Lost Stars

Executive Summary: Young Adult Romance is not my thing, and I probably would have enjoyed this one more if that wasn't the main plotline.

Audiobook: Like all Star Wars audiobooks, you get music and sound effects. That kind of thing annoys me in general, but seems to work well for Star Wars books. Pierce Cravens isn't nearly as good as Marc Thompson, but he's decent. His normal reading voice seems more appropriate for this book anyways.

Full Review
I was reluctant to pick this one up knowing it was both Young Adult, and Romance. I read very little YA, and try to avoid Romance books in general. However, every review I saw about this one was positive. I got caught up in the Star Wars hype with Force Awakens coming out and decided to give it a go anyways.

The general premise of two friends growing up during the events of the original trilogy on opposite sides was appealing. Many of those elements of this book worked really well for me too. I liked the sort of “boots on the ground” view of events.

I thought the book was well written. It's always hard to write in someone else's world, especially Star Wars. This one was even harder because the overarching plot was already written and well-known by most if not all the people likely to pick the book up. Ms. Gray does a good job of working her story around notable events of the original trilogy while making it about her characters and not the better known ones. Plus, without getting into spoilers, there were some nice tie-ins to Force Awakens as well.

There are parts of this book I really enjoyed. I liked a pro-empire viewpoint. It offers a nice contrast to what your normally get. The idea that everyone in the empire is evil always seemed too black and white. I really liked the imperial flight school. I wish more time had been spent on the training and classes than the relationship of the protagonists though.

That was my main issue with the book. I just didn't care about the Romance part. I'm the wrong person to ask if it was well done. It's just not my thing. However, I can understand why this book is so popular. I think it's a good thing that Disney/authors are trying to tell new/different kinds of Star Wars stories that might appeal to different audiences.

Overall, I thought this was a decent story whose execution didn't work as well for me as it seems to for others.