Zara Cole lives in The Lower Eight, far from the bright and shiny of Paradise, living the life she chose and following the laws of the streets. Her life is a challenging but simple one - steal enough to survive the streets, don't rat out her fellow residents, and escape if she is sent to a rehabilitation facility. It isn't an easy life, but it's the one she chose, staying on Earth while her mother and sister moved to Mars. When Zara steals from the wrong mark she discovers that her life in The Lower Eight isn't as secure as she thought. Running from a powerful player who wants what she took, Zara runs to the only place she thinks she will be safe - but safety is an illusion when money and power can get you anything you want.
Her salvation is a complete surprise - Zara is chosen as one of the Honors, the people chosen to travel the stars for one year in the company of a Leviathan. For many on Earth the Leviathan are saviours, swooping in to save the Earth when it was on the brink of collapse, sharing their knowledge and asking for very little in return. Accepting the offer to join the Honors programme is a no brainer for Zara, if she doesn't accept then she won't last long, but the programme is not without it's own risks.
Zara and one of her fellow Honors, Beatriz, are partnered with Nadim, a Leviathan who is facing his own challenges, and from the start it appears that they are a good match - although in the eyes of the elder Leviatthan that would be debatable. As Zara and Beatriz learn more about each other and Nadim Zara starts to relax and feel at home, an unsettling feeling for someone who distrusts everyone. This journey will test Zara, Beatriz and Nadim and push them all to their limits, and when they discover the truth about the Honors programme it will change their lives forever.
Honor among thieves is a deftly written and thoroughly engrossing science fiction novel that may be aimed at teenagers, but has a much wider appeal. Zara is a strong character, pushing against the "establishment" but it isn't a mindless rebellion, and as we learn more about her across the course of the story we come to realise why she is the way she is - and it feels "right". Balancing the story of Zara is the story of Nadim, a story that runs parallel and equally - he may be a ship, but he is also a fully developed character in his own right which makes the story more engaging and more real. The other characters who make up the cast of the story has their own voices that weave together to make a completely believable whole. The only real drawback for me is that now I have to wait for the next book in the series to see what happens next because the ending was ... wow.
If you like this book then try:
- The Jewel by Amy Ewing
- Wither by Lauren DeStefano
- The hunger games by Suzanne Collins
- Renegade by J.A. Souders
- Adaptation by Melinda Lo
- The forest of hands and teeth by Carrie Ryan
- XVI by Julia Karr
- The 100 by Kass Morgan
- Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
- The testing by Joelle Charbonneau
- Proxy by Alex London
- Article 5 by Kristen Simmons
- In the after by Demitria Lunetta
- ACID by Emma Pass
- Reboot by Amy Tintera
- What's left of me by Kat Zhang
Reviewed by Brilla
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