Cliffhanger! But oh-so-good ( )

Reviewed By: Sarah W. (12th grade)
Grade Range: 8th grade and Up
Genre: Science Fiction
Literary Merit: Excellent
Characterization: Good

In the second Honors series book, Honor Bound, Zara, Beatrice, and Nadim head out on another adventure.The group has left the tour, a guided trip through a dozen or so nearby planets to give the Honors an idea of what being in space is really like, and have now headed out for the Journey, allowing them to explore galaxies so far away they will never be able to travel back home. In desperate need of supplies, the group travels to the planet Silver, a no rules world with dozens of new alien species and a culture that closely resembles life in New Detroit. There they find medicine, food, money, friendship, starlight, and of course, trouble. Their journey brings them both new comrades and enemies, though most of the time it’s hard to distinguish between the two. Zara, Beatrice, and Nadim grow closer than ever before in this thrilling sequel to Honor Among Thieves.
Honor Bounds’ unique sci-fi storyline is a thrilling read. Personally, I felt that there were definitely times when Caine and Aguirre focused too much on unimportant details that misconstrued the plot of the book. For half of the novel, I was genuinely confused about why Nadim, Zara, and the rest of the gang were doing what they were, and the book gave no indication of a plausible endpoint. Caine’s characterization has always been my favorite part of her past work, but some characters, specifically the Leviathan elder Typhon, didn’t get the focus they deserved. Typhon’s character developed way too fast for the storyline. The time spent describing certain features of the crew’s time on the Silver could have been better used in regards to gradually building Typhon’s character instead of seemingly erasing the difficulties he had in the past. Beatrice also had a speedy characterization development in regards to her relationship with space and her unwillingness to leave her family. However, even through all this criticism I still genuinely enjoyed the book. Zara, Beatrice, and Nadim’s relationship gives me goosebumps and butterflies and I absolutely adored the smooth addition of the new characters. Both authors also did an amazing job in world building and I adored the universe they created. Overall I believe that the first book was much better, as my previous review represents, but I still firmly believe in the series and will be eagerly anticipating the next addition.

Recommendation: Anyone who has enjoyed previous work by Caine or fell in love with Honor Among Thieves the first book in this magnificent series. ( )

This was just ... great science fiction, great worldbuilding, great characters, great story, incredibly interesting aliens ...

Gush, gush, gush ...

Ever have one of those books that it's very hard to review because it was pretty perfect? I had preordered this because fell in love with the first book in series and it did not disappoint (or read like a collaboration).

It's also hard to review without spoilers as more of the politics and aliens and history and worldbuilding is revealed as story unfolds. Some new and some just surprising at how deep some things went. Very little purely good or evil. Doesn't end on a cliffhanger but clearly more is ahead.

Boy is this a suck-y review -- but this series is really getting good. ( )