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A review by anxiousnachos
The Stars Undying by Emery Robin
reflective
3.5
No one is more shocked than me to hear me to say this: but I’m kind of disappointed?? I’m actually even predicting this could be on my most disappointing reads of the year list and it’s only January 12. Don’t get me wrong, I clearly still liked this by how high I rated it, but from what many of my mutuals have thought about this, I expected to be absolutely obsessed with this. And I just wasn’t. I kept waiting for all of the politicking and twisty complex plot and powerful character relationships to unfold and instead everything just seemed very surface level and predictable to me from a plot and politics level. I struggle to see the same complexity and thematic depth here next to books I’ve seen it compared to (Gideon, A Memory Called Empire.) I feel like the world itself is very complex and detailed, but the plot and politics and story itself don’t hold up to this and that’s what was missing for me. Moments I should care deeply about felt very distanced.
I thought the best character relationships were seen at the start and end of the book, Gracia’s relationship with her sister, Ana and Alekso. I love a complex god-mortal relationship and these discussions between Alekso and Gracia, and her journey with faith, I thought were particularly interesting. The scenes with these characters were the ones I felt really charged the book, but they were also the ones that we had much less of, with the book focusing on the relationship between Ceirran and Gracia. It does mean I’m excited for the sequel. But now I’m worried this is going to derail my entire month worrying about why I didn’t enjoy this as much as I thought I would and whether I’m going into a slump or whether my mental health is about to take a dive, as this is what usually precludes that… Anyway, I’m glad so many other people loved this!! I wish I had loved it as much as you!
Content warnings: war, violence, gun violence, imprisonment/confinement, death of parent (past, discussions of), sex
I thought the best character relationships were seen at the start and end of the book, Gracia’s relationship with her sister, Ana and Alekso. I love a complex god-mortal relationship and these discussions between Alekso and Gracia, and her journey with faith, I thought were particularly interesting. The scenes with these characters were the ones I felt really charged the book, but they were also the ones that we had much less of, with the book focusing on the relationship between Ceirran and Gracia. It does mean I’m excited for the sequel. But now I’m worried this is going to derail my entire month worrying about why I didn’t enjoy this as much as I thought I would and whether I’m going into a slump or whether my mental health is about to take a dive, as this is what usually precludes that… Anyway, I’m glad so many other people loved this!! I wish I had loved it as much as you!
Content warnings: war, violence, gun violence, imprisonment/confinement, death of parent (past, discussions of), sex
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, War, Violence, and Confinement
Moderate: Death of parent and Sexual content