Honor Among Thieves by Rachel Caine and Ann Aguirre
Summary
Meet your new favorite kickass heroine in this daring YA series by New York Times bestselling authors Rachel Caine and Ann Aguirre, a thrilling yet romantic futuristic adventure perfect for fans of Claudia Gray’s A Thousand Pieces of You.
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 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.
Book Details
Honor Among Thieves by Rachel Caine, Ann Aguirre
Series: Honors #1
Published by: Katherine Tegen Books
Release Date: February 13, 2018
Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Alien, Science Fiction
Pages: 480
Source: Publisher
Rating: 4.5 Stars
My Review
Filled with exciting space intrigue and high-octane, action and adventure, HONOR AMONG THIEVES is the first book in the Honors series by authors Rachel Caine and Ann Aguirre, featuring a vibrant and fierce new YA heroine to love. Set in the future where the Leviathan—a race of sentient alien ships—explore the outer reaches of the universe along with their human companions. This is a page-turning science fiction thriller with an OTP, unlike anything you've read recently.
HONOR AMONG THIEVES is one of those books that starts off slow but suddenly rockets to an addicting read. I was immediately excited and curious about this book.
The initial opening of the book is set on a futuristic Earth where overpopulation has sent the first settlers to Mars to make their home. It is also a future where a sentient race known as the Leviathan have visited us, sharing advance knowledge and tech to help heal the planet and in return, they only seek volunteers for a cultural and scientific exchange program called the Honors.
“The Leviathan showed up out of the blue, offering salvation, and asking for volunteers in exchange; they picked a hundred humans a year to ride along in some alleged cultural and scientific exchange. The way the media spun it, it sounded like the Honors spent their year aboard riding unicorns and farting rainbows.”
Zara lives in Lower Eight, a gritty section of New Detroit, where she survives by pick-pocketing. Street smart, her world is a maze of crumbling buildings and alleys, where tech is traded and there is no code of honor. Only, Zara just heisted some high-tech accidentally and finds herself on the run landing herself in a rehabilitation center. Safe, boring and predictable—that is until she learns that she has been selected to take part in the Honors program.
Once Zara enters the Honors program HONOR AMONG THIEVES becomes this unbelievable addicting read filled with intense action scenes in space, yet it's equally a beautiful read about the relationships the characters form with each other.
“The universe opened up like a darkly blooming flower to reveal a black sea full of Leviathan.
My breath caught.
Even at this distance, they still looked big, so they must be enormous up close. I’d seen the holo at orientation, of course, but nothing could do justice to the silvery, flickering sheen of them, contrasted against surrounding darkness. Their hulls gleamed with a sort of incandescent starlight, and I thought of the silver moonfish I’d once seen in an aquarium. I wondered how their skin felt to touch.
Awe crept over me when I processed the fact that I was looking at a living creature with such magnificent lines. The nearest Leviathan was broadest across the center, with graceful curves from head to tail. The tail stretched out into a tapered point, and solar sails stretched out like fans, iridescent as butterfly wings.
Holy shit. I’ll be living inside someone.
That was a bizarre thought, kind of reminiscent of Jonah and the whale.”
Zadim is the Leviathan ship Zara and her new partner, Beatriz are assigned too. As a sentient being, Zadim is the ship, a living being that for all intents and purposes, reminds us of a teen boy. An alien one, but so completely lovable and endearing.
The interactions between Zadim, Zara and Beatriz had me grinning one moment and holding my heart in others. I ended up completely invested in their relationships.
If you like kickass, smart and diverse heroines, Zara and Beatriz won't disappoint. Like two sides of a coin, they compliment one another. Zara is black and Beatriz is Brazilian. I love reading about positive female friendships, the ones that go through tough times together and still come out strong. They both have obstacles to overcome and watching them grow is pretty much awesomeness.
The whole mystery of why Zara is chosen to be an Honor and just what are the real intentions of the Leviathan is all a mystery that unfolds brilliantly.
The science fiction elements of space travel and technology are captivating and easily read, perfect for YA readers who want a fun and digestible sci-fi read. The ship descriptions, space, and tech are all interesting with lots of twists and surprises along the way.
In the End
HONOR AMONG THIEVES is an exciting new series opener that is highly recommended to sci-fi readers, one that you won't want to miss out on. I can't wait for the next book in the series and went out and bought a hardback copy despite having an ARC copy. This is one you'll want on your shelves.
