#bookreview: Half Worlder by Lee Falin

Half Worlder by Lee Falin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Half Worlder is another coming of age story written in first person in a glutted market. That fact alone takes away a couple of stars. I'm not a huge fan of first person narratives, but Lee Falin pretty much makes it work okay. At least the asides were useful and interesting in a snarky kind of way.

Kristin Magnuson, the first Earthling selected to serve as a Youth Ambassador ("YA") in over fifty years, is actually only half human - her mother is a Centauri, a race of green-skinned aliens who have natural telepathic abilities. If the stress and awkwardness of being a half-worlder who never quite fit in wasn't enough, her mother is a prominent diplomat, and her father is a famous war hero. Her hoped-for anonymity at the YA training program is dashed when the Senior Trainee assigned to her group apparently decides to hate her on sight, making life on Vespa Prime even more difficult.

Just when she's almost settled in however (okay, 60% or more into the book), she and her friends are taken hostage by space pirates and find themselves embroiled in a crazy interstellar conspiracy.

I suppose I like the way Lee built up the world with the different kinds of unique alien species, each with their specific quirks. The camaraderie between Kristin and her group mates Gabriana, Torvox and Porter are a pleasure to read and feel very realistic. As far as the plot goes, it's okay, but it does feel rather rushed in the end. So much story telling went into the school part of the story and building up the characters, that the should-be-exciting space pirate part seemed a wee bit too short and shallow.

[Why does the book have discussion questions? lol]

I received a free copy of this ebook from Ebooksforreview.com in exchange for an honest review.

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