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ninjamuse's review
adventurous
dark
slow-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? No
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Grief
Moderate: Physical abuse, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Bullying, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders and Kidnapping
littlebluenaiad's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Child death, Death, Medical trauma, and Violence
Moderate: Death of parent, Drug use, Grief, Outing, and War
Minor: Bullying, Racism, Sexual harassment, Torture, and Vomit
bluejayreads's review
I'm struggling to put my finger on why I wasn't enjoying this book. It wasn't bad. I stopped reading just as it was "getting good" and Saffron made it into the magical world. It just wasn't gripping me, and I put it down for nearly a month (per my ereader app the last day I opened it was January 19) without feeling any desire to go back.
Which doesn't make a lot of sense, because on the surfact there are a lot of things I should like. "Character from our world falls into a differerent, more magical one" is almost always a premise I enjoy. Gwen, the "mentor" character who knows how the magical world works, helped put the current leader on the throne and very much regrets it, which is a unique twist. There's also some casual polyamory with an asexual character who has both a wife and a husband. These are all things that I theoretically should enjoy.
However. A large part of Gwen's parts are how much she regrets putting Vex Leoden in charge, but it's not really clear why. Vex doesn't do anything (although some of his soldiers are trying to catch Gwen, but that's kinda understandable if she's trying to take him down), and none of the characters even talk about what he has done. You're just supposed to accept that he's bad.
Also, the only reason that Saffron ends up in the magical world in the first place is because she's suffering sexual harassment and bullying at school and Gwen is literally the only adult who agrees that's a bad thing and not just "boys will be boys," and she's so struck that there's an adult who takes her seriously that she jumps through a portal after Gwen just so she can talk to her again. I'm not sure how accurate that is to the public school experience, but it was rather upsetting and also seemed like a pretty weak motivation to jump through a whole portal going who-knows-where.
I think overall this book was just missing a "why." Why Gwen regrets putting Vex Leoden in charge, why Saffron did ... anything (I got no connection to her as a character), why I should be invested in this story. It's very possible that it gets better and I just stopped too soon, but I feel no connection to the story or the characters and no desire to keep reading.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying
Sexual harassmentchalkletters's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Books like An Accident of Stars make me glad that I assign so many two, three and four star reviews. Because when I give a book five stars, I want that to mean something: that this book is stand-out, better than just ‘good’. An Accident of Stars was great, from the first sentence to the last, and I definitely want to read more by Foz Meadows just as soon as my TBR allows.
Every character is fabulous. I fell in love with Gwen first, because she allowed Foz Meadows to write a portal fantasy without that moment of dramatic irony that so grates on my nerves (I talked about it in my review of The Fandom). Gwen’s been through all this before, and her attitude about it filled me with glee! Some characters are more developed than others and, naturally, we’re given more info about the four viewpoint characters than anyone else, but that just means that there’s still more characters that I want to learn more about in future books!
I have to call particular attention to Viya, who fits one of my favourite tropes. I love when authors are able to give depth to characters who, at first, appear to be nothing more than spoiled teenagers. Malta Vestrit from Robin Hobb’s The Liveship Traders is, perhaps, the paragon, but Viya certainly draws from a similar mould and undergoes a similar, if somewhat shorter, arc.
The relationships - particularly all the relationships Saffron develops - had me cheering for them to keep getting to know each other. They’re all different, but they all feel real and heartfelt and, in some cases, heart-breaking. And I’m still processing the impact that certain plot events will have on those potential relationships in future, which can only be a good thing. The emotions in An Accident of Stars are big and intense and raw, in a way that reminded me of The Thorn Birds and Finnikin of the Rock.
I don’t usually read fantasy for the world-building, which makes it all the more impressive that Foz Meadows managed to do such a good job that I’d notice how skilful it was! The world in which Saffron finds herself is utterly, realistically different from our world. Foz Meadows managed to invent untranslatable concepts, built their world on entirely different social mores from most western fantasy series. If queer and poly representation are thinks you’re looking for in fantasy books, An Accident of Stars has plenty of both.
Characters who devoutly believe in fictional religions are an interest of mine - especially when the narrative doesn’t necessarily confirm that those beliefs are 'true’. An Accident of Stars has at least three different religions, and we’re introduced to characters who follow each. I’m particularly intrigued by the religion that’s all about shaping stories and finding the truth in fictional tropes.
To top it all off, the prose is beautiful without getting in the way of the characters, world-building, emotional depth and analysis of internalised culture. In short, I absolutely loved everything about it, which puts it firmly at the very top of my list of all the books I’ve read for books club.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Child death, and Death
Moderate: Bullying and Kidnapping
Minor: Torture and Vomit
anamenoonewillmiss123's review
Stopped during chapter 3 because I couldn't stand the writing.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying and Sexual assault
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