Scan barcode
A review by jessicava13
The Stars Undying by Emery Robin
5.0
(ARC provided via NetGalley)
I have a lot of mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, I think it’s objectively a GOOD book and I will be wholeheartedly recommending it. On the other hand, I… just didn’t love it as much as I wanted to. This is at least in part because it wasn’t the book *EYE* really wanted/expected it to be, which is not very fair to the book, hence my four star rating. This is a book that deserves four or five stars, even if it was only a three (maybe a 3.5) for ME.
Let’s start with the good (limited, VERY vague spoilers only):
- When this book was good, it was MIND BLOWING. The first 40% and the last 10% had me hanging on to every word.
- the writing is OUTSTANDING. I wish it had pushed a little further in terms of alien environments and visceral immersion, but the voice was so sophisticated and philosophical. It had a poetic, almost archaic quality reminiscent of the classics, with meticulous attention to historical detail. I’m only a casual hobbyist when it comes to ancient Mediterranean history, so I’m sure a lot went way over my head, but I know enough to recognize a lot of allusions, and appreciate how richly the author rendered this world. And there were, to be fair, a few physical descriptions that stuck with me: the City of Endless Pearl and the Libeirocopolan of Ceio stand out, as does one scene in which ice canyons are described as “golden waterfalls” under the light of a rising planet.
- The POV characters, Gracia and Ceirran, are analogous to Cleopatra and Julius Caesar. I really enjoyed both of them. They felt more like surreal, larger-than-life legends than relatable humans, but to me that was appropriate for the book’s overall tone.
- Gracia was the standout, for me. She’s deeply flawed and fascinating, convincingly portrayed as a brilliant political mind. Which is a HARD thing to write. If you liked Mustang/Virginia’s POV chapters in Pierce Brown’s Dark Age, you’ll like Gracia’s. I actually think Emery Robin does a better job than Brown did at conveying “this character is supposed to be 3580486 times smarter than me or you”, because her voice never comes across as “trying way too hard to sound intelligent.” If that makes sense.
- This book is less violent than I tend to like my space operas, but I was about 60% in by the time I realized nobody had participated in an epic space sword duel, and all the space battles were from a very distant strategist’s perspective. There’s a lot of talking, and the pace is fairly relaxed. That was both good and bad, for me. Good, because like I said it took me so long to even notice, and it’s fitting considering both POV characters are galactic-scale leaders who aren’t particularly interested in physical scraps. Their verbal sparring is HIGHLY entertaining, too.
- I liked that this was a queer-norm setting. There are a few prominent nonbinary characters, and basically everyone is bi.
- There are a couple of really S T E A M Y scenes. The infamous Cleopatra/Julius Caesar carpet scene is in this book, and… whew. It’s good.
Now, the bad:
- That middle. It took me less than a day to read the firsts 40%, and then it took WEEKS for me to get to 80%. It felt like the Trade Federation disputes part of Star Wars—so much talking, so much politics, so much recapping of events that sounded WAY more interesting than whatever was actually happening. Now, this was at least partially a “me” problem. I talked to someone else who read and loved this book, and they cited a scene I skimmed over as one of their favorites. The way they described said scene sounded REALLY COOL, but I didn’t even remember it, because I was so frustrated with the pacing and the only thought going through my head was “STAB CAESAR WHEN”.
- Speaking of stabbing: so many of my favorite moments from the story of Julius Caesar happen OFF PAGE. Again, it felt very in line with the tone of the book, but it still made me mad.
- The politics are very very very complicated, and can get overwhelming. It was straight up frustrating when the pacing began to drag so much—felt more like doing homework than reading a story. I had to force myself to come back to the book in order to finish it.
- The book starts VERY strong on Gracia’s home planet Szayet (Egypt), with a smaller, more interesting cast of characters. Gracia, Ceirran, Gracia’s father, her sister Arcelia… all very compelling characters who get a lot of attention and page time. Then the story moves to Ceiao (Rome), and SO. MANY. new characters are introduced. I found it impossible to keep track of them all, especially since they’re presented almost exclusively in terms of their allegiances and political stances. I didn’t care about any of them, let alone anything they did.
- I was conflicted about Ana (Marc Antony). She’s definitely a well-developed character, second only to the POVs, but very little about her made me believe in her stature and competence as a military leader. Gracia and Ceirran both constantly underestimate her, which is definitely part of that, but something about her was just… lacking, for me. I think she ought to have had her own POV chapters--might've also provided a good change of pace from all the high-minded politicking.
- I was MUCH more disappointed with the characters meant to embody Octavius, Cassius, and Brutus. Jonata (Brutus), especially—Shakespeare’s version is one of my favorite characters in all of literature, and here they just felt… weak and underdeveloped. Their motivations were largely told rather than shown, and IMO they were introduced too late in the book to make enough of an impact. Catia (Cassius) was a little better; she gets a couple of excellent scenes late in the story. I’m holding out hope Octavio gets more attention in the sequel (I think this is the first in a duology?).
- Space opera is my FAVORITE genre, especially when it reads more like epic fantasy in space. I’ve been itching to get my hands on The Stars Undying since I first saw it announced on Publishers’ Marketplace, because I desperately want more books like that. Which is why it kills me to say this: I’m not sure why this had to be space opera. Other than the Pearl of the Dead (which was so cool, don’t get me wrong), there are almost NO sci-fi elements. This was especially jarring when Ceirran is out on campaign—they talk about tents and crossing rivers. Every once in a while they mention a hologram or a spaceship, but it never felt integral to the story. Take that combined with the archaic speech, I could have been reading any old Roman-inspired epic fantasy. I LIKE fantasy, of course, but part of the reason I read space opera specifically is for the SPACE stuff. This book did not have enough of that, for me.
To summarize: this is a GOOD ASS book. It’s a flawed book, and it’s not the book I (selfishly, I’ll admit) wanted it to be, but I hope it does well. Emery Robin is an author to watch, and I’m excitedly anticipating whatever she writes next (especially if it’s fantasy…).
I have a lot of mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, I think it’s objectively a GOOD book and I will be wholeheartedly recommending it. On the other hand, I… just didn’t love it as much as I wanted to. This is at least in part because it wasn’t the book *EYE* really wanted/expected it to be, which is not very fair to the book, hence my four star rating. This is a book that deserves four or five stars, even if it was only a three (maybe a 3.5) for ME.
Let’s start with the good (limited, VERY vague spoilers only):
- When this book was good, it was MIND BLOWING. The first 40% and the last 10% had me hanging on to every word.
- the writing is OUTSTANDING. I wish it had pushed a little further in terms of alien environments and visceral immersion, but the voice was so sophisticated and philosophical. It had a poetic, almost archaic quality reminiscent of the classics, with meticulous attention to historical detail. I’m only a casual hobbyist when it comes to ancient Mediterranean history, so I’m sure a lot went way over my head, but I know enough to recognize a lot of allusions, and appreciate how richly the author rendered this world. And there were, to be fair, a few physical descriptions that stuck with me: the City of Endless Pearl and the Libeirocopolan of Ceio stand out, as does one scene in which ice canyons are described as “golden waterfalls” under the light of a rising planet.
- The POV characters, Gracia and Ceirran, are analogous to Cleopatra and Julius Caesar. I really enjoyed both of them. They felt more like surreal, larger-than-life legends than relatable humans, but to me that was appropriate for the book’s overall tone.
- Gracia was the standout, for me. She’s deeply flawed and fascinating, convincingly portrayed as a brilliant political mind. Which is a HARD thing to write. If you liked Mustang/Virginia’s POV chapters in Pierce Brown’s Dark Age, you’ll like Gracia’s. I actually think Emery Robin does a better job than Brown did at conveying “this character is supposed to be 3580486 times smarter than me or you”, because her voice never comes across as “trying way too hard to sound intelligent.” If that makes sense.
- This book is less violent than I tend to like my space operas, but I was about 60% in by the time I realized nobody had participated in an epic space sword duel, and all the space battles were from a very distant strategist’s perspective. There’s a lot of talking, and the pace is fairly relaxed. That was both good and bad, for me. Good, because like I said it took me so long to even notice, and it’s fitting considering both POV characters are galactic-scale leaders who aren’t particularly interested in physical scraps. Their verbal sparring is HIGHLY entertaining, too.
- I liked that this was a queer-norm setting. There are a few prominent nonbinary characters, and basically everyone is bi.
- There are a couple of really S T E A M Y scenes. The infamous Cleopatra/Julius Caesar carpet scene is in this book, and… whew. It’s good.
Now, the bad:
- That middle. It took me less than a day to read the firsts 40%, and then it took WEEKS for me to get to 80%. It felt like the Trade Federation disputes part of Star Wars—so much talking, so much politics, so much recapping of events that sounded WAY more interesting than whatever was actually happening. Now, this was at least partially a “me” problem. I talked to someone else who read and loved this book, and they cited a scene I skimmed over as one of their favorites. The way they described said scene sounded REALLY COOL, but I didn’t even remember it, because I was so frustrated with the pacing and the only thought going through my head was “STAB CAESAR WHEN”.
- Speaking of stabbing: so many of my favorite moments from the story of Julius Caesar happen OFF PAGE. Again, it felt very in line with the tone of the book, but it still made me mad.
- The politics are very very very complicated, and can get overwhelming. It was straight up frustrating when the pacing began to drag so much—felt more like doing homework than reading a story. I had to force myself to come back to the book in order to finish it.
- The book starts VERY strong on Gracia’s home planet Szayet (Egypt), with a smaller, more interesting cast of characters. Gracia, Ceirran, Gracia’s father, her sister Arcelia… all very compelling characters who get a lot of attention and page time. Then the story moves to Ceiao (Rome), and SO. MANY. new characters are introduced. I found it impossible to keep track of them all, especially since they’re presented almost exclusively in terms of their allegiances and political stances. I didn’t care about any of them, let alone anything they did.
- I was conflicted about Ana (Marc Antony). She’s definitely a well-developed character, second only to the POVs, but very little about her made me believe in her stature and competence as a military leader. Gracia and Ceirran both constantly underestimate her, which is definitely part of that, but something about her was just… lacking, for me. I think she ought to have had her own POV chapters--might've also provided a good change of pace from all the high-minded politicking.
- I was MUCH more disappointed with the characters meant to embody Octavius, Cassius, and Brutus. Jonata (Brutus), especially—Shakespeare’s version is one of my favorite characters in all of literature, and here they just felt… weak and underdeveloped. Their motivations were largely told rather than shown, and IMO they were introduced too late in the book to make enough of an impact. Catia (Cassius) was a little better; she gets a couple of excellent scenes late in the story. I’m holding out hope Octavio gets more attention in the sequel (I think this is the first in a duology?).
- Space opera is my FAVORITE genre, especially when it reads more like epic fantasy in space. I’ve been itching to get my hands on The Stars Undying since I first saw it announced on Publishers’ Marketplace, because I desperately want more books like that. Which is why it kills me to say this: I’m not sure why this had to be space opera. Other than the Pearl of the Dead (which was so cool, don’t get me wrong), there are almost NO sci-fi elements. This was especially jarring when Ceirran is out on campaign—they talk about tents and crossing rivers. Every once in a while they mention a hologram or a spaceship, but it never felt integral to the story. Take that combined with the archaic speech, I could have been reading any old Roman-inspired epic fantasy. I LIKE fantasy, of course, but part of the reason I read space opera specifically is for the SPACE stuff. This book did not have enough of that, for me.
To summarize: this is a GOOD ASS book. It’s a flawed book, and it’s not the book I (selfishly, I’ll admit) wanted it to be, but I hope it does well. Emery Robin is an author to watch, and I’m excitedly anticipating whatever she writes next (especially if it’s fantasy…).