Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by readinjules
Of Fire and Stars by Audrey Coulthurst
2.0
I had to say I had high expectations for this book, maybe unfairly high. All I can say about it is that those expectations were not met. When I read the blurb for the book, I thought "Yessssss, finally some girl love in YA fantasy".
I went into the book with the expectation that the romance was a major part of the plot, which it was. But let me tell you, it was a slooooow burn. Like, burn a little faster, please. In 70% of the book, Mare and Denna are just beating around the bush, not even talking to each other. Second of all, the romance sadly fell into the good girl/bad girl (like that makes a difference) trope. Denna has no personality whatsoever, besides like 3 traits that makes her recognizable. And Mare ist just a baddie turned soft. I liked that the author tried to make fantasy diverse, but I felt like she just took a cookie-cutter Ya fantasy book and turned the love-interest a girl. More effort, please.
The politics of the world was a large part of the story, but horribly confusing. We get no backstory as to why everyone hates Zurmunda so much, and the worldbuilding generally lacks. I could not tell the characters apart for the life of me. And that assassination at the start of the plot came out of the blue for me. I felt nothing for that character and it had no impact on me.
So an overall disappointment for me. I was expecting an epic fantasy meets LGBT romance. But oh well. Heres your gold star, Audrey
I went into the book with the expectation that the romance was a major part of the plot, which it was. But let me tell you, it was a slooooow burn. Like, burn a little faster, please. In 70% of the book, Mare and Denna are just beating around the bush, not even talking to each other. Second of all, the romance sadly fell into the good girl/bad girl (like that makes a difference) trope. Denna has no personality whatsoever, besides like 3 traits that makes her recognizable. And Mare ist just a baddie turned soft. I liked that the author tried to make fantasy diverse, but I felt like she just took a cookie-cutter Ya fantasy book and turned the love-interest a girl. More effort, please.
The politics of the world was a large part of the story, but horribly confusing. We get no backstory as to why everyone hates Zurmunda so much, and the worldbuilding generally lacks. I could not tell the characters apart for the life of me. And that assassination at the start of the plot came out of the blue for me. I felt nothing for that character and it had no impact on me.
So an overall disappointment for me. I was expecting an epic fantasy meets LGBT romance. But oh well. Heres your gold star, Audrey