A review by fulltimefiction
Star Eater by Kerstin Hall

3.0

3.5 stars

Well, Hall proved you can still be innovative in fantasy. I doubt you've read anything like this book.
- A sisterhood running the government
- They eat their mothers' flesh to get "lace"
- A piece of land the Eater basically cut off the ground and sent it way up
- Bi women run things.
- If they have sex with men, the latter will become zombie-like. They only grow stronger, gradually losing their humanity. Since they're immortals, they are pushed over the edge of their world.. literally.
- Did I mention the lace is their magic? Like spiderman?

The book tells the story of Elfreda who is still relatively new to this world, her mother died last year -early for people her age- and her life changed since then. Now she’s older than many of the acolytes. Hall sets up the “atmosphere” of the book at first. The story actually starts when another nun convinces Elfreda to spy for her, in return, she’ll ensure she avoids the next Renewal. And El would do anything to avoid having a convict having sex with her (they do need kids after all). But soon it becomes obvious that stakes are much higher than she imagined and there are dangerous secrets and conspiracies at work.

The Star Eater is an adult fantasy book told from Elfreda’s pov but using the third person. It was captivating from the start. I honestly had no idea what’s going on at first but one needs to be patient because while everything will make sense eventually, it was a slow process. I didn’t mind though.

As for the characters, El is devoted to her friends and always questioning her reality. The secondary characters were interesting and I liked many of them. They played an important part in this book. While the characters were developed, I still couldn’t connect with them. I honestly didn’t care much about them beyond the usual “you want the heroes to succeed”. I also didn’t feel the romance between the heroine and the love interest. I only saw them as friends. Didn’t see the sparks.

Another issue I had with this book was that creating just a crazy world-building requires more than the normal amount of explanations. And while there was no info dump here, I still have many questions. I know for certain that they won’t be answered in the next book (if there was one).

Mostly. I don't know if it'll have a sequel, but there is no cliffhanger and the ending was wrapped up in a way it would be okay if you read it on its own. I think though that it needs a sequel since there's much-left unexplored in this world especially, after that ending.

In sum, this was an interesting read, the characters were well-written, and the ending was satisfying, kind of. The world-building needed a bit more development or at least some questions needed to be answered. I enjoyed reading The Star Eater nonetheless, its quality surpassed most arcs I read lately.


Thanks to NetGalley and publishers for the arc in exchange for an honest review.