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A review by bookristies
A Circle of Stars by Craig Montgomery
5.0
A very fun and wholesome YA Sci-Fi story with plenty of queer representation, a fun magic system, a corrupt political system, and deep characters. A Circle of Stars tackles a lot of relevant issues of today and I love that all three character POVs tied together seamlessly and helped to further enhance the story while also providing readers with different lens to see the world of Novilem through. I love me a good betrayal in just about any story and this one really made you think about it from the start.
Slight spoiler I suppose? One thing I really, really, *really* appreciated was the author's commitment and efforts towards emphasizing the importance of COMMUNICATION in a healthy relationship. The vulnerability, authenticity, and understanding shown by our two male leads towards each other was just *chef's kiss*.
Overall, I'd say this was a very impressive debut novel and I could tell that a lot of love went into this story and especially the characters. There's a lot of worldbuilding in this one so the story didn't quite take off for me until about halfway through (and what an exciting and fast-paced second half that was), but I'm grateful that the information was presented to us in a way that didn't feel like straight-up infodumping.
Needless to say, I will definitely be on the lookout for book 2 in this duology! Hooray for Space Gays!
Note: I received an eARC in exchange for an honest review. (But I will definitely consider buying a physical copy. Have y'all seen that beautiful cover??)
Slight spoiler I suppose? One thing I really, really, *really* appreciated was the author's commitment and efforts towards emphasizing the importance of COMMUNICATION in a healthy relationship. The vulnerability, authenticity, and understanding shown by our two male leads towards each other was just *chef's kiss*.
Overall, I'd say this was a very impressive debut novel and I could tell that a lot of love went into this story and especially the characters. There's a lot of worldbuilding in this one so the story didn't quite take off for me until about halfway through (and what an exciting and fast-paced second half that was), but I'm grateful that the information was presented to us in a way that didn't feel like straight-up infodumping.
Needless to say, I will definitely be on the lookout for book 2 in this duology! Hooray for Space Gays!
Note: I received an eARC in exchange for an honest review. (But I will definitely consider buying a physical copy. Have y'all seen that beautiful cover??)