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konora 's review for:
The Stars Are Dying
by Chloe C. Peñaranda
DID NOT FINISH
I tried to finish this book. I really did. It started out really rough with the writing style but I got over that by about 50% in. From that point on I kept waiting for the point to show itself. It never did.
The Good:
The world building seemed fun! I was intrigued by the backstory of this world and the mythologies, and eager to see how it would play out ultimately. It was genuinely complex and engaging, even if I had to pick through the paragraphs to piece it together.
Some of the side characters seemed like they might have been fun if they had literally anything to do other than prop up the FMC.
Motivations for various characters were complicated and messy, which is refreshing. The FMC even has some moments early on thinking about her ex/guardian that would have been realistic if given room to breathe.
The Bad:
FMC is your generic romantasy woman. She's in an abusive relationship, she's shy and sheltered, but actually not because she's really *sassy* and every man around her loves that about her except for the abusive one. She hates MMC except when she doesn't, and he's so attractive that apparently the sight of his abs is enough to knock her stupid. She's smart enough to figure out complex puzzles and riddles but not inquisitive enough to just put her foot down and ask this man what he knows about her that he obviously keeps teasing.
MMC is a romantasy shadow daddy. I already don't like this flavor but I kept going because of the promised villain-gets-the-girl moment. Not only is he shadow daddy dom, he is the most generic version of this I've read yet. What's his personality? What's his motivation? What's his favorite food? Does he have a family? I don't know and neither does the author. This is a prop, not a character.
I really started checking out when he kept emphasizing over and over that everything was HER choice, she had free will and he would never tell her what to do... And then proceeded to do exactly that. And also did the whole "well if you didn't really want this I wouldn't be able to do this" schtick.
Which puts this firmly in the realm of a bodice ripper romance novel. And that's fine! But if I'm reading that I want it to at least be fun somehow, and this was not.
I would recommend this to anyone who really loves ACOTAR and no one else.
The Good:
The world building seemed fun! I was intrigued by the backstory of this world and the mythologies, and eager to see how it would play out ultimately. It was genuinely complex and engaging, even if I had to pick through the paragraphs to piece it together.
Some of the side characters seemed like they might have been fun if they had literally anything to do other than prop up the FMC.
Motivations for various characters were complicated and messy, which is refreshing. The FMC even has some moments early on thinking about her ex/guardian that would have been realistic if given room to breathe.
The Bad:
FMC is your generic romantasy woman. She's in an abusive relationship, she's shy and sheltered, but actually not because she's really *sassy* and every man around her loves that about her except for the abusive one. She hates MMC except when she doesn't, and he's so attractive that apparently the sight of his abs is enough to knock her stupid. She's smart enough to figure out complex puzzles and riddles but not inquisitive enough to just put her foot down and ask this man what he knows about her that he obviously keeps teasing.
MMC is a romantasy shadow daddy. I already don't like this flavor but I kept going because of the promised villain-gets-the-girl moment. Not only is he shadow daddy dom, he is the most generic version of this I've read yet. What's his personality? What's his motivation? What's his favorite food? Does he have a family? I don't know and neither does the author. This is a prop, not a character.
I really started checking out when he kept emphasizing over and over that everything was HER choice, she had free will and he would never tell her what to do... And then proceeded to do exactly that. And also did the whole "well if you didn't really want this I wouldn't be able to do this" schtick.
Which puts this firmly in the realm of a bodice ripper romance novel. And that's fine! But if I'm reading that I want it to at least be fun somehow, and this was not.
I would recommend this to anyone who really loves ACOTAR and no one else.