Review: This Night So Dark by Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner

Title: This Night So Dark
Author: Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner
Series: Starbound, book #1.5
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Publication Date: October 7, 2014
Source: freebie
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Don’t miss the breathtaking short story that connects the first two novels in the Starbound trilogy, These Broken Stars and This Shattered World.

Tarver still has nightmares about the night, six months before the Icarus crash, when he rescued a group of civilian researchers being held hostage by brutal mercenaries. Now Tarver and Lilac must reconcile his memories of that fateful night with the truth that they uncovered on a mysterious planet after the Icarus crashed.

Includes a bonus preview chapter from This Shattered World!

More Tarver! And that's really all you need to know. :)

Just kidding. Sort of. The thing is, I tried to get Tarver to divulge the details on his hero status several times in our interview last year, but he was more than a little hesitant. That's probably because in this awesome FREE short story, he finally explains the true nature of the mission that led to his being on the Icarus in the first place. This story is a bridge between These Broken Stars and This Shattered World, and it really foreshadows what we can expect from the sequel.

Also, I really enjoyed the manner in which Tarver's version of things comes to light. In much the same way that These Broken Stars was an interrogation, with snippets of the actual conversation interspersed into the story between chapters, This Night So Dark is basically Tarver relaying the cause of his nightmares -- that fateful mission all those months ago -- to Lilac. Bits of their conversation are placed between chapters as they reflect on what they've each realized and what it means. And in the meantime, I got a Tarver/Lilac feelsplosion! =)

After reading this novella, I am just that much more excited to get to my copy of These Broken Stars. I think I've put it off long enough now. I can't wait to meet the new characters -- and see a bit more of Tarver and Lilac, not gonna lie -- and see how they all fit into the scheme of things. This Night So Dark is a must-read if you've already read These Broken Stars and you plan to continue the series. And you really have no reason not to read it since it's absolutely free!

GIF it to me straight:

About the Authors:

Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner are longtime friends and sometime flatmates who have traveled the world (but not yet the galaxy), covering every continent between them. They are sure outer space is only a matter of time. Meagan, who is also the author of the Skylark trilogy, currently lives in Asheville, NC, while Amie lives in Melbourne, Australia. Although they currently live apart, they are united by their love of space opera, road trips, and second breakfasts.

Visit the These Broken Stars website for the latest news on the series and follow the authors on Twitter at @AmieKaufman and @MeaganSpooner. You may also sign up for their newsletter as well! This Shattered World will be available in North America in December 2014.