Review: Spinning Starlight by R.C. Lewis

Publisher: Disney Hyperion

Publication Date: October 6, 2015

Rating: 4 Stars

Source: eARC from Netgalley

Pages: 336

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Summary (from Goodreads):

Sixteen-year-old heiress and paparazzi darling Liddi Jantzen hates the spotlight. But as the only daughter in the most powerful tech family in the galaxy, it's hard to escape it. So when a group of men show up at her house uninvited, she assumes it's just the usual media-grubs. That is, until shots are fired.

Liddi escapes, only to be pulled into an interplanetary conspiracy more complex than she ever could have imagined. Her older brothers have been caught as well, trapped in the conduits between the planets. And when their captor implants a device in Liddi's vocal cords to monitor her speech, their lives are in her hands: One word and her brothers are dead.

Desperate to save her family from a desolate future, Liddi travels to another world, where she meets the one person who might have the skills to help her bring her eight brothers home-a handsome dignitary named Tiav. But without her voice, Liddi must use every bit of her strength and wit to convince Tiav that her mission is true. With the tenuous balance of the planets deeply intertwined with her brothers' survival, just how much is Liddi willing to sacrifice to bring them back?

Haunting and mesmerizing, this retelling of Hans Christian Andersen'sThe Wild Swans strings the heart of the classic with a stunning, imaginative world as a star-crossed family fights for survival in this companion to Stitching Snow.

I was really impressed with this book! After the last 3 books I read left me feeling rather 'meh', I just kinda dove into this book without any expectations. But it really surprised me and I enjoyed it!

Liddi Jantzen is the youngest of nine children. She has eight older brothers, all of whom are very gifted technologists on their planet. Liddi is set to inherit and take over the tech company that her parents started as soon as she turns eighteen. When Minali, the woman in charge of the company until she can inherit it, traps her brothers in the conduit system (the means of interplanetary travel) and makes it so she can't speak to tell anyone or her brothers will die, she manages to escape through a portal to Ferrine, a point that no one believed really existed. She has about 45 days (I think) to figure out a way to rescue her brothers without being able to tell these strange new people what is going on.

I thought that Liddi was an awesome main character. She was smart. A lot smarter than she ever gave herself credit for in this book due to some false information about checked genes from Minali. Her older brothers are really all that she has. Her parents have died and she doesn't really have any friends that aren't just looking to boost up their own social standing by being associated with her. So when she ends up unable to speak, she has to figure out a way all on her own to rescue her brothers. She finds that to be a daunting task because of her lack of confidence in her intelligence. But she is brilliant. She doesn't give up, no matter what it seems she ends up having to do. I really enjoyed Liddi.

Tiav is the first person Liddi meets when she ends up on Ferrine. He is very patient. He takes time to try and figure Liddi out. Decipher what she is trying to ask or say and learn about her without her being able to tell him anything. He sticks up for her when one of the alien races on Ferrine kind of gangs up on her. Even though his best friend is of that alien mob. He was just really sweet.

I enjoyed the romance. I felt like they really kind of got each other. They worked well together, cared about each other. There wasn't any insta love. They got to know each other as best as you can get to know each other when one party can't speak. I like them together a lot.

I thought that this was an exceptional book. It never felt boring. The action picked up right away and never slowed down too much. I never felt like one part of this book was terribly slow. There was always something interesting going on. The ending felt maybe a bit anticlimactic, just cause I felt like there should have been more of a showdown at the end. This book made me a bit sad at the end, but I just loved this book so much.

I don't really have any kind of complaint about this book, but one thing that I noticed was that this book felt really similar to These Broken Stars. Like even the names.. Liddi - Lilac, Tiav - Tarver. But I liked this book a lot more than I liked These Broken Stars!

Overall, I would definitely recommend this book. If you liked These Broken Stars, I think you'll like this book! The more I think about this book, the more I think that when it comes out, I will definitely have to buy this one for my own collection when it comes out!