Release Date: January 2, 2013
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Page Count: 425
Format: ebook
Eighteen-year-old Jaden Beckett has thirty days to make the ultimate decision about her destiny. Which path will she choose? Her current life with her loving family in Connecticut? An alternate life in an intriguing parallel world with the man she loves? Or the astonishing life of a multi-universe Transcender?
In Streaming Stars, Book 2 of the Transcender Trilogy, Jaden and her mentor, Agent Ralston, return to Domerica, where she reunites with her mother and her fiancé, Ryder Blackthorn, embarks upon fantastic Transcender adventures in exotic parallel worlds, and narrowly escapes a hit squad of Black Knights.In the end, Jaden’s decision is anything but simple.
Streaming Stars was, at least in my opinion, the zenith of the Transcender trilogy in both quality of writing and plot of the trilogy. The writing, characters, plot, basically almost every aspect of Transcender was improved in this sequel and is the closest the trilogy has gotten to five stars.
While the world-building in Transcender was a hit and miss, that was somewhat improved in Streaming Stars. Locations introduced in the first books were elaborated on and additional settings relating to the Transcenders and alternate universes were added. I wouldn't call the quality of writing in these new locations amazing but it was fairly good. The advancement of the plot didn't hurt the world building either as it allowed them to fit in better compared to before. One complaint that I did have is that the author only focuses on Domerica and never shows us the other domes. Even a small glimpse into the lives of the citizens or a scene or two from them would have been nice. Vicky Savage definitely improves the settings from Transcender but still falls short of the top notch quality and variety required to be considered one of the best books.
The characters in Streaming Stars was mostly the same from the first book with an addition or two, but nothing major. The quality of the characters stayed mostly the same with some slight improvements as Jaden faces new problems and has to seek solutions and answers. The romance was once again overwhelming, even going as far as to overshadow the other important aspects of the book. Despite the love between Jaden and Ryder being important, its not so important that almost every chapter should have some romance. Streaming Stars still has a fair way to go in improving its characters but Vicky Savage is leading it, albeit very slowly, in the right direction.
Self-published books make up a veeeeery small portion of my yearly reading schedule and the Transcender trilogy is one of the very few books that make that qualification. However, despite making it into that small list the quality in writing compared to the normal books I read is apparent. If Vicky wants to keep up with the juggernauts of the writing industry she will have to continue improving and even that at a faster rate. Streaming Stars might be a good pick for people who like alternate universes, romance, and self-published books.
4/5 - Fairly good book
No comments:
Post a Comment