review: starflight, by melissa landers

Starflight
Author: Melissa Landers
Genre: Sci-Fi, Young Adult, Fantasy
Pub Date: February 2nd, 2016
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Pages: 359
Source: Purchased

Life in the outer realm is a lawless, dirty, hard existence, and Solara Brooks is hungry for it. Just out of the orphanage, she needs a fresh start in a place where nobody cares about the engine grease beneath her fingernails or the felony tattoos across her knuckles. She's so desperate to reach the realm that she's willing to indenture herself to Doran Spaulding, the rich and popular quarterback who made her life miserable all through high school, in exchange for passage aboard the spaceliner Zenith.

When a twist of fate lands them instead on the Banshee, a vessel of dubious repute, Doran learns he's been framed on Earth for conspiracy. As he pursues a set of mysterious coordinates rumored to hold the key to clearing his name, he and Solara must get past their enmity to work together and evade those out for their arrest. Life on the Banshee may be tumultuous, but as Solara and Doran are forced to question everything they once believed about their world—and each other—the ship becomes home, and the eccentric crew family. But what Solara and Doran discover on the mysterious Planet X has the power to not only alter their lives, but the existence of everyone in the universe...

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i'm gonna start off by saying this- i normally don't care for sci-fi books all that much, but starflight definitely exceeded my expectations.

it starts off introducing us to one of the main characters, solara, who is trying to get to the outer realm in search of a new start. though, it isn't easy when you've got tattoos on your knuckles that let everyone know what you've done in your past. at first, she kind of reminded me of cinder because they're both mechanics, though they have their differences. while cinder worked for her family, solara has to work for a brat named doran, whose father owns one of the largest fuel companies on the planet. since going to school together, the two have hated each others guts for awhile, but must put that aside once thrown into a sticky situation.

one of the things i really appreciated was that starflight has a very diverse cast of characters. you don't see this much in YA (at least, that i've read), and i think we need more of it! it makes the book so much more interesting and complex and overall a more enjoyable read. starflight contains a girl from the slums who must work for her freedom; a somewhat bratty rich boy who used to be a football player; a sassy girl with an unknown identity; a flirty boy who only wants his best friend to be happy; an intelligent captain with a sugar glider as a pet who cares more for everyone else than he does himself; and a super kind, laid-back co-captain who will fight for what he believes in. if that doesn't make you want to read this book, i don't know what will.

space-like concepts normally don't strike my interest, but starflight focuses more on the characters and their journey together than the atmosphere they live in, which was fabulous because sometimes if a book goes into too much detail about the surroundings it gets a bit boring. melissa did a fantastic job at keeping the story interesting all the while providing just enough information to make it understandable.

this book had an ending that i did not see coming. it was as if one moment, everything was normal, then within 50 pages to the end of the book, everything flipped upside down. personally, these kinds of books are my favorites because i love reading about unexpected twists and surprises, and like to be kept guessing what will happen next! to say the least, it was great.

overall, i'd give this book a 5/5 stars! by far one of the best sci-fi books i have ever read, and i definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a fun sci-fi read!

CHARACTERS - 5/5

PLOT - 5/5 

CONCEPT - 5/5 

PACING - 5/5 

COVER - 5/5 

OVERALL - 5/5 STARS