Honor Among Thieves by Rachel Caine and Ann Aguirre

Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books

Petty criminal Zara Cole has a painful past that’s made her stronger than most, which is why she chose life in New Detroit instead of moving with her family to Mars. In her eyes, living inside a dome isn’t much better than a prison cell. Still, when Zara commits a crime that has her running scared, jail might be exactly where she’s headed. Instead Zara is recruited into the Honors, an elite team of humans selected by the Leviathan—a race of sentient alien ships—to explore the outer reaches of the universe as their passengers. Zara seizes the chance to flee Earth’s dangers, but when she meets Nadim, the alien ship she’s assigned, Zara starts to feel at home for the first time. But nothing could have prepared her for the dark, ominous truths that lurk behind the alluring glitter of starlight.

• Science fiction is a genre that is completely outside of my comfort zone but I knew I just had to read Honor Among Thieves. The author duo, Rachel Caine and Ann Aguirre, behind the book could only amount to greatness. Author of the Morganville Vampire series and the Ink and Bone series, Rachel Caine is one of my all-time favorite authors. Ann Aguirre is the author of the Razorland series which is a dystopian series that will seriously blow your socks right off. With amazing books like this, I had pretty high expectations going in and each and every one of them were met. The writing was seamless. I always wonder how author duos work together to create a magnificent work with one writing style. The writing was fast paced, jumping you right into the story.
• This is set in the future when Leviathans help save humans from extinction only to ask for 100 Honors to travel the universe with them for a year. Especially in the beginning, it felt like a mix of The Hunger Games and Stranger Things. 
• Honor Among Thieves is incredibly visual. The world is vast and sweeping and yet compact and easy to understand. Most of the story takes place on a space ship which also doubles as the Leviathan, a whale-like creature that lives in space. The description for this ship, how it operates, and how the human characters interact with it is so visually stunning and fantastic.
• The characters are unforgettable. Zara’s backstory is believable and downright terrifying, making readers warm up to her quickly. The development of her relationships are so calculated that the characters feel as real as you and me (even the alien ones).

• The world was fantastically detailed. There was minimal information dumping. Instead, readers were treated as if we were inside the story and already knew what happened. In building the world this way, it creates a connection between the story and its readers. 
• The book plays with an awe inspiring notion that there is life beyond our knowledge just waiting to be found. The book also deals with conspiracy theories, government secrets and cover-ups. And it's all up to Zara to uncover the truth of what the Leviathans really want with the human race. Since that seems like a lot to undertake in just one novel, science fiction fans are in luck as Honor Among Thieves is the first in a series. You can bet I will be reading the second, especially after an ending like that. The ending gives you such a book hangover, I'm still reeling from it.