Honor Bound by Rachel Caine and Ann Aguirre

Summary from Goodreads:

Zara Cole was a thief back on Earth, but she’s been recently upgraded to intergalactic fugitive. On the run after a bloody battle in a covert war that she never expected to be fighting, Zara, her co-pilot Beatriz, and their Leviathan ship Nadim barely escaped the carnage with their lives. Now Zara and her crew of Honors need a safe haven, far from the creatures who want to annihilate them. But with two wounded Leviathan to treat, plus human and non-human refugees to help, they’ll have to settle for the nearest outpost, called the Sliver: a wild, dangerous warren of alien criminals. Zara’s skills from the Zone may be invaluable. However, Zara discovers that the secrets of the Sliver may have the power to turn the tide of the war they left behind—but in the wrong direction. Soon Zara will have to make a choice: stand against the ultimate evil or run from it. But she’s never walked away from a fight.

Honor Bound is the second installment in Rachel Caine and Ann Aguirre’s thrilling and fresh space saga.

Review:

These books are so much fun! I needed a good action-packed sci-fi to keep me out of my reading slump. As I said on Goodreads, “I missed these authors... I feel like this is the Rick Riordan/action-packed/suspense adventure book for the older YA or adult crowd." I did not love it as much as the first installment, but I did find it hard to put down.

Also, it’s one of the rare books that both my fiancé and I were reading at the same time. We were both anticipating its release. And he actually finished it before me, while I got my fourth sinus infection of the season…Ugh. These sinus problems are seriously getting in the way of my reading habits. I have another doctor’s appointment next week where I will talk to a specialist, and hopefully get my sinuses in check. That being said, it was so much fun to have someone to chat about this book with.

Zara is a force in this book. She’s really in her element on the Sliver. Watching her come into her strengths was fascinating for me. I loved how much more of a leader she became here, not just with her crew –but with another crew and some new “friends.” I loved her building relationship with Nadim. And I loved her friendships with everyone. She’s so smart and badass; I wish this was a tv show. She would win the hearts of everyone binge-watching on Netflix.

I liked learning a little bit more about the phage and other aliens. I found the introduction of these god-like aliens to be kind of strange, but also kind of amazing. I want to know so much more. The stakes were raised in this installment. Whole worlds are anhilated, and billions of lives were/are at stake.

That being said, it did seriously have that book 2 feel. It felt like this book was a placeholder for the next one, which I know will be epic. It was a pit-stop on the way to crazy town. Also, I was not a huge fan of an alluded to romantic relationship.  That came out of nowhere for me. I needed more slow-burn, less all of a sudden meant to be shipping…And is it weird that I’m still kind of shipping Zara with Nadim? I also don’t think the summary of the book actually summarizes it. It makes it sound like it all comes down to this big decision for Zara….when in reality, she made up her mind in seconds. There was no question. And this certainly wasn’t a pivotal moment in the story.

All in all, this was a fun, high stakes, action-packed sci-fi adventure. I love the worlds created here. I love the characters. I love the strangeness of it all. It was very hard to put down this book (sinus pain and all). It did feel a little too much like a book 2, and I wished the place-holder vibe wasn’t there. The summary for the book might have been written by someone who has not actually read it...but this isn’t the book’s fault.  I give this a 9/10.