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3.41 AVERAGE
3.41 AVERAGE
5/5 stars
Recommended for people who like: retellings, sci-fi, mystery, Persuasion, For Darkness Shows the Stars
I'll start off by saying I think the concept for the setting is brilliant. Earth has been turned into a desolate wasteland and the survivors have fled into space. The larger space ships (and the smaller ones but this is a bit less clear) have largely stuck to their Earth heritage, with the ship the Scandinavian featuring an entire ABBA themed floor, while the American ship, Lady Liberty has different themes after each of the states. It's a concept that I think I've seen before, but Donne put enough of a spin on it that it felt refreshing. (I will admit that it could also be that the main characters are from a German ship and thus we get a couple lines in German, which you so rarely see in books). One thing I do think fell through a little was the Freiheit group, which caused a huge kerfuffle at the beginning of the novel then just...never came back. I understand it was more of a plot point to get Leo thinking about conditions elsewhere, since she comes from a relatively small ship that isn't doing too hot itself, but as a reader I would've appreciated a little more follow through than what we got.
Leo is, of course, the main character and is spunky, inventive, and 100% Done with the Valg season. True to form, she'd rather read or figure out how to get her invention patented than busy herself courting other royals and socialites. She's also practical though and does spend some of her time devoted to going to Valg events--though by and large it's because her sister, Carina, wants to go. You can tell she's eager to make friends, which makes her more relatable, in my opinion. There were definitely times in this book that I just felt so bad for Leo, but I also understood a lot of where Elliot was coming from re: royalty spending excess. I enjoyed being in Leo's head, she's responsible and smart, but she manages to be the former without being too uptight.
Elliot I also enjoyed, though he was a massive dick for a third (two-thirds?) of the book. He's also clever, but he's more in-tune with what's going on across the fleet and the poor conditions so many people find themselves in. I definitely understood his point of view in this, though Leo is also right on some of the points. Even though Elliot supposedly hates Leo, you can tell he still cares for her and that (for other characters) he doesn't want to hurt them. As clever as he is, he's also a bit obtuse in certain cases, but that can be forgiven for plot points.
Carina was an interesting character. I wasn't expecting to like her, since she's characterized as spending frivolously and being a bit more naive and entitled than Leo. I was pleasantly surprised, however, to find myself liking her as a character. Yes, she's more naive and yes, she does have her moments of sheer 'oh my god I can't believe you just did/said that,' but by and large she's a good person and I think you can see her growth over the course of this novel. Despite being interested in Elliot, she handles being told his and Leo's history with grace and is actually extremely apologetic to Leo, which I think is one of the interactions that really drives home that Carina is more care-free and bubbly than Leo, but she has just as much emotional depth.
Evgenia is a friend of Elliot's who becomes a friend of Leo and Carina. Evgenia participates in the Valg season, but it seems like more of an opportunity to socialize for her, since the main focus is on heteronormative pairings (though, spoiler, Evy does get a girlfriend). Evy easily makes friends with just about everyone around her and is loyal once the friendship is formed. One of the funniest scenes earlier on in the book is when the group is partying and Evy magically manages to keep interrupting every time the overly-interested Lukas bothers Leo. Outside of Elliot, who kind of acts as a non-narrating main character, Evgenia is definitely my favorite side-character.
Other minor characters include Carina and Leo's cousin, Klara, who is the person Carina would be if she were more entitled and had a lot less emotional maturity. Another Valg contestant, Daniel, is pretty similar to Leo and makes for an interesting character, but he's only in the book for the last third of it. I'd definitely be interested in reading another book about him, maybe, but I don't know which classics retelling it would fit into. Klara's mother, Captain Lind, also plays a minor role in the story alongside Carina and Leo's father.
As much as I loved the book, I did think some reveals were a bit obvious (and I'm not talking about the ones retold from Persuasion). There's a couple major events that happen beginning about halfway/two-thirds of the way through and I just... cannot believe that Leo didn't pick up on some of them before they happened. Leo is smart, she's well-read, but she can't figure out some of the things going on under her own nose? Or even Elliot not putting two and two together with some of this stuff, like, at least one of you must be able to use your collective knowledge to realize what's going on/about to happen. That turned into a bit about characterization, but really I did guess some of the twists early on and thought they were fairly obvious.
Overall, it's a fantastic book with an interesting setting and a decent variety of characters. I think there's definitely potential for a sequel following any of the other characters, though knowing Donne has done previous classics retellings I'm not sure which she'd fit them into or if she'd diverge from that.
Recommended for people who like: retellings, sci-fi, mystery, Persuasion, For Darkness Shows the Stars
I'll start off by saying I think the concept for the setting is brilliant. Earth has been turned into a desolate wasteland and the survivors have fled into space. The larger space ships (and the smaller ones but this is a bit less clear) have largely stuck to their Earth heritage, with the ship the Scandinavian featuring an entire ABBA themed floor, while the American ship, Lady Liberty has different themes after each of the states. It's a concept that I think I've seen before, but Donne put enough of a spin on it that it felt refreshing. (I will admit that it could also be that the main characters are from a German ship and thus we get a couple lines in German, which you so rarely see in books). One thing I do think fell through a little was the Freiheit group, which caused a huge kerfuffle at the beginning of the novel then just...never came back. I understand it was more of a plot point to get Leo thinking about conditions elsewhere, since she comes from a relatively small ship that isn't doing too hot itself, but as a reader I would've appreciated a little more follow through than what we got.
Leo is, of course, the main character and is spunky, inventive, and 100% Done with the Valg season. True to form, she'd rather read or figure out how to get her invention patented than busy herself courting other royals and socialites. She's also practical though and does spend some of her time devoted to going to Valg events--though by and large it's because her sister, Carina, wants to go. You can tell she's eager to make friends, which makes her more relatable, in my opinion. There were definitely times in this book that I just felt so bad for Leo, but I also understood a lot of where Elliot was coming from re: royalty spending excess. I enjoyed being in Leo's head, she's responsible and smart, but she manages to be the former without being too uptight.
Elliot I also enjoyed, though he was a massive dick for a third (two-thirds?) of the book. He's also clever, but he's more in-tune with what's going on across the fleet and the poor conditions so many people find themselves in. I definitely understood his point of view in this, though Leo is also right on some of the points. Even though Elliot supposedly hates Leo, you can tell he still cares for her and that (for other characters) he doesn't want to hurt them. As clever as he is, he's also a bit obtuse in certain cases, but that can be forgiven for plot points.
Carina was an interesting character. I wasn't expecting to like her, since she's characterized as spending frivolously and being a bit more naive and entitled than Leo. I was pleasantly surprised, however, to find myself liking her as a character. Yes, she's more naive and yes, she does have her moments of sheer 'oh my god I can't believe you just did/said that,' but by and large she's a good person and I think you can see her growth over the course of this novel. Despite being interested in Elliot, she handles being told his and Leo's history with grace and is actually extremely apologetic to Leo, which I think is one of the interactions that really drives home that Carina is more care-free and bubbly than Leo, but she has just as much emotional depth.
Evgenia is a friend of Elliot's who becomes a friend of Leo and Carina. Evgenia participates in the Valg season, but it seems like more of an opportunity to socialize for her, since the main focus is on heteronormative pairings (though, spoiler, Evy does get a girlfriend). Evy easily makes friends with just about everyone around her and is loyal once the friendship is formed. One of the funniest scenes earlier on in the book is when the group is partying and Evy magically manages to keep interrupting every time the overly-interested Lukas bothers Leo. Outside of Elliot, who kind of acts as a non-narrating main character, Evgenia is definitely my favorite side-character.
Other minor characters include Carina and Leo's cousin, Klara, who is the person Carina would be if she were more entitled and had a lot less emotional maturity. Another Valg contestant, Daniel, is pretty similar to Leo and makes for an interesting character, but he's only in the book for the last third of it. I'd definitely be interested in reading another book about him, maybe, but I don't know which classics retelling it would fit into. Klara's mother, Captain Lind, also plays a minor role in the story alongside Carina and Leo's father.
As much as I loved the book, I did think some reveals were a bit obvious (and I'm not talking about the ones retold from Persuasion). There's a couple major events that happen beginning about halfway/two-thirds of the way through and I just... cannot believe that Leo didn't pick up on some of them before they happened. Leo is smart, she's well-read, but she can't figure out some of the things going on under her own nose? Or even Elliot not putting two and two together with some of this stuff, like, at least one of you must be able to use your collective knowledge to realize what's going on/about to happen. That turned into a bit about characterization, but really I did guess some of the twists early on and thought they were fairly obvious.
Overall, it's a fantastic book with an interesting setting and a decent variety of characters. I think there's definitely potential for a sequel following any of the other characters, though knowing Donne has done previous classics retellings I'm not sure which she'd fit them into or if she'd diverge from that.
3.5 Rounded up. I did enjoy this I just wished there'd been a bit more to the wrapping up of all the conversations that needed to happen with a variety of characters that we don't get to see in the end. I wanted more of a confrontation between Leo and Klara and Leo and Carina and definitely Leo and Daniel. As the one ace character (I didn't even expect that but was pleasant surprised to see ace rep) I wanted more for him because so often aces get written off and not given a happy ending they deserve. Even if Daniel is aroace, I wish more people would write aces with prospects of romantic relationships or even just some kind of happy ending for them. It's left rather open for him.
This is a Persuasion retelling which is not my favorite Austen novel for a variety of reasons but I think Donne does it justice and really well done in the scifi world. I did have to suspend disbelief for how humanity conducts itself in space after all this time so there was that aspect but as far as Persuasion retellings go, it was one of the better ones.
This is a Persuasion retelling which is not my favorite Austen novel for a variety of reasons but I think Donne does it justice and really well done in the scifi world. I did have to suspend disbelief for how humanity conducts itself in space after all this time so there was that aspect but as far as Persuasion retellings go, it was one of the better ones.
This was my first Alexa Donne read, and I loved it. The characters were interesting, it was my first time reading characters in space, and I loved it. It was consuming, I never wanted to put it down. I liked the mystery in here, what Elliot did was surprising to me I didn't see it coming. The book was a fast read, not too long of chapters. I can't wait to read more from Alexa Donne.
I thought that the plot was really interesting and it was definitely a good YA book. I didn't see all of the annoying overused tropes and the representation was fantastic. I loved how Donne really set up her characters and all of these LGBTQ+ characters were relatable and loving and normal people. I also loved the fact that she had an asexual character, like that was a big selling point for me. The plot was similar enough to other YA books to get me interested but also stood completely on its own. There wasn't that dystopian feel to it. I think it could use more info on what happens as far as the economical situation with the working and servant class to see how they fix more of that disparity. I also really liked how there wasn't a love triangle or any unneeded romance. The characters felt real.
This was a fun, quick read, and I loved the author's voice that came through.
I really flew threw book!There were many instances of dialogue that felt very reminiscent of a Jane Austen book, which was really fun. I loved the political intrigue and the subplot of the water filtration system. I really liked the villain and there were some really great friendships as well.
For me personally, some parts felt too YA. There were some tropes--like misunderstandings caused by lack of basic communication--that I don't like. It was a personal preference that caused some annoyance while reading.
My biggest reason for a lower star rating was the social issues. The book blatantly brings up how people are starving in their society. The main character repeatedly says she thinks things should change, but never even tries to help anyone besides herself. Even the end of the book, she's enjoying riches and luxury while ... We as the reader are left to wonder about all the starving people and if any of the equality was starting to be addressed. That entire plotline felt very superficial to me.
Overall, though, it is a great read if you are looking for a fun romance.
Content: people are referenced to have slept together and there are a few humorous scenes where the characters are only partially dressed (with one awkwardly turning around, etc).
I really flew threw book!There were many instances of dialogue that felt very reminiscent of a Jane Austen book, which was really fun. I loved the political intrigue and the subplot of the water filtration system. I really liked the villain and there were some really great friendships as well.
For me personally, some parts felt too YA. There were some tropes--like misunderstandings caused by lack of basic communication--that I don't like. It was a personal preference that caused some annoyance while reading.
My biggest reason for a lower star rating was the social issues. The book blatantly brings up how people are starving in their society. The main character repeatedly says she thinks things should change, but never even tries to help anyone besides herself. Even the end of the book, she's enjoying riches and luxury while ... We as the reader are left to wonder about all the starving people and if any of the equality was starting to be addressed. That entire plotline felt very superficial to me.
Overall, though, it is a great read if you are looking for a fun romance.
Content: people are referenced to have slept together and there are a few humorous scenes where the characters are only partially dressed (with one awkwardly turning around, etc).
I went into this one enamored with the cover and excited about the representation, and while it starts off on a fast-paced, exciting note (and while there's plenty of adventure to go around), I just kinda felt bored with the characters. It wasn't that they didn't feel different, they just didn't stand out as much as I usually hope for in any novel. Also, I noticed there was a LOT of telling where there could've been showing, but maybe that's a personal stylistic pet-peeve for me (or something I noticed that other readers won't notice or mind as much). Still a fun read, still a gorg. cover, and still worth it, though I wish I was as smitten with the characters as I was with the idea and look of the book.
emotional
funny
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
This was an interesting read. I enjoyed the premise of everyone living on spaceships/space-stations because Earth was experiencing another ice-age. There was a lot of potential for the story; however, the ending seemed a little anticlimactic and all of the issues were wrapped up too easily.
Boring. Boring, boring, boring.
And Elliot is an asshole. That one slightly mitigating factor that comes around towards the end of the book came a bit too late for me to start giving a fuck about him.
And Elliot is an asshole. That one slightly mitigating factor that comes around towards the end of the book came a bit too late for me to start giving a fuck about him.
From Alexa Donne's twitter after I asked her: "[The Stars We Steal] is set about 40 years before BB. So Miranda Fairfax is Hugo's grandmother, and Evgenia Orlova is Sergei's mom. Carina and Ben are Orion's parents, as well!"
I really adored Brightly Burning, so when I heard that HMH Teen would have arcs of The Stars We Steal at YallFest, I knew I had to grab one! P.S., it was amazing.
I really adored Brightly Burning, so when I heard that HMH Teen would have arcs of The Stars We Steal at YallFest, I knew I had to grab one! P.S., it was amazing.