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kccool12255 's review for:
The Stars Between Us
by Cristin Terrill
adventurous
challenging
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
long, exaggerated sigh
Here we go! This is gonna be long, so just hang in there with me. I am struggling to retain my sanity as I type this out FOR THE THIRD TIME TODAY. I'm fine. *eye twitches*
Before we get into ANYTHING, I just want to talk about this cover, because there's about two things on it that are right. (It might help to pull up a picture as I go through this.)
THE STARS BETWEEN US
First off, this book is not about stars, it's about planets, so "The Planets Between Us" would probably be a better title, even though it sounds significantly worse. Except no, it wouldn't, because THEY ARE ON THE SAME PLANET THE ENTIRE BOOK (with the exception of like 5 pages). Also, there is literally nothing stopping them from being together except for Vika's own stubbornness (which we will get to eventually), so even the title of this book is inaccurate. Great start!
Cristin Terrill
Unfortunately, I can't dispute the author's actual name, unless it wasn't her actual name, which it is, as I found after some quick research. Dang it.
An Unforgiving Planet
Which the characters of this book (the important ones, anyways) are on for approximately 30 pages: right at the beginning, right near the end, and right AT the end. The majority of the book is spent on Ploutos, NOT Philomenus, and Ploutos is notably NOT "unforgiving". The first half of your tagline is incorrect.
An Unforgettable Love
FIRST OFF, you have to have an UNGODLY amount of self-confidence in how you have written this romance to call it "unforgettable". And SECOND, this is IMMEDIATELY disregarded by the fact that no, this love is NOT unforgettable, but rather is one of the most forgettable romances I've ever read (in my limited experience, but still). Sky and Vika are more well-suited to other characters than to each other, and are mainly only together because Sky is a simp and Vika convinces herself that she has feelings for him only AFTER he's completely gone from her life. But sure, call your romance "unforgettable". Fine.
The freaking cover art
This cover art has about one accurate and somewhat okay thing on it, and that is the two planets shown. Congrats, cover designers, you did the bare minimum! Vika's dress is pretty, but this does not excuse the fact that it's COMPLETELY INACCURATE. If you're gonna put your main character on the cover in a dress, maybe MAKE SURE SHE ACTUALLY WEARS THE DRESS IN THE STORY. The closest thing we get to this dress in the book is Vika's navy dress (which I recite from memory, as she wears it in a single scene), which does NOT have stars on it, so you have failed miserably. Vika herself looks very disproportional, and I am purposely choosing to ignore the fact that she seemingly does not have any legs. Great job, cover designers. Her arms are entirely too big for her to have a head that small. MAKE IT MAKE SENSE. And speaking of her head, her face is COMPLETELY offset by the fact that it is made up of 70% nose, which throws everything else off. Her hair is good enough, barring the strand that INSISTS on draping over her eyebrow, but the strangest thing on this cover BY FAR is Vika's SKIN. I genuinely cannot tell if this girl is supposed to be darker-skinned or if her skin is actually pink (given that it's a sci-fi novel), and it's never once addressed in the actual book, so we're given to assume that her skin looks pink because of the lighting. THE LIGHTING. ON A COVER THAT IS NOT AN ACTUAL PICTURE.
Also, just an aside, given that Sky is the more likable protagonist of the two, I would prefer if HE were on the cover instead of Vika. However, since she IS the main character and you INSIST on putting her on the cover, just put both of them on there. Would improve the cover by AT LEAST 30 percent.
Actual Review
And now, we get into the summary of this book, which I'm not including on the list of cover discrepancies mainly because it's going to take up the bulk of this review.
Before I say anything about the actual story, let me just address the name Vika, because I kid you not when I say I've read this entire book, and I STILL don't know how to pronounce her name. Vika is short for Viktoria, but that doesn't give me ANY insight into how I'm supposed to pronounce her name. Vy-kuh? Vih-kuh? Vee-kuh? I went with the last one, but I still don't know if that's right. Anyways, let's move on.
The hook fails MISERABLY at showing ANYTHING about Vika other than the obvious outside factors. Which is the saddest part about this book, because the hook takes up the ENTIRE FIRST HALF OF THE STORY, but we'll get to that in a minute. The closest we get to seeing anything of Vika's internal conflict is her reminiscing about her old life two times in two different scenes. That's it. That's all we get, two singular mentions, not even a flashback (which would've been WAY better). Therefore, we as an audience cannot empathize with Vika because we don't know anything about her as a character that is internal. We then are catapulted into the story knowing nothing about her, and then the hook takes up the ENTIRE FIRST HALF, AND YET ESTABLISHES NOTHING.
The pacing of this book is the most annoying thing by far. Reading the summary, I assumed that Vika's whisked away to this new world, settles in, narrowly escapes a bombing, and then spends the bulk of the book trying to discover who the bomber is with the help of Sky. However, they do not narrowly escape this bombing until PAGE 216 OF 385. THE SECOND HALF OF THIS BOOK. What do they do for the first half of this book, you ask? PLAN A HOUSE. ATTEND PARTIES. THAT'S IT. And also develop the romance, I suppose you could argue, but that's only on Sky's end, because Vika's development is rushed, comes all at once, and is WAY LATER in the story. So the plot does not plot for 200 pages. YAY!
The romance in this book also irks me, to say the least. As said before, Sky and Vika are WAY well-suited with other people, and are only with each other because of what SKY feels, not what Vika feels. If Archer wasn't evil, he could've been with Vika, and Sky could've been with Ariel, AND THAT WOULD'VE BEEN SIGNIFICANTLY BETTER FOR EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER. Because Sky loves Vika, he tries to pursue her, and when she rejects him for seemingly no reason other than that she's after someone with a lot of money, he continues to love her in silence and make every reader fall in love with him while she wants nothing to do with him (while repressing her feelings that she may or may not have). It is not until their first kiss that Vika suddenly has feelings for Sky now? The kiss scene is also in HIS POV, which accomplishes and establishes nothing, because we KNOW how he feels about her, but what we don't know is how she feels about him, and when she says, "I think I love you, too," it provokes nothing but a sense of confusion, because WE DON'T KNOW WHAT SHE IS FEELING IN THAT MOMENT. The kiss scene would've been way better in HER POV, rather than having a rushed description later of when and how she realized her feelings. We also NEVER get any grand speeches from Vika about her feelings, only repeated ones from Sky, so even at the end of the novel, we STILL can't tell if she truly has feelings for him or not. (The consensus says no.) Sky definitely deserves someone better than Vika.
I've seen reviews calling Vika a spoiled brat, and I can definitely see the reasoning. The worst thing is, I have nothing to disprove this statement other than that she seems to care about her da. But this completely falls apart because she never writes to her family during her time on Ploutos, and never sends them any money until SKY SUGGESTS IT. And this would've been fine if Vika came around and realized at the end of the book, "oh, I've gotten so swept up in the glamour of money that I forgot about family," and apologizes to them, BUT THAT NEVER HAPPENS. I don't blame everyone being mad at her when she comes back, because she deserves it.
About the only thing in this book that I think is done significantly well is the reveal that Sky is Leo Chapin. The execution is nearly perfect, I love how it's written, and that section of the story holds up really well. I don't know if I like where it's PLACED in the story, which is right smack-dab in the middle of the book. (A plot twist before the plot kicks in, which is...interesting, to say the least.) I think it would've been better if there had been a trail of bread crumbs and we had found out WITH Vika, rather than it just being flat-out said, but it was very nicely done. The relationship between Leo and Ariel is also very wholesome and heartwarming, which is why I kind of ship them more than Sky and Vika. The plot twist was also NICE, I love Archer's connection to Sagittarius, but with Leo Chapin and Archer it was VERY cliche and like a book series that I have read before.
The only reason I am not giving this book a lower score is because I had a GOOD time reading it. It definitely kept me entertained, especially when they were explaining Sky and Leo Chapin, I was so in shock . But overall, this book is a huge meh for me and a letdown after the masterpiece that was Starry Eyes. I expected much better, and I was letdown. Not a great execution, not the best romance ever crafted, barely had any likable characters other than Ariel and Mira (Sky for the most part, but he became annoying towards the end), but sure as heck kept me entertained.
Here we go! This is gonna be long, so just hang in there with me. I am struggling to retain my sanity as I type this out FOR THE THIRD TIME TODAY. I'm fine. *eye twitches*
Before we get into ANYTHING, I just want to talk about this cover, because there's about two things on it that are right. (It might help to pull up a picture as I go through this.)
THE STARS BETWEEN US
First off, this book is not about stars, it's about planets, so "The Planets Between Us" would probably be a better title, even though it sounds significantly worse. Except no, it wouldn't, because THEY ARE ON THE SAME PLANET THE ENTIRE BOOK (with the exception of like 5 pages). Also, there is literally nothing stopping them from being together except for Vika's own stubbornness (which we will get to eventually), so even the title of this book is inaccurate. Great start!
Cristin Terrill
Unfortunately, I can't dispute the author's actual name, unless it wasn't her actual name, which it is, as I found after some quick research. Dang it.
An Unforgiving Planet
Which the characters of this book (the important ones, anyways) are on for approximately 30 pages: right at the beginning, right near the end, and right AT the end. The majority of the book is spent on Ploutos, NOT Philomenus, and Ploutos is notably NOT "unforgiving". The first half of your tagline is incorrect.
An Unforgettable Love
FIRST OFF, you have to have an UNGODLY amount of self-confidence in how you have written this romance to call it "unforgettable". And SECOND, this is IMMEDIATELY disregarded by the fact that no, this love is NOT unforgettable, but rather is one of the most forgettable romances I've ever read (in my limited experience, but still). Sky and Vika are more well-suited to other characters than to each other, and are mainly only together because Sky is a simp and Vika convinces herself that she has feelings for him only AFTER he's completely gone from her life. But sure, call your romance "unforgettable". Fine.
The freaking cover art
This cover art has about one accurate and somewhat okay thing on it, and that is the two planets shown. Congrats, cover designers, you did the bare minimum! Vika's dress is pretty, but this does not excuse the fact that it's COMPLETELY INACCURATE. If you're gonna put your main character on the cover in a dress, maybe MAKE SURE SHE ACTUALLY WEARS THE DRESS IN THE STORY. The closest thing we get to this dress in the book is Vika's navy dress (which I recite from memory, as she wears it in a single scene), which does NOT have stars on it, so you have failed miserably. Vika herself looks very disproportional, and I am purposely choosing to ignore the fact that she seemingly does not have any legs. Great job, cover designers. Her arms are entirely too big for her to have a head that small. MAKE IT MAKE SENSE. And speaking of her head, her face is COMPLETELY offset by the fact that it is made up of 70% nose, which throws everything else off. Her hair is good enough, barring the strand that INSISTS on draping over her eyebrow, but the strangest thing on this cover BY FAR is Vika's SKIN. I genuinely cannot tell if this girl is supposed to be darker-skinned or if her skin is actually pink (given that it's a sci-fi novel), and it's never once addressed in the actual book, so we're given to assume that her skin looks pink because of the lighting. THE LIGHTING. ON A COVER THAT IS NOT AN ACTUAL PICTURE.
Also, just an aside, given that Sky is the more likable protagonist of the two, I would prefer if HE were on the cover instead of Vika. However, since she IS the main character and you INSIST on putting her on the cover, just put both of them on there. Would improve the cover by AT LEAST 30 percent.
Actual Review
And now, we get into the summary of this book, which I'm not including on the list of cover discrepancies mainly because it's going to take up the bulk of this review.
Before I say anything about the actual story, let me just address the name Vika, because I kid you not when I say I've read this entire book, and I STILL don't know how to pronounce her name. Vika is short for Viktoria, but that doesn't give me ANY insight into how I'm supposed to pronounce her name. Vy-kuh? Vih-kuh? Vee-kuh? I went with the last one, but I still don't know if that's right. Anyways, let's move on.
The hook fails MISERABLY at showing ANYTHING about Vika other than the obvious outside factors. Which is the saddest part about this book, because the hook takes up the ENTIRE FIRST HALF OF THE STORY, but we'll get to that in a minute. The closest we get to seeing anything of Vika's internal conflict is her reminiscing about her old life two times in two different scenes. That's it. That's all we get, two singular mentions, not even a flashback (which would've been WAY better). Therefore, we as an audience cannot empathize with Vika because we don't know anything about her as a character that is internal. We then are catapulted into the story knowing nothing about her, and then the hook takes up the ENTIRE FIRST HALF, AND YET ESTABLISHES NOTHING.
The pacing of this book is the most annoying thing by far. Reading the summary, I assumed that Vika's whisked away to this new world, settles in, narrowly escapes a bombing, and then spends the bulk of the book trying to discover who the bomber is with the help of Sky. However, they do not narrowly escape this bombing until PAGE 216 OF 385. THE SECOND HALF OF THIS BOOK. What do they do for the first half of this book, you ask? PLAN A HOUSE. ATTEND PARTIES. THAT'S IT. And also develop the romance, I suppose you could argue, but that's only on Sky's end, because Vika's development is rushed, comes all at once, and is WAY LATER in the story. So the plot does not plot for 200 pages. YAY!
The romance in this book also irks me, to say the least. As said before, Sky and Vika are WAY well-suited with other people, and are only with each other because of what SKY feels, not what Vika feels.
I've seen reviews calling Vika a spoiled brat, and I can definitely see the reasoning. The worst thing is, I have nothing to disprove this statement other than that she seems to care about her da. But this completely falls apart because she never writes to her family during her time on Ploutos, and never sends them any money until SKY SUGGESTS IT. And this would've been fine if Vika came around and realized at the end of the book, "oh, I've gotten so swept up in the glamour of money that I forgot about family," and apologizes to them, BUT THAT NEVER HAPPENS. I don't blame everyone being mad at her when she comes back, because she deserves it.
The only reason I am not giving this book a lower score is because I had a GOOD time reading it. It definitely kept me entertained
Content Warnings
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Infidelity
Minor: Death, Grief, Death of parent