This review was originally posted on my blog, Rachel Reading. If you like this and want more, please check it out!

So listen, I’ve realized that I really really love space. I love books that take place in space, I love planets, I love stars, I love love love space. I grew up wanting to be Zenon. After I finished Illuminae and Gemina by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff, I dove right into Kaufman’s other series. Seriously, they’re that good. I got this one on audiobook, and went in blind again and was blown away.

I’ve never been a huge sci fi fan, but I’m starting to think that maybe it’s because I haven’t been exposed to much of it. I like well done space ships and world building with lots of character development. I like books that explore topics that you don’t expect a book of that genre to explore, and I’ve found that in many space books lately. This one however, is over all, a romance book. I really enjoyed that the audio book had multiple narrators, one for Tarver and one for Lilac, and it successfully avoided one of my huge pet peeves: the princess girl throws herself all over the guy and does anything so he’ll help her survive. Lilac is a strong girl, with determination to show that she is more than just a princess, and she does so, in so many ways.

I love how Kaufman and Spooner write their characters, and I vaguely remember hearing that one of the things Kaufman does with co-authors is they try to switch and see “Would this be weird if a character of the other sex did this?” in an attempt to avoid those cliches. I don’t want to spoil too much of this book, and I feel like going in just knowing it was about space was the perfect thing to know. I would highly recommend this book, and I can’t wait to dive into the second.