Bright Shards by Meg PechenickMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Brilliant World Building
I loved this book as much as I did the first one, for exactly the same reasons. The characters, the plot and above all the world building.
This book sees Avery encountering the wider universe of the Vardeshi race. The Pinion limps into Arkhati SpaceHaven (love that term for a space station!) and Avery and the crew are faced with the fallout from the damage done to crew, ship and the possible alliance.
On Arkhati Avery is delighted to find her friend Kylie from training on Earth and is almost as excited about having unlimited showers again. However, as much fun as exploring a SpaceHaven is, there are consequences to the events that took place in the previous book and she has to be prepared to fight against her character to demand what she wants.
The author’s description in this book of SpaceHavens and at long last a different planet are enthralling. I loved reading about how unsettling it can be and at the same time captivating to be surrounded by strangeness, from the smell to the sights and sounds. Having Kylie there as a contrast only emphasises how different the Vardeshi are to humans. It also seems to confirm to Avery that her only strengths as a candidate for the exchange are those of a linguist. However, as her counsellor tells her, she has to ‘dig deep’, and she begins to find her strength.
The plot of this book is more complex than the first, because a lot of the world building has been done. There is more time to explore the characters and the challenges that they face, and give a more rich experience as a reader. This is one of the things I like about science fiction and fantasy books, is they are often written as series giving the author room to breathe as they create worlds, characters and complex plots. Meg Pechenick takes this format and dives into it with relish.
I hope I don’t have to wait long for the third book in this series, but something tells me I won’t care how long I have to wait, because it will be worth it.
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