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i_will_papercut_a_bish's review against another edition
4.0
My one dearest wish is that I could transform the entire book to read from Myrtle's hilarious voice. This was such an imaginative and witty science fiction/steampunk read, and I regret only that it wasn't longer.
elusivesue's review against another edition
5.0
Another book sucked up during the beach weekend, although I totally would have screamed through this any other place at most other times, because it's a rollicking good tale. Any book that combines a being called a MOOB, which just makes you want to say Moob! all the time, knitting by small beings who want to be paid in wool, space, steampunk, the seaside (so it was apropo for this weekend), and witty character banter - well, the five stars are worth it.
bronzeageholly's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Classism, Colonisation, and Kidnapping
abigailbat's review against another edition
4.0
This delightful book is the sequel to Larklight. Set in an alternate history where Sir Isaac Newton discovered the secret to space travel, the Mumby family is going on holiday. After seeing an ad for a beachside hotel called Starcross, they decide to spend a few weeks there, but when they arrive things are strange from the start. First of all, there doesn't seem to be any beach (although they are reassured that it will appear in about 12 hours or so). Secondly, Art Mumby sees something outside his room: a strange black creature that says "Moob!" Both of these strange things will be very significant as the Mumby's and their friends are thrust into a space adventure.
Funny and fast-paced, I loved Starcross even more than Larklight! This is not your typical fantasy series and I hope there will be many more to come.
Funny and fast-paced, I loved Starcross even more than Larklight! This is not your typical fantasy series and I hope there will be many more to come.
monicakessler's review against another edition
5.0
A very good, well written children's book. I was a little more gripped than the first in the series. Not quite perfect but pretty close! Loved Art's mother's character more in this book and her necessity to the plot, but don't like that her name has changed from Amelia to Emily throughout the series... proofread!
4.5* for delightful Moobs.
4.5* for delightful Moobs.
ceridwyn's review against another edition
4.0
Philip Reeve has such amazing world building skills and I adore the way his characters and universe from Larklight are used in this - nice changes and treatment. Although I enjoyed this a lot it was better plotted than Larklight but not quite as have-to-turn-the-page-or-i-will-explode-ish.
So much fun though!
So much fun though!
nerfherder86's review against another edition
4.0
The second entry in this series is just as much fun as the first! When Art and his mom and sister are invited to vacation at Starcross, the resort asteroid, odd things start to happen--like time-travel! And talking top hats! And our pirate friend Jack Havock returns, with his motley crew of aliens. Will Art and Myrtle survive their latest adventures in the "aether"? Tune in to find out...
cel1a's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
crowyhead's review against another edition
4.0
I adored Larklight, and this sequel is also very good. Reeve keeps up the tongue-in-cheek steampunk feel, although overall I didn't find it to be quite as witty as the first. In this outing, Art Mumby, his sister Myrtle, and their mother are inadventently caught up in international (and intergalactic) intrigue when they accept an invitation to the asteroid resort Starcross, which turns out to be more than it first appears.
chloroform_tea's review against another edition
3.0
Like many sequels to inventive, unexpected or wonderful things, Starcross has the problem of how to follow up the success of its predecessor. Because Larklight really was wonderful… but a lot of the wonderful came precisely from it being unexpected. And how can you really replicate that in a sequel? Either you maintain the things that were excellent in the first one, and so retain the appeal but without the surprise (the problem with Red Seas Under Red Skies, in my opinion), or you try to go in a new direction, and risk it being vastly inferior (as in Children of God, where that risk was successfully avoided). Reeve has obviously chosen the first option. And while there’s nothing wrong with Starcross, because it’s not as shiny and wonderful and new as the first one, I couldn’t help but be a touch disappointed.
If anything, the problem is that Starcross is too perfect a replica of the recipe for excellence in Larklight. While the story of course is not the same, a lot of the elements, both aesthetic and narrative, are so very very similar that I find myself with very little to discuss about it. Because it does all the wonderful, clever and right things that Larklight does… but which I’ve already talked about once and don’t fancy repeating myself about at you. I’m not suggesting that I didn’t enjoy reading it – Larklight was a wonderful, brilliant book and by following the same pattern, so is Starcross, and I would happily say that I loved it too. I didn’t want to put it down. I laughed aloud (or groaned) at some of the jokes. I spent several minutes staring at the endpapers (which are again covered in mock advertisements appropriate to the setting). But it’s not much of a different book to Larklight. So what is there really to say?
I suppose the only major difference is the handling of the romance plot between Myrtle and Jack… and to some extent the handling of Myrtle herself. Reeve introduces the necessary turmoil phase of their relationship, and they spend much of the book in separate places, or slightly at odds. The narrator (Art) also becomes much less oblivious of their emotions, since that conceit wouldn’t really work a second time around. And I guess this is one of the problems – watching Art be clueless as he narrated Myrtle/Jack was rather amusing, and now that aspect is no longer a joke at the narrator, it’s just not funny anymore. On the other hand, much of what bothered me in the first book was the portrayal of Myrtle (however self-mocking it was), and so her progression to become a slightly more autonomous character is very satisfying indeed. It’s not a huge step forward, but it is a step, and a welcome one… though once again, this undermines a lot of the narrator’s jokes about her and her uselessness.
Another thing I found interesting about Starcross was the choice of bad guy. Something I often find… if not uncomfortable then certainly awkward in fiction is choosing real life “bad guys” and then either using them straight off in the fictional world, or making such an obvious pastiche that you may as well be. However well it’s done, for one thing, it’s going to date (and probably badly). And even in the moment it’s just… nyrrr. If you pick the antagonist du jour… you wander into making real statements of ethics or politics and… that can be problematic stuff. But Starcross is set in the pseudo-past… and sufficiently far in the pseudo-past that the antagonist they picked is, well, the French. And I don’t know if it’s years of e.g. Shakespeare, or just it’s such an old trope that it doesn’t have any force anymore, but it doesn’t bother me at all. It doesn’t feel iffy or awkward, and it just… works. And the narrator can get away with being ridiculous and dismissive and talking rot about them because… well… there’s no substance to it as a political thing. It’s real enough to be appropriate and amusing, but not enough to have any negative force anymore. It’s great.
Like many second books of trilogies, Starcross feels like a slightly wobbly in-between step. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Mothstorm (*shudder*) is stunning and wondrous again, and entirely due to the character set-up that Starcross may have done without me noticing. But until I find that out, Starcross remains slightly inferior to what went before, and thus slightly disappointing. Still a good book, by all accounts. Still a wonderful, gripping, fun book that I really, really couldn’t put down. But not as good.
Oh, and one more very important comment. At one point, the story describes the flying pig-creatures (hoverhogs) wearing tiny top hats. But the illustrator has not deemed it necessary to depict this CLEARLY GLORIOUS SIGHT. I am deeply aggrieved.
If anything, the problem is that Starcross is too perfect a replica of the recipe for excellence in Larklight. While the story of course is not the same, a lot of the elements, both aesthetic and narrative, are so very very similar that I find myself with very little to discuss about it. Because it does all the wonderful, clever and right things that Larklight does… but which I’ve already talked about once and don’t fancy repeating myself about at you. I’m not suggesting that I didn’t enjoy reading it – Larklight was a wonderful, brilliant book and by following the same pattern, so is Starcross, and I would happily say that I loved it too. I didn’t want to put it down. I laughed aloud (or groaned) at some of the jokes. I spent several minutes staring at the endpapers (which are again covered in mock advertisements appropriate to the setting). But it’s not much of a different book to Larklight. So what is there really to say?
I suppose the only major difference is the handling of the romance plot between Myrtle and Jack… and to some extent the handling of Myrtle herself. Reeve introduces the necessary turmoil phase of their relationship, and they spend much of the book in separate places, or slightly at odds. The narrator (Art) also becomes much less oblivious of their emotions, since that conceit wouldn’t really work a second time around. And I guess this is one of the problems – watching Art be clueless as he narrated Myrtle/Jack was rather amusing, and now that aspect is no longer a joke at the narrator, it’s just not funny anymore. On the other hand, much of what bothered me in the first book was the portrayal of Myrtle (however self-mocking it was), and so her progression to become a slightly more autonomous character is very satisfying indeed. It’s not a huge step forward, but it is a step, and a welcome one… though once again, this undermines a lot of the narrator’s jokes about her and her uselessness.
Another thing I found interesting about Starcross was the choice of bad guy. Something I often find… if not uncomfortable then certainly awkward in fiction is choosing real life “bad guys” and then either using them straight off in the fictional world, or making such an obvious pastiche that you may as well be. However well it’s done, for one thing, it’s going to date (and probably badly). And even in the moment it’s just… nyrrr. If you pick the antagonist du jour… you wander into making real statements of ethics or politics and… that can be problematic stuff. But Starcross is set in the pseudo-past… and sufficiently far in the pseudo-past that the antagonist they picked is, well, the French. And I don’t know if it’s years of e.g. Shakespeare, or just it’s such an old trope that it doesn’t have any force anymore, but it doesn’t bother me at all. It doesn’t feel iffy or awkward, and it just… works. And the narrator can get away with being ridiculous and dismissive and talking rot about them because… well… there’s no substance to it as a political thing. It’s real enough to be appropriate and amusing, but not enough to have any negative force anymore. It’s great.
Like many second books of trilogies, Starcross feels like a slightly wobbly in-between step. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Mothstorm (*shudder*) is stunning and wondrous again, and entirely due to the character set-up that Starcross may have done without me noticing. But until I find that out, Starcross remains slightly inferior to what went before, and thus slightly disappointing. Still a good book, by all accounts. Still a wonderful, gripping, fun book that I really, really couldn’t put down. But not as good.
Oh, and one more very important comment. At one point, the story describes the flying pig-creatures (hoverhogs) wearing tiny top hats. But the illustrator has not deemed it necessary to depict this CLEARLY GLORIOUS SIGHT. I am deeply aggrieved.