is left with an older brother and her distant, cold father. Losing her mother was a huge blow to him, as he claims she was his Bashert, or his heart's twin. He is angry, detached, and not a very good father figure to Terra. He drowns his sorrows and just does not provide the comfort that a grieving young girl needs. I liked Terra as the protagonist. She is very artistically talented and yet teachers have spoken of her indifference towards many things. Terra, though she denies it, really just wants to be loved and accepted. We see a strong girl who is anything but indifferent. She dreams of finding her own bashert, and while she is not outwardly boy crazy like her best friend Rachel, she does notice one even from a young age. Silvan is the doctor's son and when we meet him again and now Terra is 16, he is cocky, arrogant, and tends to act indifferently and nonchalant towards everything. She wonders if Silvan is the one in her dreams- her bashert.

As I said, we spend a short time with Terra being 12 and then a few years later, she is now on the cusp of turning 16, which signals adulthood. She will be paid for her chosen profession and will be able to look for an intended to marry. Her father, however, has plans for her to marry his apprentice, Koen. I really liked Koen's character. He is shy and clumsy and embarrasses easily, but he is kind. Little gestures like holding Terra's hand or simply being close to her make her start to wonder if he could be the one she is supposed to be with. However, you figure out pretty quickly something is up with Koen and the more the novel went on I started to figure it out and it definitely hurt my heart a bit.

The story starts off a bit on the slower side and it really took a bit to get me engaged in what was going on. There was a lot happening, such as explaining how society worked and the requirements necessary to be a model citizen and how to fulfill your duties. For some reason it just took a bit to really draw me in. The turning point for me was when Terra witnesses a horrible event. After that she is sworn to secrecy. However, she ends up confiding in Koen, who therefore trusts her enough to introduce her to the Children of Abel, a rebel group who want to go back to the old ways on Earth. They believe in freedom and having no restrictions. They want the freedom to choose their own professions, not have it selected for them. They want to have more freedoms in who they are able to marry, not deal with a caste system.Terra really gets drawn into the rebellion- yet she is hesitant to perform some of the tasks that are given to her. However, Terra must decide between the good of the rebellion and what she feels is right- and it is not an easy decision for her to make.

About the Author:

Phoebe North spent the first twenty-two years of her life in New Jersey, where she lugged countless library books home to read in the bathtub, at the dinner table, in front of the television, and under the blankets with a flashlight when she should have been asleep.
After college, Phoebe went south, enrolling in the University of Florida’s MFA program to study poetry. But after studying children’s literature with kidlit scholars (and geniuses) Kenneth Kidd and John Cech, she started writing books about magic, robots and aliens for teenagers. And realized she loved it almost as much as she loved Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.
Now, Phoebe lives in New York State with her husband, and many licensed novels. She likes to cook, watch Degrassi, sew, take her cat for walks, and, of course, write. Despite many soaked pages, she still loves to read in the bath.

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