Hunt the Stars by Jessie MihalikMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
2.5 stars
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
It was an impossible task, and one I didn't relish tackling while a Valovian general breathed down my neck.
Captain Octavia Zarola feels there's trouble on the horizon when top Valovian General Torran Fletcher approaches her with a job. It's been three years of peace between humans and Valovians but Tavi is known as the Hero of Rodeni for her efforts in the war and knows there's still a bounty on her in Valovian space. Why would a Valoff want to hire her as a bounty hunter? Told in all first person point-of-view from Tavi, Hunt the Stars, starts off the new science fiction series Starlight's Shadow about human and Valovian relations and politics. Torran claims that a very valuable family heirloom was stolen from his home and he needs bounty hunter Tavi and her team to search for it. Money has been extremely tight and while Tavi doesn't trust Torran is being completely honest with her, her ship needs repairs and updates and decides to take the contract.
Torran was a payday and nothing else. Anything more was far too dangerous.
Told all from Tavi's pov, the reader gets to know her and the humans very well but it left Torran and his crew more in the shadows. I never really felt like I knew Torran and therefore, the romance between Tavi and him didn't move past lust and I had a hard time connecting with him. The first half was slow for me as there wasn't much movement on plot, we do get some world setting and building but there were too many kitchen scenes and while I liked Luna, a pet of Tavi and her crew that is a cross between a fox, ferret, and cat, I was done reading how often Luna wanted to be feed, as it was brought up over and over. The first half has Tavi and her crew tentatively interacting with Torran and his crew as they travel to get to Torran's home in Valovian space. I felt this was stretched out for too long as I wanted more movement on story.
My body demanded satisfaction, but my head warned of danger and my heart wanted more.
The second half did deliver on story movement as some of the mystery behind what Torran hired Tavi to find and why gets slowly revealed. The story advances with more political intrigue and we get a deeper look at the world politics. The main plot is that there was a war between the Federated Human Planets (FHP) and the Valovians and even though there is peace right now, it's not completely settled between them. Having Tavi and Torran on different sides had me ready for some great tension but the one pov hurt this for me because I couldn't delve into Torran's character as much. The relationships ended up feeling lighter and surface. There seem to be many hints at future match-ups between Tavi and Torran's crew members that have me interested to see where they go (Kee the sunshine one on Tavi's crew and Varro the grumpy on Torran's is next in the series).
“My life is mine, but my heart is yours.”
I enjoyed the space setting and the author did a pretty good job filling it out with futuristic weapons, travel, space ships, and the Valoff's telekinetic “powers” to create a scifi mood. Very much at the heart though, is the politics and relationships between everyone. Tavi and her found family crew take most of the emotional spotlight but the last part of the second half have Tavi and Torran starting to act on their attraction (there is one bedroom scene but it is in the last few pages of the story). The last 20% had more of the pace I was looking for and we get action battle scenes, reveals, and more mysteries that will obviously lead into and connect future books in the series. This was a little too slow moving for me and Tavi and Torran's romance didn't quite reach the depth I wanted but with the world building done in this first book, I'm looking forward to the next in the series having the time to deepen the romance. This was an interesting world to visit and with a plot thread that still needs answers, I'll be looking forward to Kee and Varro's story.
“So, we're decided then?” I asked. Everyone nodded, and Torran squeezed my hand with a smile. I grinned. “Then let's go stop a war.”
Humm... I still want to read it but some of the things you mention brought down my enthusiasm....
ReplyDeleteThank you for reviewing it :)
I'm really bummed I didn't end up liking as much as I wanted to but it had so many stalled out moments in the first half.
DeleteI can see the second one being able to pick up the pace, though. Plus it's a sunshine + grumpy, which is a personal favorite :)