#Tuesday Review - Their Fractured Light by Megan Spooner/Amie Kaufman (YA, Science Fiction)

Series: Starbound # 3
Format: Hardcover, 432 pages
Release Date: December 1, 2015
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Source: Library
Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction

A year ago, Flynn Cormac and Jubilee Chase made the now infamous Avon Broadcast, calling on the galaxy to witness for their planet, and protect them from destruction. Some say Flynn’s a madman, others whisper about conspiracies. Nobody knows the truth. A year before that, Tarver Merendsen and Lilac LaRoux were rescued from a terrible shipwreck—now, they live a public life in front of the cameras, and a secret life away from the world’s gaze.

Now, in the center of the universe on the planet of Corinth, all four are about to collide with two new players, who will bring the fight against LaRoux Industries to a head. Gideon Marchant is an eighteen-year-old computer hacker—a whiz kid and an urban warrior. He’ll climb, abseil and worm his way past the best security measures to pull off onsite hacks that others don’t dare touch.

Sofia Quinn has a killer smile, and by the time you’re done noticing it, she’s got you offering up your wallet, your car, and anything else she desires. She holds LaRoux Industries responsible for the mysterious death of her father and is out for revenge at any cost.

When a LaRoux Industries security breach interrupts Gideon and Sofia’s separate attempts to infiltrate their headquarters, they’re forced to work together to escape. Each of them has their own reason for wanting to take down LaRoux Industries, and neither trusts the other. But working together might be the best chance they have to expose the secrets LRI is so desperate to hide.

Their Fractured Light is the third and final installment in the Starbound trilogy by authors Amie Kaufman and Megan Spooner. Let me start out by saying that I would encourage anyone who is interested in reading this series, to please begin at the beginning with These Broken Stars, and do not skip This Shattered World. The stories in this series all have elements that are significantly related to the previous installments, and the characters are all connected regardless whether or not you can actually figure it all. 

This third book drives that point home in a major way with several key revelations and a devastating event that brings them all together. One could call the meeting of all six characters fate, or destiny, or a more powerful entity that nudged them into a certain place at a certain time to defeat a powerful enemy they all have in common. Whatever your thoughts about this book, it is important for you to understand that the mutual hatred and desire to destroy Monsieur LaRoux by all six characters is real and powerful and drives them to do things they wouldn't necessarily have done had LaRoux not ruined all of their lives in one way or the other.

The series takes place over the course of several years. Two years ago, it all started with Tarver Merendsen and Lilac LaRoux being the only survivors of Icarus crash that introduced readers to the Whispers. It was Lilac herself who became something more than we, as readers, could imagine. Until now. A year ago, Flynn Cormac and Captain Jubilee Chase made the now infamous Avon Broadcast that warned the galaxy that LaRoux was up to something rotten. They weren't taken very seriously. 

Now, we move on to Their Fractured Light which takes place on the planet of Corinth, and features Sofia Quinn, and Gideon Merchant. Sofia is a driven, cunning character who perhaps needed to check her anger at the door. She wants LaRoux dead at all costs for what he did to her father and is willing to go to the heart of the demon world in order to do what needs to be done. Gideon is the hacker known as the Knave of Hearts. He is bloody brilliant and cunning. He has been searching for one key component that could take down LaRoux once and for-all. 

I think the most interesting part of this story, besides the uniting of all six characters, was the voice of the Whispers between each chapter. You really need to pay attention to each episode, as it were, to get a feeling about how they were treated by LaRoux, and why they chose the six characters. You really have to feel for the plight of these creatures.   

Fitting ending to this series even though I was clearly hoping for a Triplicate wedding between the three couples. Oh well, you win some, you lose some. I would have liked to learn what happened to both Jubilee and Flynn when all was said and done. I don't believe there are any issues that were left unresolved. The authors did a pretty decent job of bringing together all of the characters, all of the plot lines, and all of the key ingredients that made this trilogy so enjoyable to read. 

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