Approx. Pages(reading content/actual pages): ~200/204
Format: e-book
Content: Clean
Format: e-book
Content: Clean
Half-worlder. Sub-human. Alien. Those are some of the more polite names people use to describe you when your mother is from another planet.
Kristin Magnuson has spent her life growing up with these labels. Now she's been chosen to take part in the Youth Ambassador program and train to become Earth's ambassador to the Centauri system.
Kristin hopes to find acceptance with a group of peers as diverse as the galaxy itself, but soon learns that while being a half-alien back on Earth was tough, being a half-human in space is even worse.
Just as she starts to feel like she is fitting in, she finds herself at the center of a deadly interstellar conspiracy that makes her question everything she thought she knew about herself and her family.I'll just get right into it and fast forward to when she arrives at her destination, Vespa Prime. Kristin's going to be on her way for training as a Youth Ambassador. She then meets her three other companions in her cohort, Gabriana (a Lyconian), Torvox (a Sirian), Porter (a Roxian)... and her senior trainee, Norina (a Trellian). Her three friends, including herself, are what Norina would call a group of misfits. They have their own backstories told in full, as they should. Unfortunately, I only recall knowing two out of four of their complete stories.The characters were very likable, except for times when I would use the occasional eye roll at what Kristin does or says.
But oh man, Porter was hands-down, my favorite character.
A pubescent Roxian...will shed its entire top layer of skin in a yearlong epidemic of gross, oozy scabs.
Porter...stuffed the wad of papers into his mouth, and turned to walk out of the gym without a backward glance.
Unfortunately Roxians don't have proper riddles, because the only thing Porter could come up with was trying to make us guess what he had in his pocket. I guess a ring, but it turned out to be some left over food from his lunch.I thought it was neat that as Kristin encountered new races, the readers get a little scoop on what's up and what is a big no no upon interaction. These cultural clashes were interesting. I mean, c'mon:
May the fleas of your ancestors never torment you.Best. Greeting. Ever. I guess you wouldn't understand, though. It's a Leonid thing.
There were moments where I could identify with how Kristin was feeling. Anger, when someone won't give you a chance to explain yourself. Frustration, by feeling like you're in someone else's shadow. Realizing that maybe you just suck at something. And wanting to work hard to overcome a challenge. It's good to be able to connect in some small way. It makes reading the story a lot more tolerable. As Kristin's father would say, "There are positive things to be found in even the worst of situations."
How did I feel about this book once I had completed it?... Dissatisfaction. This book had quirks that left me wanting more, had characters that I chuckled at and said "You're great. I like you", and action that I thought was going to be pretty intense. However, what caused me to not really enjoy it the way I wanted to was the short conflicts, quick resolution to the interstellar conspiracy, and me wanting to know something like "What is Jake Magnuson's story?". It's very minor, the problems I had with this book.
I actually thought that the ending to each chapter, the "Oh! Things are starting to get better!... Hold on. Whoops. Think again" concept was charming. An example of one that I enjoyed immensely was when Jeff and Sergeant Costa stopped U'vox (a pirate) from hurting Kristin and her crew. They had their weapons pointed straight at the enemy, and I was blindsided by this passage:
Any hope I had of being rescued by the Space Corps died with the first words out of Sergeant Costa's mouth. "Don't worry (spoiler character), we'll get you safely out of here."I legit snorted like a pig. Maybe out of context, it wouldn't make sense, but trust me, it was funny.
★★★✩✩
I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
