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embee007's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.5
“Do you really believe the curse isn’t real? That the divine never touches you? That the wheeling cosmos is but an abstract of chemicals? Do you not hear the stars sing, little dreamer?”
The proooooose 😍
"She is glory. She is devastation. And she is hungry."
If you loved the imagery of The Starless Sea or wished The Starless Sea had a plot? This is the book for you.
"What joy it will bring us to see you undone."
This was a cover buy, & I have zero regrets, but ½ a point off because I once again fell into the quicksand trap of a gothic book & took nearly a week to read it 🫠
"From nothing, to nothing.”
The proooooose 😍
"She is glory. She is devastation. And she is hungry."
If you loved the imagery of The Starless Sea or wished The Starless Sea had a plot? This is the book for you.
"What joy it will bring us to see you undone."
This was a cover buy, & I have zero regrets, but ½ a point off because I once again fell into the quicksand trap of a gothic book & took nearly a week to read it 🫠
"From nothing, to nothing.”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, and Abandonment
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
carrykyrie's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
reflective
tense
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Violence, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Kidnapping and Fire/Fire injury
mirificmoxie's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Child death, Torture, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Confinement, Sexual content, Kidnapping, and Abandonment
bookcaptivated's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Abandonment
Moderate: Child death, Torture, and Kidnapping
Minor: Vomit
cassimiranda's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
I received an eARC of this book for review from Redhook Books via NetGalley, all opinions are my own.
This isn't for me. Summers writes an interesting and complex world using beautiful prose. Unfortunately, that world ends up feeling like a sparsely populated open world video game - pretty at the surface level but no real depth or life. The real disappointment for me was the distanced writing style which offered no chance to connect with really understand the characters. There was also the repeated tendency to summarize large chunks of time in breezy paragraphs that give the reader no real sense of character development. I saw it compared to The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and Practical Magic, and I agree. If you like either those two books, give this one a chance.
This isn't for me. Summers writes an interesting and complex world using beautiful prose. Unfortunately, that world ends up feeling like a sparsely populated open world video game - pretty at the surface level but no real depth or life. The real disappointment for me was the distanced writing style which offered no chance to connect with really understand the characters. There was also the repeated tendency to summarize large chunks of time in breezy paragraphs that give the reader no real sense of character development. I saw it compared to The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and Practical Magic, and I agree. If you like either those two books, give this one a chance.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, and Gaslighting
viivacious's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
2.0
It is so intentionally vague. Like it was trying for interesting and mysterious but it ended up being annoying instead.
It's hard to engage emotionally with the writing because it feels like we don't really know the characters. Violet is always on the move yet it still feels like nothing is happening. The world feels barely built, Violet doesn't enter this world of x and y described until 40% in, and even then it's mostly vaguely describing her going places. Even if what happens was relevant, the writing is so vague it makes it feel completely irrelevant and like a waste of time.
It gets better when the main characters interact or are in conflict with each other, but they are barely near each other until 80% into the book, and it improves after that point.
The way the story progresses feels like instead of finding out things with Violet, when we reach a certain percentage we get deemed worthy to unlock a bit of the backstory. And most of the time its something most characters already knew but was kept vague from us.
Sometimes it feels there was so much going on that nothing had time to develop properly so everything was half assed instead.
Aleksander and Violet had so little on page time together before 80% that we just get told there are feelings in narration and see almost none of it.
It was a bit derivative. And for all this talk of traveling to other worlds we never really get to see any of them. Some character vaguely travel them at the end but we don't see any of it, which is a shame.
Also, there is a lot of children being harmed here, but as everything, it's done vaguely. If still, if a problem proceed with caution.
Lots of children and babies being stolen to be used as sacrifices and Aleksander being raised abusively .
It's hard to engage emotionally with the writing because it feels like we don't really know the characters. Violet is always on the move yet it still feels like nothing is happening. The world feels barely built, Violet doesn't enter this world of x and y described until 40% in, and even then it's mostly vaguely describing her going places. Even if what happens was relevant, the writing is so vague it makes it feel completely irrelevant and like a waste of time.
It gets better when the main characters interact or are in conflict with each other, but they are barely near each other until 80% into the book, and it improves after that point.
The way the story progresses feels like instead of finding out things with Violet, when we reach a certain percentage we get deemed worthy to unlock a bit of the backstory. And most of the time its something most characters already knew but was kept vague from us.
Sometimes it feels there was so much going on that nothing had time to develop properly so everything was half assed instead.
Aleksander and Violet had so little on page time together before 80% that we just get told there are feelings in narration and see almost none of it.
It was a bit derivative. And for all this talk of traveling to other worlds we never really get to see any of them. Some character vaguely travel them at the end but we don't see any of it, which is a shame.
Also, there is a lot of children being harmed here, but as everything, it's done vaguely. If still, if a problem proceed with caution.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse and Blood
Minor: Child death and Abandonment
jenellereads's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
I just kept waiting for something to happen. And waiting. And waiting. And waiting. Then it did. And it was anticlimactic.
Somehow I was both gripped and bored. And I have so many questions. Why do we get no closure about Marianne? What is the point of the scholars? What do they do?
My big thought for this book was “everything could’ve been avoided if…” because there was no fantastic, powerful, dynamic ending that left me satisfied. It just…ended.
And then I realized why.
The characters.
They are so flat and impossible to connect with. I’m not sure where or why I thought this had a romance aspect but don’t be misled, it does not. And romance aside (or lack there of), the characters had no personalities. Violet had the basic tenets of a fantasy FMC: brave, stubborn, curious. But so does my toddler’s Llama Llama red pajama book. And Aleksander, gosh. COWARD. Spineless, useless MMC. Kick him to the curb.
I did enjoy the CONCEPT, not plot, but concept. I felt like the idea was there and just poorly executed. The whole book left me curious and wanting more which is why I gave it 2 stars (it was going to be 3) but just ultimately unsatisfied at the end.
Also. GOSH READ THE TRIGGER WARNINGS PLEASE. My mom heart almost DNFd. That was ROUGH! Like DARK fantasy I wasn’t expecting.
Somehow I was both gripped and bored. And I have so many questions. Why do we get no closure about Marianne? What is the point of the scholars? What do they do?
My big thought for this book was “everything could’ve been avoided if…” because there was no fantastic, powerful, dynamic ending that left me satisfied. It just…ended.
And then I realized why.
The characters.
They are so flat and impossible to connect with. I’m not sure where or why I thought this had a romance aspect but don’t be misled, it does not. And romance aside (or lack there of), the characters had no personalities. Violet had the basic tenets of a fantasy FMC: brave, stubborn, curious. But so does my toddler’s Llama Llama red pajama book. And Aleksander, gosh. COWARD. Spineless, useless MMC. Kick him to the curb.
I did enjoy the CONCEPT, not plot, but concept. I felt like the idea was there and just poorly executed. The whole book left me curious and wanting more which is why I gave it 2 stars (it was going to be 3) but just ultimately unsatisfied at the end.
Also. GOSH READ THE TRIGGER WARNINGS PLEASE. My mom heart almost DNFd. That was ROUGH! Like DARK fantasy I wasn’t expecting.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, and Kidnapping
lilifane's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
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
5.0
WTF did I just read?
I was really expecting something totally different but was pleasantly surprised by this book.
The writing is so beautiful, lush, sensual and the atmosphere it creates reminded me immensely of The Starless Sea (which might be my favorite book of all times, so I was pretty biased once I noticed the similarities). They have some plot points, themes and imagery in common, but it's mostly the vibes I'm talking about. Mainly, the no plot just vibes attitude.
I did enjoy the plot, it felt like a dark fairy tale, and it went darker places than I expected. There were pacing issues, though, and a lot of conveniences and weird character decisions. Speaking of the characters, since the focus is mostly on the vibes and the fairy tale story structure, the characters were not as flashed out as I usually like. Especially Violet, the protagonist, felt one dimensional. Secondary characters like Penelope and Aleksander were way more memorable than Violet, and their motivations were more nuanced and intriguing.
But again, the way the atmosphere and the vibes were making me feel... I was longing for this feeling since I've read The Starless Sea for the first time. And it's really hard to find, so I'm just happy to have experienced it again with this book. And despite it not being a perfect book, I loved it with all my heart.
I was really expecting something totally different but was pleasantly surprised by this book.
The writing is so beautiful, lush, sensual and the atmosphere it creates reminded me immensely of The Starless Sea (which might be my favorite book of all times, so I was pretty biased once I noticed the similarities). They have some plot points, themes and imagery in common, but it's mostly the vibes I'm talking about. Mainly, the no plot just vibes attitude.
I did enjoy the plot, it felt like a dark fairy tale, and it went darker places than I expected. There were pacing issues, though, and a lot of conveniences and weird character decisions. Speaking of the characters, since the focus is mostly on the vibes and the fairy tale story structure, the characters were not as flashed out as I usually like. Especially Violet, the protagonist, felt one dimensional. Secondary characters like Penelope and Aleksander were way more memorable than Violet, and their motivations were more nuanced and intriguing.
But again, the way the atmosphere and the vibes were making me feel... I was longing for this feeling since I've read The Starless Sea for the first time. And it's really hard to find, so I'm just happy to have experienced it again with this book. And despite it not being a perfect book, I loved it with all my heart.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Blood, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death, Gore, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Sexual content
snowwhitehatesapples's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Also on Snow White Hates Apples.
I’ve been incredibly excited to read this standalone fantasy since many of the Hodder & Stoughton titles I read have been utter delights. Sadly, this streak is now broken by The City of Stardust .
Although it has a very intriguing premise and a fascinating magic system where special keys can open doors to anywhere in any world, the execution is lacking. For a standalone, too many aspects of the world-building are left unexplained. Sure, I got the gist of how the world works but it could’ve been more lush, more alive. There were moments when the imagery did this, only to retreat and let the too-detailed actions or conversations of the characters take centre stage instead.
Moreover, it really doesn’t help that there’s a strong lack of urgency despite the literal deadline. The first part of the book is set during the time Violet was kept in the dark regarding the Everly curse — which is practically her entire childhood and a part of her young adulthood. Truthfully, I don’t see the necessity of this first part because much of the information could’ve been interwoven elsewhere.
The second part is where the pace picks up, but it isn’t ideal either because there are only three months left before the deadline and that’s a big difference from the first part’s meandering 10 years. Even worse? As the story progresses, the pacing gets clumsier and the plot convenience gets more and more obvious. Violet wastes a lot of precious time doing unnecessary things like being with a boy she clearly shouldn’t be falling for. Like, hello? For someone who wants to break the curse, the legit deadline for when you get disappeared like the other Everly’s doesn’t seem much of a priority for you??
Staying interested in the story whenever the focus was on Violet was a struggle, largely because she’s no more than a plot device. I love that she’s a bibliophile and I found her inner and outer struggles well expanded. However, she’s just so dull, so painfully naive and fragile despite receiving the all-powerful Main Character Buff that I irrevocably felt that Penelope and Aleksander hard carried the book. Both of them created much-needed tension and moved the plot forward whereas Violet’s simply being led by the plot.
Furthermore, the romance between Violet and Aleksander felt too tryhard at convincing that it isn’t underdeveloped, particularly when shown through Violet’s perspective. It was also difficult to root for them because their characterisations weren’t strong… In fact, all of the characters suffer from weak characterisation at varying extents. The many side characters weren’t even memorable and it was hard to keep track of them.
Other than that, while I normally appreciate things coming to a full circle, the last two parts of the book make everything that came before it feel convoluted. I liked all the different iterations of the fable between the astral and the mortal. I liked the thin line between gods and monsters as well. But, all that isn’t enough to make up for everything else.
All in all, The City of Stardust has so much promise that it’s such a shame that it fell short.
I’ve been incredibly excited to read this standalone fantasy since many of the Hodder & Stoughton titles I read have been utter delights. Sadly, this streak is now broken by The City of Stardust .
Although it has a very intriguing premise and a fascinating magic system where special keys can open doors to anywhere in any world, the execution is lacking. For a standalone, too many aspects of the world-building are left unexplained. Sure, I got the gist of how the world works but it could’ve been more lush, more alive. There were moments when the imagery did this, only to retreat and let the too-detailed actions or conversations of the characters take centre stage instead.
Moreover, it really doesn’t help that there’s a strong lack of urgency despite the literal deadline. The first part of the book is set during the time Violet was kept in the dark regarding the Everly curse — which is practically her entire childhood and a part of her young adulthood. Truthfully, I don’t see the necessity of this first part because much of the information could’ve been interwoven elsewhere.
The second part is where the pace picks up, but it isn’t ideal either because there are only three months left before the deadline and that’s a big difference from the first part’s meandering 10 years. Even worse? As the story progresses, the pacing gets clumsier and the plot convenience gets more and more obvious. Violet wastes a lot of precious time doing unnecessary things like being with a boy she clearly shouldn’t be falling for. Like, hello? For someone who wants to break the curse, the legit deadline for when you get disappeared like the other Everly’s doesn’t seem much of a priority for you??
Staying interested in the story whenever the focus was on Violet was a struggle, largely because she’s no more than a plot device. I love that she’s a bibliophile and I found her inner and outer struggles well expanded. However, she’s just so dull, so painfully naive and fragile despite receiving the all-powerful Main Character Buff that I irrevocably felt that Penelope and Aleksander hard carried the book. Both of them created much-needed tension and moved the plot forward whereas Violet’s simply being led by the plot.
Furthermore, the romance between Violet and Aleksander felt too tryhard at convincing that it isn’t underdeveloped, particularly when shown through Violet’s perspective. It was also difficult to root for them because their characterisations weren’t strong… In fact, all of the characters suffer from weak characterisation at varying extents. The many side characters weren’t even memorable and it was hard to keep track of them.
Other than that, while I normally appreciate things coming to a full circle, the last two parts of the book make everything that came before it feel convoluted. I liked all the different iterations of the fable between the astral and the mortal. I liked the thin line between gods and monsters as well. But, all that isn’t enough to make up for everything else.
All in all, The City of Stardust has so much promise that it’s such a shame that it fell short.
Thank you so much Hodder & Stoughton and Netgalley for providing me a copy of this in exchange for an honest review! The City of Stardust by Georgia Summers is available at all good bookstores.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Blood, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Addiction, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Violence, Murder, and Gaslighting
marleens's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Torture
Minor: Kidnapping