Light Years (book 1) by Kass Morgan (book review).

‘Light Years’ by Kass Morgan is the first book in the ‘Light Years’ series. If you recognise Morgan, she also wrote ‘The 100’ series.

This book revolves around the lives of four cadets just entering the Quartra Fleet Academy, a typically snobby school where youngsters learn the skills needed to decimate their enemies, the Spectres. This year, for the first time, the academy has allowed pupils from all planets within their star system which causes some upset amongst the students. Each of the four main protagonists, Vesper, Cormack, Arran and Orelia, have come to the academy from very different worlds but they have to come together as a team to protect the world. Plus, as might be expected in a YA Science Fiction novel, there is a lot of personal learning and a little bit of romance along the way.

Each of the main characters get chapters from their point of view so, along with learning about the individuals, we also learn about the different planets they come from and some secrets in their pasts. I really did enjoy learning about the different planets and I really hope we get more experience of each of them in later books. For example, the planet Cormack grew up on is called Deva and it’s so toxic everyone has to wear special clothing and breathing apparatus in order to survive. Each character has their own personal reasons for coming to the academy and they’re not all quite as you would guess. There are the obvious ones like wanting to escape a horrifying life on a dying planet, but some are a little more interesting.

This book felt a lot like a cross between some kind of magic school and the ‘Illuminae Files’ by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff. We get lots of descriptions of the students going from class to class and learning the skills they need. In fact, a lot of this book felt like we were learning about the individuals involved and their skills so that we would have that knowledge for the next book, very much a set up for book 2.

If I’m honest, not a lot happens in the majority of the book. There is some excitement at the end but mostly we’re bonding with the protagonists and learning about the world they live in. Having said that, it is still a compelling read just due to the characters, I wanted to know what was going to be revealed next. As is usual, when there are multiple pov, some were more enjoyable than others. Some I found a little too angsty for my taste, but then this is traditional in a YA novel. On the whole, though, each of the characters was different enough and had enough about them to interest me, I definitely did not skip past anyone as I was reading.

Overall, this was an interesting and quick read, I’m looking forward to reading more from this series.

Sarah Bruch

April 2021

(pub: Hodder & Stoughton, 2018. 384 page paperback. Price: £ 7.99 (UK). ISBN: 978-1-47366-339-8)

check out website: www.hodder.co.uk