Review: Light Years

Light Years by Kass Morgan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The second ARC of five which I traded for this month, and I'm very happy I managed to get my hands on it! One thing I've noticed with Kass Morgan is that she writes a better book each time - The 100 series being just such an example of this trend. I remember I gave the first book a three-star rating on my first read, but I reread it just after finishing the first season of the TV series and upgraded it to four on the second go. Then the second and third books got four stars right away, and the fourth book, five.

I have similar high hopes for Morgan's new series, which I'm really hoping for them to adapt on the CW next. Or Netflix. Or, even better, that this series and The 100 secretly take place in the same universe (no spoilers for the TV series, but my God, you need to watch all five seasons NOW if you haven't already.)

Really, the only reason why I'm giving this one four stars is because of the sheer aggravation provoked by that cliffhanger. Or, more accurately, cliffhangers, plural. It wouldn't be Kass Morgan if we didn't have multi-POVs, and multi-cliffhangers to go with it. Including the very last page, which is downright Aveyardian like the original Aveyardian cliffhanger of Glass Sword and bloody hell I'm so mad!

But over the course of these nearly 400 pages, Morgan gives us a gripping look at four people from different corners of this star system. All four main planets are represented in our four POV characters - except not really Loos, because Orelia's a spy sent from the system's ancient enemy, Sylvan. But we get a lot of perspective of the centralized nature of Tri - centralized, and privileged, looking down on those from Deva and Chetire because those planets are smaller and dirtier. Literally, in Deva's case, because that planet is as toxic as it gets. But all four POV characters are very well-developed - the aforementioned Orelia, a girl on a most important mission of infiltration; ambitious and driven Vesper; Cormak, who has to sneak into the Fleet Academy on his brother's ID; and Arran, who's tired of having never been kissed. (No prizes for guessing which one I relate to the most, and obviously it's the fellow queer guy.) Though there's not a great deal of physical description of the characters, just going by the cover models (I'm guessing it's Arran, Orelia, Cormak, and Vesper, clockwise from top left), they're a pretty visibly diverse lot all the same. (Also, am I wrong, or does Cormak bear a very strong resemblance to Ricky Whittle, aka Lincoln kom Trikru himself?)

The setting of this book, as its GR synopsis implies, owes a lot to Ender's Game. It's set in a floating, rotating space station in a classified interstellar location ferpetesake. And Arran, in particular, reads a lot like Ender because he's smart but isolated and an easy target for bullies. Though I bet Orson Scott Card would resent one of his signature characters being compared to a gay guy, but whatever - I don't recommend Card's books at work, but this one, I most certainly will. Especially for anyone looking for an Ender's Game alternative because, like me, they just can't stomach Card's vile politics. Or anything in the vein of Brazil's very own 3% - there's no way that didn't influence Morgan on some level as she wrote this book.

Still, though...

...that cliffhanger.

Gorrammit, Kass Morgan.

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