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hebrideanreader's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
kat7890erina's review against another edition
4.0
For me, this story was a mashup of Clan of the Cave Bears, The Maze Runner, and The 100. If you liked those, then this might be a winner for you as well! I'm keen to follow on with the saga.
celtic67's review against another edition
4.0
A superb fantasy read with great world building. A world within a world and an unlikely heroine! A great start to a new series.
readcharlotte's review against another edition
5.0
This was great! So much fun being back in Abeth. Yaz is not Nona, but I love her all the same. You can read this without having read the Book of the Ancestor trilogy.
kathrynevans's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
I have never read a book that is underground and not a sci-fi. The magic system is interesting but there is too much going on, always on the move going from one disaster to the next. The reason why I gave this book 3 stars is because I'm genuinely interested in where the plot is going rather than caring about the characters.
thestarsandthesky_5's review against another edition
The pacing was just really slow for me. It felt like something was always happening but nothing was happening at the same time. It was sad because I was intrigued in the storyline for a bit!
laelyn's review against another edition
2.0
"The Girl and the Stars" is my first novel by Mark Lawrence and I had high expectations. Lawrence is a fixture in current fantasy literature and I heard only good things about his work. Maybe I should have started with those earlier works, though, especially the Book of the Ancestor trilogy which apparently sets up the universe "The Girl and the Stars" takes place in.
Don't get me wrong, the book definitely stands on its own and sets up this new trilogy perfectly well, but I feel like it would have helped me to get into the world better. The world building is great but very dense, and I often felt like it didn't tell me everything because it expected me to know some things from the previous trilogy. It felt convoluted at times and I don't think I understand all of what was going on even after reading the whole book.
I really enjoy Lawrence's writing and the idea of this underground world, this forgotten city, of an Ancient mysterious people and children ritually sacrificed for what the people of this world consider the greater good is fascinating. I was really into it at first.
But then the book just started to... drag. The pacing is a weird one, with so many things happening while simultaneously nothing happening at all over long stretches of time which made me skip a page or two, admittedly. Another issue I had was, well, the characters. Yaz is, so far, a very typical fantasy heroine that really, really screams YA to me. Honestly, if not for very few brutal and graphic scenes and the very in-depth world building this reads like YA. Not that this is inherently a bad thing, I just didn't expect it from the author. But back to the characters - while the typical heroine, Yaz is also just not that complex and later on she started to annoy me quite a bit with some of the choices she was making. The rest of the cast is... kind of there? I don't feel like any of them are very fleshed out, not even her multiple possible love interests. Pretty sure I won't remember much about them after some time, and thus I simply didn't care that much about their fate.
The ending though, the ending is just amazing. I don't even mean the final fight, which I didn't really care about (mostly because, well, I didn't really care about the characters and because it was way too hectic), but the reveals afterwards and the very last sentence of the book were just. Chef's kiss. I'm not sure this alone will make me actually read the rest of the trilogy, but it's awesome - even though admittedly I cannot fathom how there will be enough interesting content for an entire trilogy.
All in all I'd give this a solid 2,5 stars, rounded down to 2. I liked the potential of certain characters, the generally intriguing world building and the prose, but the lack of characterization, the inconsistent pacing, the weak protagonist and the fact that I was simply bored after a while keep me from giving this a better rating. I'm honestly sorry about that because I wanted to love Lawrence's work just like most people seem to do. It just... didn't make me feel anything.
Don't get me wrong, the book definitely stands on its own and sets up this new trilogy perfectly well, but I feel like it would have helped me to get into the world better. The world building is great but very dense, and I often felt like it didn't tell me everything because it expected me to know some things from the previous trilogy. It felt convoluted at times and I don't think I understand all of what was going on even after reading the whole book.
I really enjoy Lawrence's writing and the idea of this underground world, this forgotten city, of an Ancient mysterious people and children ritually sacrificed for what the people of this world consider the greater good is fascinating. I was really into it at first.
But then the book just started to... drag. The pacing is a weird one, with so many things happening while simultaneously nothing happening at all over long stretches of time which made me skip a page or two, admittedly. Another issue I had was, well, the characters. Yaz is, so far, a very typical fantasy heroine that really, really screams YA to me. Honestly, if not for very few brutal and graphic scenes and the very in-depth world building this reads like YA. Not that this is inherently a bad thing, I just didn't expect it from the author. But back to the characters - while the typical heroine, Yaz is also just not that complex and later on she started to annoy me quite a bit with some of the choices she was making. The rest of the cast is... kind of there? I don't feel like any of them are very fleshed out, not even her multiple possible love interests. Pretty sure I won't remember much about them after some time, and thus I simply didn't care that much about their fate.
The ending though, the ending is just amazing. I don't even mean the final fight, which I didn't really care about (mostly because, well, I didn't really care about the characters and because it was way too hectic), but the reveals afterwards and the very last sentence of the book were just. Chef's kiss. I'm not sure this alone will make me actually read the rest of the trilogy, but it's awesome - even though admittedly I cannot fathom how there will be enough interesting content for an entire trilogy.
All in all I'd give this a solid 2,5 stars, rounded down to 2. I liked the potential of certain characters, the generally intriguing world building and the prose, but the lack of characterization, the inconsistent pacing, the weak protagonist and the fact that I was simply bored after a while keep me from giving this a better rating. I'm honestly sorry about that because I wanted to love Lawrence's work just like most people seem to do. It just... didn't make me feel anything.
mjporterauthor's review against another edition
4.0
The Girl and the Stars is set on the same world as The Book of the Ancestor, and I'm aware that there are many more stories that need to be told to fully understand Abeth. Not that new readers can't pick up from here. There is no need to have read The Books of the Ancestors.
I've heard a great deal about The Girl and the Stars on twitter and I was looking forward to reading it. The story starts strongly and Yaz is an enjoyable character to read about. The set up of the story is intriguing and not at all where I expected it to go. Foolishly, I thought I knew where Lawrence was going with this new trilogy. There are many fascinating elements and I was really enjoying exploring the landscape of 'the stars,'
Lawrence titillates with fragments of what's actually happening and what's happened in the past (he's a bit good at this) but I found I wanted to know more about that, and less about Yaz and her group of friends. And by the time I was a decent distance into the book, I was beginning to suffer from the same sensory deprivation as the characters. This probably isn't a good thing. My enjoyment of the story did drop away - the relentless pacing couldn't quite make up for my lessening enjoyment, and while the ending is bloody stunning, I can't help but think it could have been reached at least a hundred pages earlier!
I'm still very much looking forward to reading all the books in this new trilogy, but hopefully, they won't share the same setting!
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my review copy.
I've heard a great deal about The Girl and the Stars on twitter and I was looking forward to reading it. The story starts strongly and Yaz is an enjoyable character to read about. The set up of the story is intriguing and not at all where I expected it to go. Foolishly, I thought I knew where Lawrence was going with this new trilogy. There are many fascinating elements and I was really enjoying exploring the landscape of 'the stars,'
Lawrence titillates with fragments of what's actually happening and what's happened in the past (he's a bit good at this) but I found I wanted to know more about that, and less about Yaz and her group of friends. And by the time I was a decent distance into the book, I was beginning to suffer from the same sensory deprivation as the characters. This probably isn't a good thing. My enjoyment of the story did drop away - the relentless pacing couldn't quite make up for my lessening enjoyment, and while the ending is bloody stunning, I can't help but think it could have been reached at least a hundred pages earlier!
I'm still very much looking forward to reading all the books in this new trilogy, but hopefully, they won't share the same setting!
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my review copy.