Petty criminal Zara Cole has a painful past that's made her stronger than most, which is why she chose life in New Detroit instead moving with her family to Mars. In her eyes, living inside a dome isn't much better than a prison cell.
Still, when Zara commits a crime that has her running scared, jail might be exactly where she's headed. Instead Zara is recruited into the Honors, an elite team of humans selected by the Leviathan--a race of sentient alien ships--to explore the outer reaches of the universe as their passengers.
Zara seizes the chance to flee Earth's dangers, but when she meets Nadim, the alien ship she's assigned, Zara starts to feel at home for the first time. But nothing could have prepared her for the dark, ominous truths that lurk behind the alluring glitter of starlight.
The Honors Series:
Honor Among Thieves
Honor Bound (2019)
Visit Rachel Caine's website or Ann Aguirre's website for more information
Review:
I've been wanting to read Honor Among Thieves ever since I heard Ann Aguirre give a reading last year, let's face it you don't often get to read stories about a girl who falls in love with a sentient space ship so the concept had me hooked! This was such a fun story and the writing switched seamlessly between Ann Aguirre and Rachel Caine, I definitely couldn't pinpoint who wrote which parts.
The story starts by showing us Zara's life on earth, things have been hard for her and she ended up living on the streets and working with a gang to survive, she's done things she's not proud of but she's only ever done what she needed to do to survive. When things go badly she ends up in a young offenders institute and without drastic changes she knows her life is on the line when her old gang eventually manage to catch up with her. It's then that she is offered the chance to take part in the Honors Program, a highly specialised training program that gives her the opportunity to travel through space with one of the Leviathans. The Leviathans are huge, whale like aliens that swim through the galaxy like it's an ocean, they are ancient and powerful and they have the ability to allow humans to live inside them to join them on their journeys.
After training Zara and her crew mate Bea are paired with Nadim, one of the younger Leviathans who is only just beginning his own journey. Working together the girls have to figure out how to survive in space and when Nadim gets injured in a fight with one of his own they start to realise how little humans really know about the Leviathans and what they want with us.
I really enjoyed this story, the world building was great but it was once Zara and Bea go to space and start to bond with Nadim that things really get interesting. I loved that both girls were immediate allies and friends rather than two women facing off against each other like you so often see in YA. They both have different strengths and personalities but they're happy to work together so there are no petty issues to worry about. What I liked most was getting to know Nadim though and seeing the girls through his eyes, the way the Leviathans are described and the way they see and hear the universe was just fascinating and the authors made it so easy to picture what was happening. Leviathans form a psychic bond with their crew and the developing feelings between Nadim and Zara were really well written, there is definitely love there but it's more of a soul bond than anything particularly romantic so there was nothing that weirded me out.
This was a great introduction to the series and it definitely left me excited to see how the story continues. I think we still have so much to uncover about the Leviathans and the reason they contacted humans in the first place and I'm definitely looking forward to seeing how that plays out.
Oh and in case you're interested in knowing what Nadim looks like check out this gorgeous illustration from the book:
Source: Received from the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review, I also won a signed copy from Ann Aguirre.
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