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_alys_'s review against another edition
5.0
OMG I can't wait until the next book, I hope theres a happy ending for Terra! :P
novelstosong's review against another edition
5.0
I absolutely loved reading this book. It's weird because it's different than anything I've ever read before, but I think that's one of the reasons I enjoyed reading it so much. This isn't the typical "girl falls in love with guy in first book and spends the next two overcoming obstacles in order to be with each other in the end" (also found it interesting how there is only two books). Now, don't get me wrong; I love a good love story. But, I didn't realize I needed a break from all that until I read this book. It's so new and refreshing, and it was nice to read a YA book that isn't centered around the romance.
This book more focuses on Terra (the MC) trying to find out who she is and what her purpose is. Throughout the book, she is constantly faced with heartbreak, violence, and life-altering choices.
Another thing that I love about this book is that the characters are so realistic. Terra made some terrible decisions in this book, ones that made me want to smack her upside the head. But, I think that just makes her so much more relatable. The characters in this book aren't perfect, and it made reading this book extremely realistic.
This is definitely my new favorite sci-fi, and I can't wait for the next one! While this book is absolutely amazing, I think I'm going to like Starbreak even better... Would recommend to anyone!
This book more focuses on Terra (the MC) trying to find out who she is and what her purpose is. Throughout the book, she is constantly faced with heartbreak, violence, and life-altering choices.
Another thing that I love about this book is that the characters are so realistic. Terra made some terrible decisions in this book, ones that made me want to smack her upside the head. But, I think that just makes her so much more relatable. The characters in this book aren't perfect, and it made reading this book extremely realistic.
This is definitely my new favorite sci-fi, and I can't wait for the next one! While this book is absolutely amazing, I think I'm going to like Starbreak even better... Would recommend to anyone!
lizshayne's review
2.0
I am sad at the degree of meh this book produced in me. I wanted to like it - I do like starship stories and I keep hoping for more Jews in space. And I can't be all that annoyed that the Jewishness felt like a thin veneer painted over particle board, because everything in this story felt like a thin veneer painted over particle board. I just...no one felt real to me. The characters felt like puppets in the author's hand with no sense of self, the society felt like someone had thrown tallit and tefilin over a wooden dummy and expects everyone to believe it's leading davening. Also, the plot didn't seem to evolve organically from the characters in their situation, but felt like everyone was following some script handed out without bothering to act their parts.
I can see the bones of a good story here. This wasn't it.
I can see the bones of a good story here. This wasn't it.
isabellieb's review
5.0
Oh my gosh! So, I got this book for Christmas and unfortunately it's taken me this long to get through my "To-Be-Read" pile, but this book was so freakin' good!
I've been waiting for a genuinely good book that catches my attention from start to finish and let me tell you, straight up, this book did just that. I love future-set books and this one is another great one. It kind of reminded me of Inside Out by Maria V. Snyder, another book that I absolutely loved.
I got this book on the kindle, but I am definitely going to buy another copy, paperback or hardcover. I don't even care, I just need this book and the next one. I'm so excited to be reading such a great series and honestly I don't think I can wait to get the next one. Like, I might actually die. I'm so freakin' excited.
I loved the setting and the way it was explained (easy enough to follow while still being super descriptive), and I loved the fact that things happened realistically. Like, it wasn't some Cinderella story where everything happened to work out perfectly and she (Terra) got her happy ending, ta-dah! No, she actually had to work pretty hard and that makes me want to know what happens to her in the next book. I think that's the best way to write a book if you're going to write a sequel. Make sure readers actually care about your characters otherwise they won't want to read anymore. Seems pretty obvious, right? Well, obviously it's hard to do which is why I don't point out when authors don't do it, but I'm going to go ahead and point out that Pheobe North did it. And I'm so excited about that. Way to go, Ms. North!! I loved your book!
I've been waiting for a genuinely good book that catches my attention from start to finish and let me tell you, straight up, this book did just that. I love future-set books and this one is another great one. It kind of reminded me of Inside Out by Maria V. Snyder, another book that I absolutely loved.
I got this book on the kindle, but I am definitely going to buy another copy, paperback or hardcover. I don't even care, I just need this book and the next one. I'm so excited to be reading such a great series and honestly I don't think I can wait to get the next one. Like, I might actually die. I'm so freakin' excited.
I loved the setting and the way it was explained (easy enough to follow while still being super descriptive), and I loved the fact that things happened realistically. Like, it wasn't some Cinderella story where everything happened to work out perfectly and she (Terra) got her happy ending, ta-dah! No, she actually had to work pretty hard and that makes me want to know what happens to her in the next book. I think that's the best way to write a book if you're going to write a sequel. Make sure readers actually care about your characters otherwise they won't want to read anymore. Seems pretty obvious, right? Well, obviously it's hard to do which is why I don't point out when authors don't do it, but I'm going to go ahead and point out that Pheobe North did it. And I'm so excited about that. Way to go, Ms. North!! I loved your book!
rockets2writing's review
4.0
Terra lives on the spaceship, Ashera where she's been assigned to a job she has no interest in and lives with her father who spends most of his time drunk. Arrival at their new planet can't come soon enough. But when she witnesses a murder aboard the ship, she's thrust into a secret group aboard the Ashera that feels the current command doesn't have the ship's best interest at heart. But the deeper Terra goes into this secret world the more she's torn between two ideals. And her choices could affect the lives of those closest to her.
I really enjoyed the diversity and Jewish tradition woven into this sci fi. Even as a Jewish person I struggled a bit with some of the terms I was unfamiliar with, but found it refreshing to read about a character whose religion was intertwined into the story without the story being about religion or the Holocaust. Terra is a tough character to get to know initially but the more you learn about her the deeper her personality goes. Overall a good read.
I really enjoyed the diversity and Jewish tradition woven into this sci fi. Even as a Jewish person I struggled a bit with some of the terms I was unfamiliar with, but found it refreshing to read about a character whose religion was intertwined into the story without the story being about religion or the Holocaust. Terra is a tough character to get to know initially but the more you learn about her the deeper her personality goes. Overall a good read.
tashrow's review
5.0
Terra lives with her abusive, drunken father aboard the Asherah, a spaceship the size of a city. Hers is the generation that will finally arrive at their destination planet after traveling for over 500 years in space. Terra’s mother died of cancer, a disease completely unknown on the ship before her death, leaving Terra with her absent older brother and cruel father. Terra is now 16 and assigned to a job, botanist, though she had wanted to be an artisan because she loves to draw. Her father doesn’t approve of her art and Terra does not enjoy her dull work as a botanist. Soon Terra is being courted by her father’s apprentice and is drawn into a mutinous scheme to change the hierarchy aboard the ship. Her work as a botanist is also getting more interesting. What more could a girl want than romance and a good job? Terra definitely wants more, she wants answers.
Out of a standard spaceship story foundation, North has crafted something very special. This small city-sized spaceship is filled with secrets, ones that spell freedom but also ones that can kill. Yet the story is less about the endless travel and the claustrophobia of a closed society and much more about one young woman, her choices and the way in which an individual can impact the community around them. It is a story of opportunities both good and bad, choices that are impossible to make, and a responsibility beyond oneself.
North has woven Jewish traditions into the story and carefully changed them as if the passage of time had both torn at them but also strengthened parts of them. The community on the ship is cohesive but deeply fractured. It is this society that makes the book very compelling. It is also Terra herself too, a young woman deeply grieving the loss of her mother and seemingly without any choices in life. Yet she finds strength to fight back, to choose and to love on her own terms.
Startling, beautiful and richly written, get this one into the hands of science fiction readers. Appropriate for ages 15-17.
Out of a standard spaceship story foundation, North has crafted something very special. This small city-sized spaceship is filled with secrets, ones that spell freedom but also ones that can kill. Yet the story is less about the endless travel and the claustrophobia of a closed society and much more about one young woman, her choices and the way in which an individual can impact the community around them. It is a story of opportunities both good and bad, choices that are impossible to make, and a responsibility beyond oneself.
North has woven Jewish traditions into the story and carefully changed them as if the passage of time had both torn at them but also strengthened parts of them. The community on the ship is cohesive but deeply fractured. It is this society that makes the book very compelling. It is also Terra herself too, a young woman deeply grieving the loss of her mother and seemingly without any choices in life. Yet she finds strength to fight back, to choose and to love on her own terms.
Startling, beautiful and richly written, get this one into the hands of science fiction readers. Appropriate for ages 15-17.
reader_fictions's review
3.0
Actual rating: 3.5 stars
Phoebe North's Starglass has been on my radar ever since I learned that the author was once a prominent blogger. I've never read that blog and don't know too much about her, but I like supporting bloggers, so I wanted to read this book. I always expect big things from bloggers who publish, because they know better than anyone what tropes to avoid, or so I assume. For the most part, that was very true in Starglass and I did very much enjoy North's debut.
The plot on a basic level is highly reminiscent of Beth Revis' Across the Universe trilogy. However, in the course of one book, North takes the plot through what took two books in that series: the dissent on the ship and the approach to the planet towards which they've been heading. This is not to say that the two are identical by any means, because they're not. In fact, I think I rather like Starglass better, both for the abbreviated time on ship and for the more interesting characters.
As I mentioned already, North does a lot of those things bloggers regularly request. There's diversity in that everyone on board the Asherah is Jewish, this being one of many ships that departed Earth as its destruction neared the Asherah only accepted those of Jewish descent. One of Terra's ancestors, a non-practicing Jew and a lesbian (squee!) found a place on the ship. There are other gay characters as well, which is awesome, even if society does not approve, which is less awesome.
Another fantastic thing is how many of the authority figures on the Asherah are female. Women and men are in equal standing here. The current leader of the guard is an imposing female by the name of Captain Wolff. When the time comes for marrying (16 - if you have not chosen by 18, a mate will be chosen for you), girls can ask for a boy's hand in marriage just as the boys may ask. Plus, women don't have to bear the two mandated children (one male, one female), as they are hatched from eggs in a disturbing and haunting process.
As with Revis' series, the plot consists largely of a combined mystery and rebellion. North does a good job with it, and did surprise me with one of the twists there at the end. On the Asherah, it's really hard to know who to trust, and that's conveyed beautifully. The pace does move somewhat slow, without much action, but I really enjoyed the writing so I didn't mind.
So far as the characters go, they don't quite have the depth I would have wished for, but they are interesting. Terra's narration is intelligent, but lacks the scientific know-how to get too much into the nitty gritty science fiction details, but that worked out pretty well. For most of the book, Terra has a tendency to go along with what others want of her, even if she's not particularly happy with it. By the end, she's finally obtaining some agency of her own, perhaps due to the example of Mara Stone, to whom she's apprenticed, or to the craziness going down on board the Asherah.
My only other concern is the romance. Most of what went down with that in Starglass was walking the border of discomfiting. For example, I find her treatment of her first suitor rather hateful, but, then again, he did lie to her, so I suppose it's forgivable as long as she learns from the experience, which I think she has. Terra's second suitor also upsets me, because of what that did to her friend, whom she envies for being so pretty. Hopefully, the impending love interest will lay my concerns to rest, but things could really go either way at this point.
The ending leaves me very ready for book two, though Starglass does come to a nice ending of the main plot arc. Phoebe North's debut is a fun science fiction novel on the lighter side, and I look forward to her career; I expect good things!
Phoebe North's Starglass has been on my radar ever since I learned that the author was once a prominent blogger. I've never read that blog and don't know too much about her, but I like supporting bloggers, so I wanted to read this book. I always expect big things from bloggers who publish, because they know better than anyone what tropes to avoid, or so I assume. For the most part, that was very true in Starglass and I did very much enjoy North's debut.
The plot on a basic level is highly reminiscent of Beth Revis' Across the Universe trilogy. However, in the course of one book, North takes the plot through what took two books in that series: the dissent on the ship and the approach to the planet towards which they've been heading. This is not to say that the two are identical by any means, because they're not. In fact, I think I rather like Starglass better, both for the abbreviated time on ship and for the more interesting characters.
As I mentioned already, North does a lot of those things bloggers regularly request. There's diversity in that everyone on board the Asherah is Jewish, this being one of many ships that departed Earth as its destruction neared the Asherah only accepted those of Jewish descent. One of Terra's ancestors, a non-practicing Jew and a lesbian (squee!) found a place on the ship. There are other gay characters as well, which is awesome, even if society does not approve, which is less awesome.
Another fantastic thing is how many of the authority figures on the Asherah are female. Women and men are in equal standing here. The current leader of the guard is an imposing female by the name of Captain Wolff. When the time comes for marrying (16 - if you have not chosen by 18, a mate will be chosen for you), girls can ask for a boy's hand in marriage just as the boys may ask. Plus, women don't have to bear the two mandated children (one male, one female), as they are hatched from eggs in a disturbing and haunting process.
As with Revis' series, the plot consists largely of a combined mystery and rebellion. North does a good job with it, and did surprise me with one of the twists there at the end. On the Asherah, it's really hard to know who to trust, and that's conveyed beautifully. The pace does move somewhat slow, without much action, but I really enjoyed the writing so I didn't mind.
So far as the characters go, they don't quite have the depth I would have wished for, but they are interesting. Terra's narration is intelligent, but lacks the scientific know-how to get too much into the nitty gritty science fiction details, but that worked out pretty well. For most of the book, Terra has a tendency to go along with what others want of her, even if she's not particularly happy with it. By the end, she's finally obtaining some agency of her own, perhaps due to the example of Mara Stone, to whom she's apprenticed, or to the craziness going down on board the Asherah.
My only other concern is the romance. Most of what went down with that in Starglass was walking the border of discomfiting. For example, I find her treatment of her first suitor rather hateful, but, then again, he did lie to her, so I suppose it's forgivable as long as she learns from the experience, which I think she has. Terra's second suitor also upsets me, because of what that did to her friend, whom she envies for being so pretty. Hopefully, the impending love interest will lay my concerns to rest, but things could really go either way at this point.
The ending leaves me very ready for book two, though Starglass does come to a nice ending of the main plot arc. Phoebe North's debut is a fun science fiction novel on the lighter side, and I look forward to her career; I expect good things!
difelicj's review
4.0
So i basically couldn't put this book down, it was so well written i just wanted to drink it in. The world building was great, small snippets given to you here and there created a believable story as to why this group left earth and what their life was like aboard the Asherah. The MC, Terra, was great. Flawed in all the right ways and not perfect at all. She developed throughout the story in a believable way and made me care about her, even though she was quite dumb in some moments (like really how could you not know about Koen). The subtle foreshadowing of the real purpose of the Captain and everything else going on was great. Can't wait for the next instalment!
nilchance's review
3.0
I was so delighted to start this book based on the description: secular Jews on a space ship! revolutionaries! queer representation!
Sadly, the book itself was disappointing. I wish the book had been about anyone but Terra, who is bounced from conflict to conflict, decisions made for her. Towards the end, that improves, but it's frustrating as a reader. There's also the fact that she uses an unfortunate term for the queer characters, and outs them, which makes me (as a queer reader) wince.
I might pick up the sequel based on the fact that there's a xeno romance and the book has left the claustrophobic confines of the ship.
Sadly, the book itself was disappointing. I wish the book had been about anyone but Terra, who is bounced from conflict to conflict, decisions made for her. Towards the end, that improves, but it's frustrating as a reader. There's also the fact that she uses an unfortunate term for the queer characters, and outs them, which makes me (as a queer reader) wince.
I might pick up the sequel based on the fact that
beccak's review
4.0
Terra lives on a generation ship, the Asherah, which is nearing the end to its journey to the planet Zehava. Only, things aren't going so well for Terra and her fellow citizens. Terra's mother has died of cancer after it was supposedly eliminated, and Terra forever feels like an outsider. Worse, a rebellion is brewing against the ship's captain, and the rebels expect Terra to join them, whether she wants to or not.
What Starglass has going for it is an author who really knows how to push a main character into a corner, and then push her into a tighter one...and then a tighter one. North also introduces three LGBT characters into the narrative -- but instead of 1) making the story all about them, or 2) knocking readers over the head with what her beliefs are about LGBT people, she masterfully describes characters's behaviors, feelings, and motivations and lets readers think about what she has presented them with. There are LGBT characters who are suffering - Frances and (well, not telling because it would be a spoiler) - but in some cases, they also cause people suffering. And in turn, they cause people suffering both because of an oppressive society (not just of LGBT people) but because of their own human shortcomings. While this is at least in theory a YA book, I found the handling of this delicate subject more sophisticated than in many adult books, and because it occurs in a fictional future, the discussion it inspires is less heated.
While I felt for Terra's terrible conundrum (really, a series of conundrums), I think North could have made her a little less wishy-washy. She often just falls into situations, rather than makes active choices. It also took a little while for me to settle into the book because Terra wasn't at first very likable and lacked strong voice.
The Jewish content was interesting. At first I was confused, to I appreciated the explanation of the secular nature of the culture (which really explained why they named the ship "Asherah" which refers to idolatry and seems an awfully strange name for a Jewish ship. "Teivah" would have made more sense.). The beautiful way North wove in the growing spirituality of Rachel as the book progressed delighted me...although I don't think that requesting forgiveness for your sins three times appears in the Torah. More likely, it appears in the Gemara or the works of the RAMBAM.
The twist ending is fabulous. I'm hoping to read the sequel.
There are no bad words, but because of the mature content and a few rather racy scenes, readers should be well into their teens, I think, before reading this. Yet once they hit that point, I highly recommend Starglass.
What Starglass has going for it is an author who really knows how to push a main character into a corner, and then push her into a tighter one...and then a tighter one. North also introduces three LGBT characters into the narrative -- but instead of 1) making the story all about them, or 2) knocking readers over the head with what her beliefs are about LGBT people, she masterfully describes characters's behaviors, feelings, and motivations and lets readers think about what she has presented them with. There are LGBT characters who are suffering - Frances and (well, not telling because it would be a spoiler) - but in some cases, they also cause people suffering. And in turn, they cause people suffering both because of an oppressive society (not just of LGBT people) but because of their own human shortcomings. While this is at least in theory a YA book, I found the handling of this delicate subject more sophisticated than in many adult books, and because it occurs in a fictional future, the discussion it inspires is less heated.
While I felt for Terra's terrible conundrum (really, a series of conundrums), I think North could have made her a little less wishy-washy. She often just falls into situations, rather than makes active choices. It also took a little while for me to settle into the book because Terra wasn't at first very likable and lacked strong voice.
The Jewish content was interesting. At first I was confused, to I appreciated the explanation of the secular nature of the culture (which really explained why they named the ship "Asherah" which refers to idolatry and seems an awfully strange name for a Jewish ship. "Teivah" would have made more sense.). The beautiful way North wove in the growing spirituality of Rachel as the book progressed delighted me...although I don't think that requesting forgiveness for your sins three times appears in the Torah. More likely, it appears in the Gemara or the works of the RAMBAM.
The twist ending is fabulous. I'm hoping to read the sequel.
There are no bad words, but because of the mature content and a few rather racy scenes, readers should be well into their teens, I think, before reading this. Yet once they hit that point, I highly recommend Starglass.