Honor Among Thieves (The Honors #1) by Rachel Caine, Ann Aguirre

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 out of 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

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.

I went into this book knowing that Ann Aguirre co-authored this. I didn't need to know anything else. She hasn't written a book that I didn’t like yet. 
It was filled with tension. I was asking myself questions the entire way through. I found, like Zara, that I didn't trust anyone or anything that I was told. I wanted answers just like her. What's the real purpose of the program? Why was Zara picked over other candidates? Will everyone survive? It's hard to know who is telling the truth and what information is being kept from the honors as well as the public. The authors leave a trail if breadcrumbs for the reader to follow and try to piece together what is going on. 
I loved the concept of a sentient alien spaceship! Nadim was a character all on his own. There were times when I forgot that he was a ship because he feels and knows so much. He and Zara are alike in a lot of ways but also different from each other. He is very open with his feelings and thoughts whereas she is guarded and protects herself using sarcasm and anger as a shield. It made for an interesting dynamic between the two of them. The authors did a great job with the rest of the characters as well even though they were only side characters. I think that readers may think that they are not fleshed out enough but I thought that a certain amount of mystery surrounding their backgrounds was an appropriate decision. 
That cliffhanger is going to haunt me until the next book comes out next year. Overall, I have to say that this was a fantastic beginning to the series and I look forward to reading more.