Reviews

These Burning Stars by Bethany Jacobs

blumbo's review

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

cortasty's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

pvbobrien's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

dragongurrl's review against another edition

Just not really hooked. The beginning starting with children dancing turned fighting is just weird. Idk I’m starting to think sci-fi isn’t fully for me

skylar2's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

charlotteaimee14's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Sexual assault

archaeomancer's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

fictionalwanderer's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

fawvera's review

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

hunterkat's review

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

These Burning Stars 4/5
This book surprised me. What at first seemed like a fairly generic space opera turned into a layer of twists and turns that, despite a few being fairly predictable, were still surprising. There’s always another secret… true in Mistborn, and true in this book. I can’t say I absolutely loved it- I thought two of the viewpoint characters were fascinating, and I loved the flashback chapters. But I couldn’t connect to one character very well and felt her chapters were a bit of a drag. Overall, the characters are strong, the plot is twisty, and the prose is pretty good. Unfortunately, some of the worldbuilding felt just a *little* lacking, for one example that really stuck out to me- the gender system  only seeming to have she/he/they while still being very progressive. I also wish a little more time had been devoted to the religious side of the world building. But overall a solid book and I’ll be reading the sequels