Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - All the Stars and Teeth

Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

All the Stars and Teeth by Adalyn Grace

13 reviews

rexpostfacto's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

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saucemallow's review against another edition

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dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

This book was not bad, but it was a pretty ordinary and typical read for a young adult book. What I liked about it in particular was that the author was more thoughtful of criticisms on society and included small parts here and there that were reminiscent of realistic struggles and conflicts. I also like that the author did not over-describe the love interest. This book is very descriptive, but it does not commit too much time to describing as many useless details.

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takarakei's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

I unfortunately feel like I might need to reread a physical copy of this cause I didn’t enjoy the audiobook narration (specifically of them doing the male voice characters). So I don’t really think I can give it a fair review or rating yet.

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crufts's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

For generations the Montara family has ruled over the archipelago kingdom of Visidia, wielding the soul magic that is their birthright.
But when the young Princess Amora steps up for the crowning test of her soul magic, disaster strikes and Amora is forced to flee her home. Befriending a pirate and sailing amongst the islands of Visidia, can she uncover the curse that plagues her family?

The book was okay. I definitely liked the premise and fantasy aspects, with the chain of magic islands and their magical specialties. The mermaid character was also great and lived up to the fantastical and terrifying legends.
I also felt that the expectations set up at the beginning of the book are satisfactorily addressed by the end. For example, at the beginning of the book when we hear the

glorified children's story about the founding of the kingdom

, it is obviously false and we expect to see this revealed at some point. This does indeed happen by the end of the novel.
Finally, I thought the way the Big Bad was approached was quite interesting, as

even though his motivations were revealed as good, Amora was still not satisfied with his plans, refused to concede to him, and is determined to lead the kingdom in her own way

.

In terms of pacing, it was perfect. I always felt the plot moved at a good speed and that things were happening on time.

Character-wise, I initially liked Amora. She's not a stereotypical delicate waif princess; instead, she is physically strong, brave, and her dedication to saving her kingdom is endearing.
However, I started getting annoyed with her in certain scenes, such as

when Bastian reveals that Kaven is his brother, and she sanctimoniously tells him "I forgive you". It was Bastian's choice as to whether or not to reveal this - what on earth is she forgiving him for?

Amora was so comfortable pulling rank as princess that she had no qualms about acting coldly towards her subjects, e.g.

during her arguments with Ferrick and Bastian

. It didn't seem like she grew as a person during the novel; she merely learned more backstory about her kingdom and family. It was the same Amora who took her crowning test at the start of the novel, and who

had her coronation

at the end of the novel.

I also had trouble with the flowery writing style. There are a lot of protracted internal dialogues and descriptions, most of which I ended up skimming over. Some dialogue is also rather melodramatic and over-the-top, e.g.

during Bastian's confession, when he's saying "I don't deserve your forgiveness. I don't deserve anyone's" despite the fact that he did nothing wrong

.
Another issue was the way the author continually used the names of gems when referring to colours. This led to misunderstandings where I first thought people were actually bedecked in gems, when they were just wearing coloured clothes. For example:

A man in amethyst lunges for us ...
a time-wielding Ker in deep amethyst

When something is "in [gem]" (like "in amber"), it means it is physically embedded in a chunk of the gem. But the author only meant that these people are wearing purple clothes. And again, later:

The crowd before us is a shifting wave of black, pinks and reds, greens and blues--and even white--that stills as we approach. But there's no amethyst.

The word is "purple". But the same problem occurs with other colours, too:

A woman ... dons a Suntosan emerald cape

The word is "green" - the cape was not emerald, or it would be heavy and would be crunching as it moved. (An alternate wording that fixes the problem would be a Suntosan cape of emerald cloth.)

A little blond girl ... singes the edge of her ruby shawl.

The word is "red". The shawl is not ruby, or it would have been impossible to singe it. (Alternate wording: ruby-coloured shawl.)
If the author simply wanted to use some more interesting words for these colours, some alternate options are charcoal, slate-grey, crimson, vermillion, golden, verdigris-green, sky-blue, lavender, periwinkle, azure, bone-white, cerise, nut-brown, etc.

The conclusion of the book was rather jarring since it ends in a series of sudden twists, reveals, and changes. We're talking 10+ twists, e.g.

Bastian is now the curse object for Amora's soul, King Audric suddenly has the ability to use his soul magic to create a "soul room" to speak to Amora, Ferrick has stopped pining over Amora within the span of a few days, Amora has changed her mind about revealing the truth to her kingdom and is content to keep secrets from them, etc

. This was too much to jam into the end of the novel and felt like it could have been saved for the sequel.

Despite my complaints, the overall aesthetic of the book is very Young Adult, it's a decent YA setup, and YA fans will probably enjoy it regardless. At times it feels like a dozen YA tropes blended into one novel, but if you enjoy YA tropes, that's not a bad thing.

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planetshelf's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

This story felt like every other YA fantasy. I was told this is contains a unique magic system, but the basic ideas of it are common, and blood magic is nothing new.

However, it isn’t bad, and the audiobook was very well done.

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tiffsbookjourney's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

3.75

This was a lot darker than I anticipated!! I enjoyed reading this book for the majority of the book. I felt like the world was set up really well and had pretty distinct features. The Characters were actually really great! It's one of the first YA FMC that actually has a brain and can communicate through problems and make things work with a partner. There was also an awesome component of consent with the Fade to Black scenes!
However, the ending and the epilogue felt a bit rushed and felt like it lacked depth.
Also the narrator for the audiobook wasn't it for me.

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ka_ke's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

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

4.0

All the Stars & Teeth is a lovely read. The characters are easy to love, and the world building is beautiful. If I had to explain it to someone, I would suggest they imagine a story with a bit of Pirates of the Caribbean, the Princess Bride and a touch of Peter Pan.

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angstifies's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

i had a fun time with this book, didn’t connect much with the characters and i’ll admit i wasn’t interested in the romance at all, those two characters together didn’t make sense to me and i found some things very predictable. the magic and the world were really cool i wish we got even more of that!

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jojo_'s review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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thatbookishworm's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

This was a enjoyable read, with pirates, mermaids, and magic. It fit a lot of what I’ve been looking for in a book recently, but it’s potential was knocked down quite a bit by all the ya influence it fell under. I’m going to head for the sequel with a lot less expectations this time.

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