Book Review: Honor Among Thieves by Rachel Caine & Ann Aguirre

Release Date: February 13th, 2018
Read: July 17th, 2018
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Series: The Honors, #1
Format: ARC, 467 pages
Source: Publisher in exchange for an honest review

Description from GoodReads:

   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 of 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.

Review:

   Sing back to us when you come, so that we may know the silence is never eternal.

   I’d read books from both of Honor Among Thieves’ authors before picking up the book, so I knew that in the end the book would be a good choice for me. So when the publisher was looking for more readers for the book, I jumped at the chance. 

   Honor Among Thieves has a very unique premise and execution. An alien race that is literally a spaceship, odd and yet super intriguing. You couldn’t wait to learn more in regards to how the ships worked and how they functioned as a species/society. Heck, they eat starlight to survive, like how cool is that? I’d certainly pick up the sequel just to learn more about how they live. 

   The characters and Honors program were also something you wanted to learn more about. The authors put so much detail into their characters that you could literally picture the characters as real people in life. With the tiniest details, like knowing a character likes their coffee a certain way or that small spaces freak out another character. They wrote in these traits in a way that didn’t feel like they were added just to further the plot line. 

   I know we were introduced to the Honors program briefly in the beginning of the book, and we slowly learn a bit more as the book goes on. But I would have really liked to learn more about the programs history, what happened when it started, how the people are decided, etc. I hope to see more of that kind of information in the upcoming sequels. 

   I only had one concern in regards to the book, and that was the relationship between the ship and protagonist. It felt as if in a way, that the authors were trying to make it seem like the girl was falling in love with the alien spaceship. It was a rather odd experience when it came down to reading certain scenes, and I’m still not sure how I feel in regards to their relationship. I hope that the authors fix up some things so that I don’t feel the same way in the next book. 

   Honor Among Thieves had me hooked until the very last page of the book, and although I had some concerns and wishes, I look forward to reading its sequel. 

Rating:

Favourite Quote:

“The way the media spun it, it sounded like the Honors spent their year abroad riding unicorns and farting rainbows."

Recommend to People Who Enjoy:

Young Adult, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Space, Aliens, Space Travel, War, Galactic Battles