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barnesm31's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
jalexpulliamkepler's review against another edition
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
an incredible debut and strong retelling that still stumbles some in the pacing and tension
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Classism, Gun violence, Infidelity, Blood, Religious bigotry, Xenophobia, Colonisation, Violence, and War
Moderate: Alcohol
goosemixtapes's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
this book was written for me and it's probably going to be my favorite book of the year but in a way where i'm pissed about it because i should have written this. my GOD the way this book interacts with history and the concept of myth-making is so craziness-inducing. this goes so far beyond "cleopatra in space" but it is also doing so much justice to the concept of cleopatra in space. flawless writing, incredible characters, bisexual love triangles, cicero is there, what more can you ask for and i can't even like. get into how great this is because i'm no-joke going to write an academic thesis on it
laelyn's review against another edition
3.0
"The Stars Undying" has one of the most intriguing premises a book can have for me: a space opera version of Caesar and Cleopatra, with a woman taking Marcus Antonius's role? Perfection. I did enjoy Robin's debut in a lot of ways, but ultimately it was a rather forgettable affair, unlike the book's source of inspiration.
It's a well-written book and I enjoyed the world-building with lots of sci-fi words - that are confusing at first, admittedly, but you get used to them quickly. Now, the world-building isn't all too complex, and you don't actually learn much about all these planets and systems our Caesar, Ceirran, is happily conquering. But there's enough to keep the reader interested, and the main focus is not what happens on these planets anyway. It's a book about clever characters manouvering politically, it's about court intrigue.
I liked both our pov characters, Ceirran and Gracia, though my favourite character is easily Ana, our Marcus Antonius. It took me a while to warm up to them all, and other than Ana there are no actual likeable characters in there and their characterization is often a little inconsistent, but they're complex and interesting.
As expected, there's a lot of political manouvering, and while I very much enjoy that, it also got a little repetitive after a while. The rather slow pace of, especially, the middle part of the book made the most fascinating aspects of the story - Gracia's relationship with her God (an AI type being based on, I'd wager, Alexander the Great) and her plans to turn Ceirran into an immortal God as well - get dragged down a bit. Maybe the book was just too long for its contents. There are a loooot of people and places and events happening in the background, a lot of concepts and themes woven throughout, but because of the slow pacing and the way the story is constructed, none of them really matter too much in the end.
"The Stars Undying" is an impressive debut, a challenging read due to its pacing and sheer density both of content and form. I recommend it for people interested in a new take on Cleopatra's story, but most of all politics-focused, slow space operas with epic battles that only ever take place in the background of the story.
3 stars.
It's a well-written book and I enjoyed the world-building with lots of sci-fi words - that are confusing at first, admittedly, but you get used to them quickly. Now, the world-building isn't all too complex, and you don't actually learn much about all these planets and systems our Caesar, Ceirran, is happily conquering. But there's enough to keep the reader interested, and the main focus is not what happens on these planets anyway. It's a book about clever characters manouvering politically, it's about court intrigue.
I liked both our pov characters, Ceirran and Gracia, though my favourite character is easily Ana, our Marcus Antonius. It took me a while to warm up to them all, and other than Ana there are no actual likeable characters in there and their characterization is often a little inconsistent, but they're complex and interesting.
As expected, there's a lot of political manouvering, and while I very much enjoy that, it also got a little repetitive after a while. The rather slow pace of, especially, the middle part of the book made the most fascinating aspects of the story - Gracia's relationship with her God (an AI type being based on, I'd wager, Alexander the Great) and her plans to turn Ceirran into an immortal God as well - get dragged down a bit. Maybe the book was just too long for its contents. There are a loooot of people and places and events happening in the background, a lot of concepts and themes woven throughout, but because of the slow pacing and the way the story is constructed, none of them really matter too much in the end.
"The Stars Undying" is an impressive debut, a challenging read due to its pacing and sheer density both of content and form. I recommend it for people interested in a new take on Cleopatra's story, but most of all politics-focused, slow space operas with epic battles that only ever take place in the background of the story.
3 stars.
polarbear2023's review against another edition
I tried and it's good but it's not catching me and I'm skipping through a lot
shadyeglenn's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
isadorawonder's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.75
gilroi's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.0
What is conquest, and what is empire, and what is religion? These are questions The Stars Undying flirts with, but is uninterested in fully answering. Instead, it spends most of its words detailing the lives of Cleopatra, Caesar, and Mark Antony in some reincarnated mode that is both slavish to detail-- multiple facts about these historical figures are awkwardly replicated in this SciFi adventure even when it's unnecessary to the plot-- and totally uncomprehending of the historical figures real weight. The things that are changed barely make sense at first, until I realized the intention was to make these figures less complicated, more consumable, more sympathetic, less problematic.
Was Caesar a tyrant who ended the last vestiges of republicanism in ancient Rome? Was there anything worth saving in Rome's horrible bloodbath of an empire? Was Egypt culpable in these wars? Was its sovereignty truly worth preserving when it was ruled over by a foreign queen? These are questions the book is aware of, but doggedly ignores.
It also makes the odd choice to obscure and deemphasize the historically significant Roman women of the period. Servilia and Aurelia are dead, Calpurnia is gender-bent, Fulvia is declawed, but this is okay because... Antony is a girl, and Brutus is nonbinary, and Cato and Pompey are also women? Hurray.
I rarely ask for books to be longer. In general I think they should be shorter. This book's pacing was incredibly fast and deftly balanced! But in the service of that rapidity, it left out a great amount of detail, meaning, and nuance. The book's focus is clearly on the romance, the great imperial saga, the tragedy and the agony, the ambition and the grace! But for what? These things don't exist without context, and the writing relies on the preexisting template (Antony and Cleopatra and the end of the late Republican period in Rome) for those details. In trying to balance both, it serves neither.
Here is a statement the book does not make, though it delves constantly into the idea of death and immortality: The dead, especially the ancient dead, are symbols to us. What we say about them says more about us than them. What this book says about the ancient dead is that they are glorious, fascinating, and romantic.
But it doesn't know why.
Was Caesar a tyrant who ended the last vestiges of republicanism in ancient Rome? Was there anything worth saving in Rome's horrible bloodbath of an empire? Was Egypt culpable in these wars? Was its sovereignty truly worth preserving when it was ruled over by a foreign queen? These are questions the book is aware of, but doggedly ignores.
It also makes the odd choice to obscure and deemphasize the historically significant Roman women of the period. Servilia and Aurelia are dead, Calpurnia is gender-bent, Fulvia is declawed, but this is okay because... Antony is a girl, and Brutus is nonbinary, and Cato and Pompey are also women? Hurray.
I rarely ask for books to be longer. In general I think they should be shorter. This book's pacing was incredibly fast and deftly balanced! But in the service of that rapidity, it left out a great amount of detail, meaning, and nuance. The book's focus is clearly on the romance, the great imperial saga, the tragedy and the agony, the ambition and the grace! But for what? These things don't exist without context, and the writing relies on the preexisting template (Antony and Cleopatra and the end of the late Republican period in Rome) for those details. In trying to balance both, it serves neither.
Here is a statement the book does not make, though it delves constantly into the idea of death and immortality: The dead, especially the ancient dead, are symbols to us. What we say about them says more about us than them. What this book says about the ancient dead is that they are glorious, fascinating, and romantic.
But it doesn't know why.
danielscones's review against another edition
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75