Josh and Tracey, and all the Adams Literary Team—we couldn’t do you justice with pages and pages. We couldn’t do this crazy thing without you, and we wouldn’t want to. You are our rocks. Thank you.
To the many wonderful people at Hyperion we’ve had the chance to meet, as well as those we haven’t, who work so hard in every department, our heartfelt thanks. Emily Meehan and Laura Schreiber, thank you for all the time and effort you’ve put into making This Shattered World the best it can be. Jamie Baker, thank you for going above and beyond! To Kate Hurley, our copy editor, thank you for putting up with our irrational love of em-dashes and commas. Whitney Manger, thank you for another incredible cover.
To the wonderful Allen & Unwin team, as if one home wasn’t enough, you gave us a second. Thank you so much for welcoming us into the family! We brought cake.
To the wonderful readers, booksellers, librarians, reviewers, and bloggers we’ve met since the launch of These Broken Stars, thank you for your support. It’s been a privilege to meet and correspond with so many of you.
To our friends, who are always patient, always supportive, and often slightly amused—lots of love. To our wonderful support networks: the Chocolate Lounge girls, the Roti Boti ladies, the FOS crew, the Plot Bunnies, the Pub(lishing) Crawl gang, the League, the Luckies, the TJ/NoVA crew—we couldn’t get by without you.
As much love as ever to Michelle Dennis, for reading, and reading again, and always being there. To Kim Nguyen, thank you for all your design magic, as well as your treasured friendship. Thank you to dear friends Kat Zhang, Olivia Davis, Marie Lu, Beth Revis, Marion Cole, and Jay Kristoff for critique, support, and too much awesome to be confined to one page.
As always, our families are at the heart of it all. Thank you for your love and support, which mean the world to us (and for telling everyone you know to read our books). Our storytelling began with the books you gave us, the stories you told us, and the games we played with you.
Brendan, whether you’re reading one more time, listening to one more slightly disturbing video call about death and destruction, or doing any one of the thousand things you handle with such grace, calm, and good cheer—thank you doesn’t cover it. You are the reason this book is out in the world.
And finally, reader, our heartfelt thanks to you, for joining us in the worlds we love to build. We hope you enjoyed Avon…and we’ll see you on Corinth!
Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner are longtime friends and sometime flatmates who have traveled the world (but not yet the galaxy), covering every continent between them. They are sure outer space is only a matter of time. Meagan, who is also the author of the Skylark trilogy, currently lives in Asheville, North Carolina, while Amie lives in Melbourne, Australia. Although they currently live apart, they are united by their love of space opera, road trips, and second breakfasts. You can find them on Twitter at @AmieKaufman and @MeaganSpooner.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Contents
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Acknowledgments
About the Author