Weekly Read: Umbra: Sentient Stars by Amber Toro

Did anyone else have a cartoon crush on Zuko from The Last Air Bender? (Later seasons Zuko, with hair and better attitude! Don’t judge!)

Well, if you did, you’re going to be majorly crushing on Hinata, MMC of Amber Toro’s Umbra: Celestial Stars. He’s got the whole “banished prince bent on restoring his honour” bit down pat. Tragic backstory. Hardass attitude.

But he’s also got secret sexy tattoos and undeniable feelings for bad girl FMC Skyla. Feelings he just can’t ignore.

And it’s not just that the MMC reminds me of Zuko. This book brought back major Last Air Bender nostalgia for me in multiple ways. Not in the worldbuilding–it’s a space opera through and through. But Amber Toro really brings out that sense of fun banter, clashing personalities, and growing friendships that you get in the first season of TLAB with the found family crew slowly coming together to work toward the common goal of delivering civilians to safety after a mysterious attack on Hinata’s outpost.

There are three POV’s, so you really get a sense not only of the budding romance between Skyla and Hinata, but also of the painful backstory and current frenemy drama between Skyla and our third POV character, Frejya.

I love how the backstory unfurls as the two young women are pushed to work together while the political scene that drove them apart as children crumbles around them.

Another addition to the mix that gives me major Last Airbender vibes–cool pets.

Skyla comes equipped with an epic wolf-lion sidekick named Fenrir. And as with air bison Appa, this crew’s transportation has its own personality as well, because the starships in this universe are fully sentient. The worldbuilding is really cool and unique in this respect–with a backstory for these sentient ships that goes all the way back to Old Earth. The ships are equipped with regenerative biological components, complex AI systems that allow them to think faster than a human, and a soul-bond to their human captains that allows them to experience joy, fear, and come to a more full understanding of what it means to be truly alive.

Pele, Skyla’s ship, has a funny & sarcastic personality and an agenda of her own. I loved her interactions with Skyla. Sometimes she even got in on forcing Hinata and Skyla together against Skyla’s orders!

This is a short book though, (381 pages/under 10 hours of audio) and with three POV’s, multiple plot threads, and a fairly large supporting cast, there just weren’t enough pages to fully develop the characters and relationships to satisfaction. I didn’t get to know any of these amazing characters quite as much as I would have liked to.

Not to worry though, because Umbra: Celestial Stars ends on a “to be continued” note. It’s clear that this is only the beginning of a larger adventure as the group’s initial goal of bringing civilians to safety expands to much wider-scale goals by the end of the book. Their civilization is on the brink of political collapse, and it’s hinted that heretofore unknown aliens might be involved.

I’m super intrigued to get to know each of these characters more deeply and see how the relationships develop in the next book, set to release later this spring.

And, bonus! There’s rumoured to be spice in the sequel!

I recommend Umbra: Celestial Stars to readers who can’t get enough of the found family trope. And to Zuko fangirls as well! You’ll be rooting for Hinata and Skyla for sure. Binge this one now before the next release!