Terraformer | Review

Terraformer Published by Colleen Houck by Colleen Houck
on May 12, 2020
Genres: Dystopian, Fantasy, Romance, Science Fiction, Space, YA
Pages: 536
Source: Netgalley
Format: ARC, eBook
Find the Author: Website, Blog, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube
Also by this author: Tiger's Curse , Tiger's Dream , The Lantern's Ember
Find the Book: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Rating:

A new dystopian sci-fi YA series from the New York Times bestselling author Colleen Houck
Warning all Astronauts:COLONY BOUNDARY WARNING!PERMISSION TO ENTER ALIEN FOREST IS REQUIREDNOTE: NO RESCUE ATTEMPTS WILL BE MADE
In the future, a terraforming ship lands on a perfectly green planet. Two perfect young men, one a budding colony leader, the other an engineer, compete for the affection of one perfect young woman training as a botanist. The only problem? She’s not perfect. Astra has a secret. A big one. And someone or some thing just maybe trying to kill her for it...
Deadly toxins can be hidden inside the most beautiful flowers.
That's what Astra Meador's famous biophysicist mother taught her.
As her mother's apprentice, Astra has developed skills in botany, chemistry, medicine, and, most importantly, in keeping secrets.
In fact keeping Astra's secret was the reason her family decided to leave the Earth and join a terraforming mission to colonize a distant planet called Crillain IV. But when Astra wakes early from hypersleep, she discovers that her mother never made it onboard, her father died in transit and his body has been ejected from the ship, and she suspects that she's not the only one awake.
When the ship finally lands and she's reunited with her brother, Nash, Astra hopes to settle into a new life, especially when she meets the charming young engineer, Jax, and is recruited by the mission commander to train alongside his handsome son to be a future leader of the small colony.
Then Astra learns that she's not the only one with a dark secret.
As both young men contend for her affection, Astra searches for answers, trying to determine who to trust. But with theft and murder occurring in the colony along with the sudden disappearance of her beloved brother, Astra can't listen to the whisperings of her heart, especially when someone or something else on the planet is whispering to her mind even louder.

Colleen Houck will always be one of my top 5 favorite authors. Hands down, I believe her stories–especially the Tiger Saga– are masterpieces on the romance front. She is brilliant at making you love the main couples in her series. And, what’s more, her love triangles usually leave you feeling, at least slightly, conflicted.

With Terraformer, however, I just wasn’t as moved. I’ve read all of her books, so I was expecting to love this one. And while, I still found it a good read, I didn’t love it as much as her others.

The concept, like all her others, was intriguing and incredibly promising. I just had a difficult time in some places–like I had to power through. And that’s not the norm for me, usually, with Houck’s work.

Let me just say though, that I stand by the fact that she is a wonderful writer. I just think that maybe this wasn’t the story for me. I think it was my connection with the characters that left me feeling a little underwhelmed.

 

 

Related Posts