Tin Star

happypug12 - This was an intense Sci-Fi read. It's like Star Wars, but a less advanced and there's more of a...human nature about everything and everyone, although the humanness of this story is masked by alien forms and names. First off, the first chapter intrigued me and left me puzzled in a good way. Tula speaking up, being beaten, being left for dead, feeling worthless, and feeling her first start of the violently bitter hatred that fuels her through the whole book. I'd say the things that held me back from fully delving into this book were these: Tula, well, I didn't really feel for her. Maybe I lack empathy, but I wasn't feeling as much sympathy as the author intended me to feel. The reason I wasn't sympathizing is because of this blind hatred that consumes her and her actions. Nothing will truly satisfy her until her thirst for Brother Blue's blood is satisfied. It's almost impossible to care for someone who cares for almost no one. Also, this book lacked much-needed description on characters so that I had no clue as to what they look like and I have to guess. The descriptions come too late in the book. As a reader, I shouldn't have to guess what a character looks like! Other than that, this was a really interesting book that passed three years (book-wise) in time very smoothly and has a writing style that is no-nonsense and down to the point. I would recommend to 12 and older, as some of the material would not interest elementary readers and is inappropriate for ages below middle school.

November 18, 2013
In this intergalactic twist on Casablanca, 14-year-old Tula Bane is the lone human on a remote space station after being left for dead by a corrupt cult figure known as Brother Blue. She scrapes by as a trader, dependent on her ability to read body language among a variety of alien species that don’t look too fondly on humans. When three humans arrive on Yertina Feray after escaping their ship, which was supposedly destroyed, Tula learns more about Brother Blue’s deception and begins planning her revenge. Castellucci (The Year of the Beasts) creates a complex, well-drawn world full of political drama and intrigue; her protagonist is equally full-bodied, a tough, smart, and savvy survivor who—after the humans arrive—realizes how much she has been missing (“I had gone hungry at times during my time here, but truly I had been ravenous for touch”). Readers familiar with Casablanca will have fun finding the parallels, but no familiarity with the film is required to enjoy the twists that point toward the planned second installment. Ages 12–up. Agent: Kirby Kim, William Morris Endeavor.

December 1, 2013
Trapped for years on a remote space station, a girl brews revenge. Tula's only 14 when her family's spaceship, headed to a distant planet to set up a human colony, inexplicably docks at a space station called the Yertina Feray. Tula notices that the ship's grain cargo has been unloaded and points this out to the ship's leader, Brother Blue--who, in response, beats Tula brutally and leaves her for dead. He launches the colony ship without her and then departs in another ship. Stunned at learning that her charismatic leader is a sociopathic megalomaniac, and unable to contact any human colonies, Tula represses emotions to focus on survival--even when her family's ship explodes. Constructing an identity as a trader, she barters favors and objects with the Yertina Feray's all-nonhuman population. The desolate station residents yearn for real lives elsewhere, but bitter Tula wants only to kill Brother Blue. Interplanetary politics and revelations are complex but predictable (as are Brother Blue's deceptions and murders). The arrival of three human teens adds romance, friendship and cold manipulation. Castellucci's prose is sometimes awkward, and details are more sketched than explicit, but the last bit is surprisingly rich, as Tula suddenly expands her personal revenge fantasy. The intriguing plot remains emotionally narrow until the ending, which promises a broader scope and interplanetary activism in the next installment. (Science fiction. 13 & up)

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February 1, 2014

Gr 9 Up-This futuristic thriller begins as Tula Bane, 14, and her family are on their way to settle a new human colony on a far-off planet. However, when she starts asking questions during an unexpected pit stop at the Yertina Feray space station, the leader of their cultlike group beats her and leaves her for dead. What she learns when she recuperates is that the ship exploded before reaching its final destination. Earth will not accept her back, leaving her stranded there. The aliens who populate the space station express a strong dislike for humans and offer her no help. Fast forward one year, and Tula now has a thriving business trading items through an alien black market. When three new humans become stranded on Yertina Feray, Tula uncovers the traitorous plans of one of them and uses her to discover the truth behind the man who left her for dead. The space station is a fascinating backdrop for what could be an interesting story. Unfortunately, there are not enough sympathetic protagonists to make one care about the outcome. Tula seems little more than a character sketch and the aliens, described as being physically disgusting, come across simply as grumpy old men. The time lapse between Tula being utterly despised by the aliens and one year later when she has several allies and a thriving business is unrealistic and confusing. Other inconsistencies, such as a human character with no money being described as always wearing cutting-edge alien fashions, further muddle the plot. Overall, the story is disjointed, and the characters are disappointingly shallow.-Sunnie Lovelace, Wallingford Public Library, CT

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2014
Grades 7-10 Castellucci grazed sci-fi with First Day on Earth (2011), but here she embraces the genre in all its alien-and-spaceship glory. Tula Bane is only 14 when her ship of colonists, bound for a distant planet, leaves her behind on the Yertina Feray Space Stationbasically, the ghetto of the universe. She, the station's sole human, is doomed until she encounters the insectile, Fagin-like Heckleck, who teaches her the finer points of being an underground trader. Three years later, three mysterious human travelers arrive at the station and attempt to befriend Tula, but by then she has forgotten Earthly ways and must relearn all those tricky emotions: He was teasing me! And I was enjoying it. Castellucci forgoes complicated world building to focus on the rusty, junky environs of the space station, making this one of the few sci-fi books that can be accurately described as gritty. Despite this, there's a vivaciousness to Tula and the story, which recalls Janet Edwards' Earth Girl (2013). If these are part of a new wave of spry, antidystopian sci-fis, bring em on.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)