Dreams Bigger Than Heartbreak

300 pages

English language

Published 2022 by Doherty Associates, LLC, Tom.

ISBN:: 978-1-250-31738-4

(1 review)

They'll do anything to be the people they were meant to be — even journey into the heart of evil.

Rachael Townsend is the first artist ever to leave Earth and journey out into the galaxy — but after an encounter with an alien artifact, she can't make art at all.

Elza Monteiro is determined to be the first human to venture inside the Palace of Scented Tears and compete for the chance to become a princess — except that inside the palace, she finds the last person she ever wanted to see again.

Tina Mains is studying at the Royal Space Academy with her friends, but she's not the badass space hero everyone was expecting.

Soon Rachael is journeying into a dark void, Elza is on a deadly spy mission, and Tina is facing an impossible choice that could change all her friends lives forever.

3 editions

enne📚 reviewed Dreams Bigger Than Heartbreak by Charlie Jane Anders (Unstoppable, #2)

Dreams Bigger Than Heartbreak

4 stars

Dreams Bigger Than Heartbreak is the second book in Charlie Jane Anders' Unstoppable YA sf trilogy. This is an incredibly solid second book of a trilogy. (This book is up for a 2023 Lodestar award as part of the Hugo awards.)

I think part of it is that Tina takes a backseat and Rachel and Elza get more of the spotlight. (Aside from the book covers sequentially being one, two, and then three headshots indicating which number of the book it is, this second book cover features Rachel and Elza vs the first book cover showing Tina, which I think is also an indication of the emphasis here.) This book has yet more uncomfortable feelings and processing and relationship renegotiation and grief and trauma.

I honestly enjoyed this book better than the first, because it's thematically very tight. It says it right on the tin, but dreams being bigger than …

Dreams Bigger Than Heartbreak is the second book in Charlie Jane Anders' Unstoppable YA sf trilogy. This is an incredibly solid second book of a trilogy. (This book is up for a 2023 Lodestar award as part of the Hugo awards.)

I think part of it is that Tina takes a backseat and Rachel and Elza get more of the spotlight. (Aside from the book covers sequentially being one, two, and then three headshots indicating which number of the book it is, this second book cover features Rachel and Elza vs the first book cover showing Tina, which I think is also an indication of the emphasis here.) This book has yet more uncomfortable feelings and processing and relationship renegotiation and grief and trauma.

I honestly enjoyed this book better than the first, because it's thematically very tight. It says it right on the tin, but dreams being bigger than heartbreak is woven through everything. There are so many dreams that are crushed (artist, pacifist, princess librarian(!), space diplomat) and everybody has to pick themselves up through heartbreak and keep on keepin' on. There's a large cast of characters and I love how much care and growth each of them get.

Other small points I loved: * princess librarian training had big Gail Carriger's Finishing School series vibes * a disasterous polyam-related conversation * "knowledge is pain" really hits home in the age of doomscrolling, along with "if you know the answer, it becomes your responsibility" feelings * Kez gets to be genderfluid and gets new pronouns every chapter