I really like that Akima got her own book and even Stith got a background! I also loved Akima's grandma. It just sucks that the latter wasn't in more of the book. And that outside of Stith and Akima's grandmother, there are no other women in the book.

This book is like the other two prequels. Not that fun of a read and poorly edited. But the story is more interesting than the others (honestly it's the only interesting one). You meet Akima as a teenager and see her growing up and learn about living on a human colony after Earth's destruction and how she learned how to be a pilot and how she met Korso (really didn't endear me to him) and prejudice against humans (which was really poorly constructed; I don't think the authors know a lot about how prejudice works) and why she collects Earth artifacts. And Stith. Who is amazing in so many ways.

I do like that we delve more into Akima as a woman of color (she has Japanese ancestry) and how she grows up in a Muslim home (after a fashion), because of her foster uncle(?). It was also nice to see how the person who sticks out for her didn't stab her in the back or meet a bad end although I really question what happened with that plot because it seemed mysterious and interesting but the film never developed it and these were the only three published books. Maybe they though they would get to develop the universe more with video games and more books and films?

I wouldn't pick this up for a fun read but it's definitely the best of the trio and honestly more of a creative story in many ways than the film. ( )