≡ Read HOLD BACK THE STARS Katie Khan 9780857524003 Books

HOLD BACK THE STARS Katie Khan 9780857524003 Books

Download As PDF : HOLD BACK THE STARS Katie Khan 9780857524003 Books

HOLD BACK THE STARS Katie Khan 9780857524003 Books

I read this book off of the recommendation of a friend who thought it was excellent. While I like the storyline in concept, the writing and detail didn't quite deliver for me. For a romance, I never really got swept away, and for a science fiction book, I found the creative detail to be lacking. So I wound up in a grey space feeling 'meh' about the romance and 'meh' about the world in which the characters existed, which I think attributes to my overall 'meh' feeling about this book. The overarching storyline and the chronology in which everything unfolds is brilliant. This could have been a great read if perhaps the author had picked one genre to focus on instead of two.


Tags : HOLD BACK THE STARS [Katie Khan] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Hold Back the Stars,Katie Khan,HOLD BACK THE STARS,Transworld Digital,0857524003

HOLD BACK THE STARS Katie Khan 9780857524003 Books Reviews

A beautiful, tragic love story set amongst the stars.

What a wonderful book! I fell in love with it within minutes of reading about the relationship of Carys and Max. With an interesting premise, you don’t always find that characters are well developed and luckily this book did not fit this traditional mold. I felt like the story was gripping and exciting and the author still found time to make her characters relatable and full of humor. This also isn’t your typical sci-fi, utopian thriller. Really I felt like the sci-fi element took a back seat which will help boost readership by folks who wouldn’t typically pick up a book about space flight and futuristic societies. Even my saying that this book has these elements may turn readers off initially, but let me stress that this book really is a love story that happens to take place in the years ahead and part of it does take place in space. But the futuristic society hardly differs from current times with the exception that they live in a society where many problems have been eradicated. The space element occurs only in that the two main characters are piloting a space craft in order to solve a problem which is threatening the Earth. This isn’t a strange book where we have flying cars in a world where we don’t have jobs and live normal lives. There are no aliens and certainly people still live as we do.
The ups and downs Carys and Max face are challenges many couples face. There are certain restrictions placed on their relationship in that this society has determined that the proper age for marriage is 35, so when Carys and Max fall in love when they are 25ish they cannot legally marry. They can be together, but must wait according to the laws. They face other challenges, but the love they share is stronger than most. I urge my readers to pick this up!
I thought this novel had a wonderful and unique concept. As several others have noted, this is a novel which revolves around a romance. I don't have a problem with that--I like romances! However, it lacks one thing critical to a romance, so it cannot properly be placed in that category. So for those of you who worry you may be accused of reading a romance novel, take a deep breath and relax (joke).

In my opinion, this is most definitely science fiction. It is exploratory and more intellectual than "adventure." I found the science convincing enough not to be a distraction, and there was enough of it to make the story interesting without turning it into a hard science fiction novel.

I must admit I was a bit surprised that this was not young adult or New Adult. I thought the writing was sophisticated, as were the concepts, but the protagonists are young people, with young person concerns. That said, I had no problem appreciating Cary and Max and their dilemma, and I am old. . .

Anyhow, this is an exciting, page-turning read. I happen to like novels that occur in two different times and I have never read anything with this premise--starting a new life to avoid developing attachments. It is clever and well-written and an impressive debut.
Hold Back the Stars by Katie Khan is a romance in a science fiction setting. I accepted a review copy based on the description, but I was bitterly disappointed. This is, above all else, a romance, not science fiction. The universe is unrealistic and the sci-fi elements are laughable. I powered through to the end hoping it would get better, but my opinion of the book just kept plummeting with every chapter. This reads like a YA novel.

The description "Trapped in the vast void of space, Carys and Max have only ninety minutes of oxygen left to live. None of this was supposed to happen. After a freak accident, Carys and Max are left adrift in space with nothing to hold onto but each other. As they fall, they can’t help but look back at the world they left behind. A world whose rules they couldn’t submit to, a place where they never really belonged; a home they’re determined to get back to because they’ve come too far to lose each other now. While their air ticks dangerously low, one is offered the chance of salvation - but who will take it?"

Carys and Max are both annoying characters that I could neither relate to nor muster any sympathy for them. Perhaps if the world building was better I could have overlooked my annoyance, but the world building was worse than the actual "star-crossed lovers." For future reference, please, if you are going to write science fiction... if you are going to set your novel in space... if you are going to have an asteroid field circling the Earth, (if... I could go on) please do research. And don't even get me started on the societal rules that are not logically explained. The poor world-building was not just found in the science fiction bits in space.

Now, if you enjoy romance novels, something I avoid, perhaps this novel will be just fine for you because you can ignore all the parts that I intensely disliked.

Disclosure My review copy was courtesy of Gallery Books.
I found myself more interested in the space scenes than in the flashbacks of their courtship, which seemed overly lengthy and got a bit bogged down in the details, but in the end(s) (that ending!), it was worth it and I grew to care for Carys and Max and their plight. Looking forward to the movie adaptation that was recently announced.
I read this book off of the recommendation of a friend who thought it was excellent. While I like the storyline in concept, the writing and detail didn't quite deliver for me. For a romance, I never really got swept away, and for a science fiction book, I found the creative detail to be lacking. So I wound up in a grey space feeling 'meh' about the romance and 'meh' about the world in which the characters existed, which I think attributes to my overall 'meh' feeling about this book. The overarching storyline and the chronology in which everything unfolds is brilliant. This could have been a great read if perhaps the author had picked one genre to focus on instead of two.