deedles 's review for:

Cities of Smoke and Starlight by Alli Earnest

1.0

adventurous slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Loveable characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

---

I would say the vibes of this book is like a mix of Journey to Atlantis, Treasure Planet, and Pride & Prejudice. It could've been a good concept, but I couldn't get into the plot or the worldbuilding, or the romance, or even the vibes at all. The plot was extremely slow to develop, and the relationships of each character wasn't very fleshed out regardless of how many shenanigans the author threw them into. The romance was insta-love-y and doesn't really make sense to me. The world building seemed interesting but clearly took a backseat compared to the 'relationship building.'

The characters themselves, well...

Hallie and Kase are so dumb. They're touted as the protagonists but I felt like this book would've benefited from just one POV instead of switching between the two. Even still, this is where you see the Pride & Prejudice — they both like books, they're kinda smart? Supposedly? But are both extremely stubborn and prideful and got off to a bad start. Except that they both just find each other really attractive and fight for 80% of their interactions. And they don't even have a revelatory arc, they're pretty much just the same at the end after learning One thing that they have in common.

Also? There are like two dead characters for no reason. It is honestly so saddening I got attached to them more than the protagonists.

Generally I'm also not fond of how the author talked about the Yalvs, but I kinda forgot since I ended up skimming the last part of the book since everything was getting introduced at the 70% mark. Everything at that point gets confusing.