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A review by beckykphillips
The Stardust Grail by Yume Kitasei
adventurous
emotional
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The Stardust Grail was such a fantastic story start to finish. You got space, you got heists, you get the consequences of intergalactic colonization and cross-species functions. We follow Maya Hoshimoto upon her return to graduate school at Princeton after retiring from thieving with her partner in crime, Uncle, a frenro alien. Everything changes when a rare volume appears in the Princeton library collection that reawakens the possibility of saving the frenro species and Maya dives headfirst into one last adventure.
I listened to this as an audiobook, and the narrator, Katharine Chin, characterized everyone so perfectly. I will always think of how her Uncle says Maya whenever I hear the name regardless of context. Katharine has a lot of characterizations and species to contend with and helps the story land.
My only quibble is with the story is I felt like we didn't get enough time with some of the characters introduced early on in the book and they sort of faded from the story, Pickle comes to mind particularly. I also had some trouble keeping up with the different alien species in audio format since I couldn't go back and reference them. At the end of the audiobook, there was a glossary of sorts, but that would have been more useful in the beginning/as a separate chapter so I could refresh my memory. However, I still heartily recommend the novel - it's a great time.
Thank you very much to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for the advanced copy.
I listened to this as an audiobook, and the narrator, Katharine Chin, characterized everyone so perfectly. I will always think of how her Uncle says Maya whenever I hear the name regardless of context. Katharine has a lot of characterizations and species to contend with and helps the story land.
My only quibble is with the story is I felt like we didn't get enough time with some of the characters introduced early on in the book and they sort of faded from the story, Pickle comes to mind particularly. I also had some trouble keeping up with the different alien species in audio format since I couldn't go back and reference them. At the end of the audiobook, there was a glossary of sorts, but that would have been more useful in the beginning/as a separate chapter so I could refresh my memory. However, I still heartily recommend the novel - it's a great time.
Thank you very much to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for the advanced copy.