Reviews - Stardust in their Veins

242 reviews for:

Stardust in their Veins

Laura Sebastian

4.1 AVERAGE

kaiyah's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous dark mysterious sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I loved this book so much! I didn’t like how my favorite character wasn’t in it(for reasons) but I loved seeing all the after texts of what happened in book 1.

misskatie's review against another edition

4.0

3.5 ⭐️ not as heavy hitting as the first book, but still a fun follow up in the series

elmtreebooks's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This series is fun, but like the first, I finished it wishing I had waited for the trilogy to be complete to binge it all at once. It moves quickly, and progresses the story well, but once again leaves you hanging without a story resolution. I’ll definitely grab book 3 through.
Compared to book one, Violet’s POV was less interesting than Soph but overall, I still enjoy the quick chapters and multiple POV.

Spoilers for myself for when I’m returning to the series for book 3 and trying to remember what the heck happened at the end of book 2:

in Friv, Daphne and Bairre have just gotten married for real, after two failed attempts. Viole attempted to kill Leo’s mom Queen Eugenia, but failed and was caught. Leo and Daph pretend Viole is actually Sophie and she survived the attack, and are successful. The rebel leader Lord Pad is now working with/ using Daphnes popularity.
In Bessemia, Beatrix and her husband Pasquale, his lover Ambrose, and their enemy who has betrayed them multiple times, Giselle, are trying to escape to Friv to meet up with Daphne. Giselle betrays them because of course she does?? Huge plot hole in my option — and held the empress with her plan. Her plan is for a drugged Trix to wake up in Cellaria and be part of a star crossed lovers plot line with Nicolo and to murder Pasquale. And then get murdered themselves. This is dumb bc Nico isn’t even popular as a king? And has already smeared Beatriz’s name?? Other notes: Beatriz killed Nigellus because he was going to wish her powers away so she doesn’t cause some dark prophecy to come true. Aurelia , empyrean and Bairres mother in Friv , also wants all the sisters dead and things they’re a crime against the stars. She’s also the one behind kidnapping Leo’s little brothers, who have been sent safe to an island that doesn’t matter to the plot, literally just like Lord Savallen. Beatriz is magic but stars she uses return to the sky and using magic makes her sick. The previous empress who is a nun now helped Beatrix almost escape by telling her about a tunnel. The book ends with empress Margaux knowing daphne has betrayed her, admitting to hiring the Friv assassins, admiring her murder plot for triz, and laughing about Sophie returning from the dead.

sing1133's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

rosemaryandrue's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous dark emotional 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

SPOILER WARNING: Major spoilers for Castles in Their Bones, the first book in the series.

Raised to be weapons for their mother to use against neighboring kingdoms, triplet princesses Daphne, Beatriz, and Sophronia have lost their faith in the plan – and in the end, Sophronia lost her life. Beatriz and Daphne might have a chance still, but only if they can unite forces.

Castles in Their Bones ended with such a twist that I found myself in shock, unable to believe that what I had read had actually happened – so of course I immediately had to read the sequel, at the very least to find out how Beatriz and Daphne would react to their sister’s death and the revelation that their mother had always been lying to them.

Though Sophronia, my favorite character, is gone, the introduction of Violie as the third narrator and the progression of Beatriz and Daphne’s character arcs and how they are shaped by their grief over Sophronia’s death kept me invested.

I was surprised and pleased by the direction that the plot progressed and how characters from different storylines began to link up and affect each other. It was also interesting to learn more about the magic system alongside Beatriz, as the author filled in a lot of gaps that are elided over in the first book, as well as hinting at broader problems beyond the political ones with Empress Margaraux.

However, this book definitely suffers from second book syndrome. We get characters moving around a lot and a fair amount of plotting and intriguing on the part of our heroines, but plot towards the middle of the book especially becomes slightly threadbare. I am very excited for how things are set-up for the third book, but I could have done with more action in this one! I also felt that secondary characters rather faded into the background, especially Pasquale and Ambrose who are mostly around to provide support to Beatriz and do little else.

Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.

Content Warnings