Reviews with content warning for Kidnapping - The City of Stardust

A gothic globe-trotting urban fantasy with elements of horror and mystery.

Parts somehow both whimsical and horrifying? Think Pan's Labyrinth vibes, but also completely different. The whole book is a vibe, moody and dark and pushing for answers. Violet struggles, realistically so, after spending a life sheltered and safe. She bumbles stubbornly through her deceptions, navigating secret society, unknown magic, and a family curse on the brink of fruition. This tale is saturated with betrayal, haunted with Violet's childhood memories, but also so full of hope and determination. The world is just a key-turn away. The romance is pretty good too, right person wrong time with a dash of enemies to lovers. I can't really say more without spoilers!

I listened to this via Libro.fm and immediately looked up what other books this narrator has done- this was the first. I'm so excited to hear what projects Kitty Parker does next, her different intonations for each character were SO GOOD. Sexy evil for the big bad, brooding and cautious as Aleksander, challenging and strong willed as Violet, and the poor exasperated and exhausted brothers.

Content Warnings

kiwij96's review against another edition

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dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I genuinely have no idea what the plot is to this story and I have read it. It was just 340 pages of nothing which is so disappointing because the concept for it was so interesting.

Essentially, after finding out that her family (nore specifically, Violet) is cursed, Violet spends a year of her life running around the world trying to find her mother who ran away when Violet was 8. She befriends a scholar who is about as interesting as drywall, and encounters Gods (

one of which Gabriel later tries to fight off with a chair, an event that genuinely made me consider DNFing for the 8th time but it was 100 pages from the end so

) and friends of her mother who do absolutely nothing to progress the story or help her understand anything.

Everyone in this story hides the truth from Violet and is super vague about everything, but somehow Violet knows where to look after conversations that hold about as much weight as air. The only tolerable character is Caspian who gets about 5 pages. The only character who has a set nationality is Yury (

and honestly I don't love the fact that the Russian character is written as what is essentially a terrorist

).

Fidelis is definitely, 100% based on Velaris from ACOTAR with it being a City of Stars (granted it is Stardust instead of Starlight). A city which is visited maybe 3 times total and not for very long each time it is mentioned. The city is but a vague promise to the reader in the greater scheme of things, especially when the majority of the story takes place somewhere in the world.

There is some absolutely gorgeous writing and scene-setting in this book for sure. The sentence structure is genuinely stunning. The chapters are short and easy to get through without issue. However, the pacing is just so weird and at times I felt like I was missing context for what was happening and why.

I genuinely have no idea what that book was and I am massively disappointed with it. I should have saved myself the time and energy and DNFed.

Content Warnings

madscientistcat's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

creatureof_nature's review against another edition

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adventurous slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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purplepenning's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

Undoubtedly beautiful prose and an interesting fantasy premise that blends a modern setting with an old world dark fairytale vibe (via portal doors). Overall, however, the story, pacing, and character development just didn't click for me.

Content Warnings

katelynbirge's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

Content Warnings

embee007's review against another edition

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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.”

Content Warnings

carrykyrie's review against another edition

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adventurous dark reflective tense

4.5

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