Starflight by Melissa Landers // Just. Too. Good.

Starflight (Starflight, #1) by Melissa Landers
Genres: Sci-Fi (YA)
Pages: 369
Goodreads

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...

At first, it started off a bit slow for me, but it’s one of those novels that when it picks up it really picks up. Once that moment hits (which isn’t that far in the book) it makes you want to keep reading page after page. When one problem seems to be resolved, another one pops up. There is plenty of gun fights, space chases, harboring of fugitives, pirates, and plot twists. This never-ending string of action-packed events makes for a very fun read.

Oh my goodness! Where do I even begin with this??! I absolutely loved the characters.

Solara and Doran are two of my all-time favorite characters. Solara is a very intelligent, stubborn, and independent female –  she’s an absolute firecracker. Doran goes through a lot of changes throughout the novel – just tons of character development. I started out disliking him, but I think he has an even tougher time than Solara does and I feel for him.

But TOGETHER? They’re magic. Just magic. I couldn’t imagine this novel from any other perspectives. They’re characters just work so well together – which is odd to say because they are so opposite. But you know how people say that in a film, actors have to have chemistry? Well, I know they aren’t actors but Solara and Doran are just drowning in chemistry and a believable story (another odd thing to say because, you know, it’s in space, but roll with it).

Even the side characters I enjoyed. I loved the personalities of all the Banshee’s crew. I really felt connected to everyone in this book – even Acorn, the damn sugar glider.

I loved Landers’ writing. It was light and fun with tons of humor and smart-ass one-liners. It set a perfect tone for the type of novel this was. And as I said before, the book is very fast-paced. However, sometimes I didn’t feel it had a very well-developed word. There were many different aspects to it, but not everything was fully explained. Although, it wasn’t really necessary to continue the plotline.

Landers’ definitely creates a very exciting world for you to dive into – even if there are some flaws in the world.

Loved it. This book was way more than I expected. Lately, I’ve been let down by some “pirate” novels that have come out. But this one, a sci-fi oddly enough, finally filled that need for a good story with some pirate badassery and a slow burn romance. The characters are well-developed and all around likable – from Solara and Doran to the Banshee crew. It was a very entertaining read that really had me consumed in the characters and plot.

Some notes:

• I’ve noticed people comparing this to Firefly, which I can’t speak on because I have never watched Firefly. So if you have seen that show and read this book, I don’t know if it will impact what you think of it or not.
• Also, it’s actually not inspired by Firefly, it is inspired by the 1987 rom-com Overboard starring Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell – if you want to check it out 🙂 (sourced from the author)

Rating Report
Plot
Characters
Writing
World Building
Overall:	4.5 / 5