Book Blurb:
Yumi Minamoto has the shortest fuse on the ship. She’s just whipped a bully and been confined to quarters, but she’s not staying there. A disgraced journalist trying to clear her name, her job is to document the mission to the Hikoboshi system, and she’s determined to get it right, despite all the trouble she causes. But when unknown vessels fire on their ship, and Yumi's life pod crash lands on a dying moon, she's separated from her family and friends, and her mission falls to pieces. Now she must navigate the unfamiliar and deadly terrain, deal with a society she doesn’t understand, and try to stay alive until rescue comes… if it ever does.
Crash Land on Kurai is the first book in the Hikoboshi series, an action adventure, space opera series that explores the worlds settled by the Japanese who fled Earth a century ago. Culture, history, technology, and swords clash in a fast-paced future society on the brink of war.
My Review:
4 Out Of 5 Stars
Genre: Another-World, Dystopian, Mystery, Royal-Court, Space, Survival, Suspense--
Yumi is on a mission to find another Japanese colony sent to colonize another solar system 100s of years prior but something goes wrong and their spaceship was attacked. Survival is key, but so is the completion of her secret mission. Yumi is on a journey she may not survive, but as long as she keeps her integrity and survival skills, she could beat the odds.
This was a blend of (adult) dystopian, survival and sci-fi. All the elements worked well together to create a very complex world, full of space adventures, androids, technology, secret missions, political intrigue, danger, mystery and Japanese culture. Te whole concept for this story was very cool and incredibly unique. The story started with Yumi being in a fight and never let up with the action, be it an attacked space vessel, a crash landing on earth in an escape pod, to a decaying world and passing an android test to determine intentions. I was kept on my toes the entire time I read the story, never sure where the plot would take me next, and I highly enjoyed the ride. I mean come on, we are talking about a world where humans can be bonded to animals with an animal-transplantation chip! (no this was not a big or important part of the story, but I thought it was so cool and kept thinking about it throughout the book).
The story was narrated by Yumi, making her the main character. She was super interesting character who was honest to a fault- even while stating that she would lie if she needed to protect a source. She was a journalist by profession and probably by her curious nature, sent on the mission to document the journey/encounter, as well as a top secret mission by the empress to bring back honor to her name. I liked how straightforward and no-nonsense she was as well as her strength and stubbornness, all things she needed to survive her latest mission. Her answers on the android test (the fact an android test was needed should say a lot about the technology in this world!) were very revealing about her as well as the ambiguity of people in general.
I was also a huge fan of Kazou, which Yumi would not have made it without, and the relationship dynamic between them was really sweet. And Rin was an instant favorite of mine, right from the moment he showed up in his ninja-esque clothing battling Yumi in the water (I can't wait to see what the future will bring for them).
I will admit that I really wished I had listened to this as an audiobook, or at least had a recording of how to say the names and certain terms because I am like 99% certain I butchered the beejeebies out of it. Most of the names come from Japanese origins, since most of the characters were sent from Japanese colonies, and I stumbled over them while reading which then caused me to sit and stew over the correct pronunciation instead of continuing on in the book (I think that alone made me take longer to read the story than anything else since the pacing was great with never a stalled moment). I am not one of those readers who can just go with they flow of whatever they want to call the characters, I have to know their real names, and I may have been a little obsessed with getting them right.
This was the first book in what appears to be a series, and based on this story I can;t predict what will happen next. My only suggestion is to read the series and find out, which is what I plan on doing. I have read SO many dystopian-esqe tales over the last few years and I can say that I have honestly never encountered anything like this.
I received this title for review purposes.
No comments:
Post a Comment