Stone in the Sky

by Cecil Castellucci

Story summary: Meh, I'm lazy. It was fun to read this book, but not fun enough to get the energy necessary to write a story summary.  I'm going to use the Goodreads description:
"In this thrilling follow-up to Tin Star, Tula will need to rely on more than just her wits to save her only home in the sky.
After escaping death a second time, Tula Bane is now even thirstier for revenge. She spends much of her time in the Tin Star Café on the Yertina Feray—the space station she calls home. But when it's discovered that the desolate and abandoned planet near the station has high quantities of a precious resource, the once sleepy space station becomes a major player in intergalactic politics. In the spirit of the Gold Rush, aliens from all over the galaxy race to cash in—including Tula's worst enemy."
Sequel to Tin Star.

Why You Will Like This Book:

• Traveling the galaxy! Multitudes of alien species! Even alien romance!
• In other words, it's fun scifi/space opera.

And Why You Might Not:

• It was too short to fit in all that it tried to fit in, and felt a bit too busy and lacking in build-up.
• There was a love triangle I found annoying.

Thoughts: There were some good parts. I enjoyed the parts with Tournour, Handella (not sure how to spell it, but it's the Loor woman), and [spoiler--redacted] especially. But I definitely didn't like this one as much as the first one.* The romance was more bothersome, as there was an honest to goodness love triangle this time around, and it was spread throughout the whole book instead of just a part halfway through. This book also didn't have as much of the introspective feel that the first one had, which I missed. Instead, the scope was greatly widened, as Tula wandered throughout the galaxy, hopping from ship to ship. I often do like it when sequels change the tone from the previous books, and I was actually hoping for that in this book. But unfortunately, I don't think it worked. Too much happened in too small a page-count, and it seemed like it was spread a little thin.

Quick spoilery notes on the romance, which was both my favourite and least favourite aspect (translate using rot13):

V fgvyy terngyl rawblrq gur Ghyn/Gbheabhe ebznapr. Ohg gur jubyr ybir gevnatyr guvat ernyyl naablrq zr. V npghnyyl haqrefgnaq gur ernfba jul vg jnf gurer, nf Ghyn unq gb jbex guebhtu ure srryvatf nobhg uhzna if nyvra ebznapr. Ohg V jvfu fur pbhyq unir qbar vg guebhtu zber vagrenpgvba jvgu Gbheabhe naq zber qvfphffvba ba uhzna/nyvra qvssreraprf, vafgrnq bs "Bu, V svaq Ermn fb nggenpgvir, ohg V xrrc guvaxvat bs Gbheabhe!" Guvf vf na nern jurer vg pbhyq unir hfrq zber vagebfcrpgvba, yvxr gur svefg.

Grade: 2 1/2 stars

* Keep in mind, as always, that this is definitely personal. I read quite a few reviews that liked this one better than the first.