Christina Reads YA

Release Date: February 24, 2015
Source: ARC
Published by: Roaring Brook Press

Stone in the Sky - Cecil Castellucci | Goodreads

In this thrilling follow-up to Tin Star, Tula will need to rely on more than just her wits to save her only home in the sky.

After escaping death a second time, Tula Bane is now even thirstier for revenge. She spends much of her time in the Tin Star Café on the Yertina Feray—the space station she calls home. But when it's discovered that the desolate and abandoned planet near the station has high quantities of a precious resource, the once sleepy space station becomes a major player in intergalactic politics. In the spirit of the Gold Rush, aliens from all over the galaxy race to cash in—including Tula's worst enemy.

I like this duology a lot. True, I wished the books were a little faster in pace (when you read a lot of YA, you come to expect fast pacing regardless of the story's demands; or maybe that's just me) and sometimes the science fiction oriented writing style (dry and factual) prevented me from 100% sympathizing with Tula and the other characters, but I can't think of another YA series that has suchfascinating political intrigue and space opera dynamics. There are so many planets and planetary systems involved in just two novels - though really, it's mostly this novel since the first novel focused more on Tula's growth, aging her from fourteen to sixteen, I believe. And establishing all the planets, their nearby stars and how that has affected plant life, etc. comes into play in examining the dystopia of the Imperium, the universal planetary government that divided all races into Major and Minor Species based on the number of colonies each race has. The world-building and thought behind the galactic struggles is really well done, and the imagination in the design behind the different races and their relationships with one another is admirable. Really, it's a shame that there are so many YA high fantasy novels with similar elements that get more attention than a YA science fiction novel like this that does similar things. I particularly like the theme of intermixing between aliens and humans because a lot of science fiction does seem to have that phobia of aliens, which to me, reads a lot like regular xenophobia as we experience it today. (Or, if you want to be cynical, you could trace "alien invasions" across the history of our world...). Also fascinating to think about are the implications behind Major/Minor Species and colonization. Feels very accurate and applicable to our own world, and yet still so well established in the one that Cecil Castellucci has made for us to enjoy. Intriguing, discussable, well developed.

On an unrelated note, when love triangles were *the thing* and some people claimed that they were feminist, providing the oft female MC with choices, I was skeptical; after all, it depended on what the choices meant, the personalities of the romantic interests - not just the choices themselves. But, Stone in the Sky made me think that this is what a feminist love triangle would look and feel like. Loved the romance and the general feel of Tula and Tournour. I'm less a fan of the other coupling, but I do like the idea behind that romance and how Tournour and the other guy don't fight over Tula. Nice character growth all around for Tula and her friends, rather than being mired in romantic angst.

Also, the plot was rather unpredictable and the elements worked together fantastically. Exploration among the stars! Looking into the mystery of the human colonies! Why was Brother Blue so cruel to Tula in the first novel? What is his story? What happened to the rest of the human race? What happened to Tula's friends? A gold rush of a previously rare but still valuable plant near to Tula's station - what will happen to her "quiet life" contemplating revenge on Brother Blue on her space station? Why is Tournour exiled on Yertina Feray? And so much more. There are a few unexplained plot events between bookssuch as SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER how Reza ended up in the Outer Rim, when Tula had said in the previous book that she was sending him to Earth - and the same with Trevor, who was supposed to be shipped off with the boys, SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER but I can't begrudge the duology for that because of how everything played out in such a fascinating way. I loved that this book, even while expanding the world and including such interesting plot elements, also kept the same themes of self-discovery and transformation for character growth. A sequel definitely worthy of its predecessor, and an intriguing duology science fiction fans should much enjoy.